Bridging The Digital Divide: An Exploratory Study On Ict's Role In Inclusive Education For Students With Disabilities (original) (raw)
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The integration of technology into education has offered significant benefits, especially for students with learning disabilities. This study examines the effects of technologyenabled teaching strategies on the learning experiences of students with disabilities and looks at how educators, parents, and special education specialists view these strategies' efficacy. 200 participants in the study-teachers, parents, and special educators-gave their opinions using a standardized questionnaire. Questions with closed-ended answers were used to gather quantitative data. The results demonstrate the beneficial influence of assistive technology, customized education software, and adaptive tools in enhancing learning outcomes for students with disabilities. Nonetheless, issues with resource allocation, training, and accessibility were also noted. In order to improve learning for students with disabilities, this study attempts to contribute to the creation of more inclusive, technologically enabled educational methods.
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Education had been identified and used the world over, as the most dynamic tool to achieve societal change. Over the centuries, it has been consistently used to achieve behavioural change and make man useful to himself and his society. However, it has been observed that formal education tends to exclude children and adults who have physical, emotional, intellectual, psychological, locational, linguistic and other challenges. Whereas for education to maximally achieve its objectives, it has to be inclusive. Inclusive education implies an educational system which must include disabled and gifted children, children from remote and nomadic population, street and working children, children from linguistic, ethnic, or cultural minorities as well as children and adults who are disadvantaged or marginalized. To this end, there arise a need to meet the need of every learner and ensure that no one is left out during an instructional exercise. Based on the dynamism of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education, the writers believe strongly that, if educational ICTs are appropriately adopted and effectively utilized, the challenges of inclusive education could be mitigated. This paper therefore takes a look at the definition, coverage, benefits and challenges of inclusive education. It x-rays ICTs and points out the necessary ICT tools for inclusive education. It outlines the benefits and challenges associated with the effective use of ICTs in inclusive education. Finally, the paper makes replicable recommendations for effective engagement of ICTs in inclusive education for enhanced efficiency.
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The main intention of this study is to explore the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and inclusion. The target group is students who are conceived as having learning difficulties or special educational needs. To illuminate this issue, we draw on data collected in a recent national research project about the quality of special education in regular schools in Norway, the "SPEED project". One of the results is that ICT use among students with learning difficulty is more frequent than among average students, but not as widespread as you would expect, considering the alleged affordances of ICT for these students.
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Access issues based on three Canadian empirical studies of the use of computer and information technologies by college and university students with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities are presented. Data were obtained between fall 1997 and spring 1999 from: (1) focus groups with students with disabilities (n = 12); (2) structured interviews with students with disabilities (a = 37) and with post-secondary personnel responsible for providing services to them (n = 30); (3) questionnaires completed by post-secondary students with disabilities (n= 725). Findings indicate that the overwhelming majority of students with disabilities use computers and the Internet, but that 41 % of them need some type of adaptation to use computers effectively. Key findings emphasize advantages of computer technologies and delineate barriers to full access. Types of computer, information and adaptive technologies used by students with different disabilities are presented and emerging trends are highlighted. The goal is (1) to sensitize educational and instructional technologists, professors and planners involved in the implementation of educational media into post-secondary education curricula and (2) to demonstrate that designing for accessibility from the outset creates a more equitable learning environment that provides opportunities for all students.
Data on perceptions of 1354 Canadian college and university students with disabilities about how well their information and communication technology (ICT) needs are being met on and off campus were collected. These formed the basis for the POSITIVES Scale (Postsecondary Information Technology Initiative Scale). The measure contains 26 items which use a 6-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree) to indicate level of agreement with each of the positively worded items. The Scale has three factor analysis derived subscales (ICTs at School Meet Student's Needs, ICTs at Home Meet Student's Needs, e-Learning ICTs Meet Student's Needs) and a total score. Reliability and validity are excellent for both English and French versions. Versions that could be completed online, on paper (printable PDF), and within a Microsoft Word document were found to be equivalent. Both the measure and the norms are provided. Skill using information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become mandatory in postsecondary education and the workplace (Stodden, Conway, & Chang, 2003). For example, literature shows that computer use on the job is linked to higher salaries for employees both with and without disabilities (Canadian Council on Social Development, 2004; Kruse, Krueger, & Drastal, 1996). This makes it important that empirical data about the degree to which ICT related needs of learners with disabilities are being met is made available to decision makers involved in ICTs in postsecondary education. Having a means of gathering of such data will help to achieve this. The use of ICTs, including e-learning, both on campus and in distance education, is ubiquitous (Campus Computing Project, 2008). By now, it is self-evident that for students to succeed in postsecondary education they need to have good access to computer technologies both on and off campus (Green, 2005). As the numbers of students with disabilities in postsecondary education continue to rise both in Canada (Fichten, Jorgensen, Havel, & Barile, 2006; Tremblay & Le May, 2005) and the US (National Council on Disability, 2003), where a recent large scale study showed that in 2003-2004, 11% of undergraduates had a disability (Snyder & Dillow, 2007), so does the need to assure that the growing array of available ICTs on campus is accessible (Konur, 2007; Waddell, 2007). General Use ICTs, E-learning, and Adaptive Computer Technologies Students need to use a variety of general use software such as Microsoft Word for writing papers and e-mail programs as well as software related to their specialties (e.g., for statistical analyses, for virtual science experiments, for language tutorials). To succeed in college or universities, learners must also adapt to the extensive use of e-learning used by faculty (Abrami et al.
Societies, 2023
The rise of information and communication technologies has not gone unnoticed in the university context. An increasing number of university faculty members are using technological resources in their teaching. However, the success of technologies in the teaching and learning process depends on the way they are used. This article analyses the actions of university faculty members who engage in inclusive teaching practices using educational technologies in their classrooms. A qualitative approach was followed using the biographical narrative method. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured individual interviews with 42 inclusive faculty members from 6 Spanish public universities. The results obtained reveal the technological resources used by these faculty members in their classrooms, the main uses they make of virtual learning platforms, as well as the actions that the faculty members implement to facilitate access and participation of students with disabilities through the use of technologies. These results allow us to detect some of the faculty’s training needs related to the use of educational technologies and offer practical keys that contribute to guaranteeing inclusive and quality learning for all students.