ICT-supported learning for inclusion of people with special needs: Review of seven educational technology journals, 1970-2011

Research and development of information and communication technology (ICT)supported learning for people with disabilities has not received adequate attention. It is also difficult to access research findings and developments in this field. Under the ENABLE Network of ICT Supported Learning for Disabled People (2011–2014) project, an emerging European Union reference point portal for end-users will provide this information for a broad audience. In the design phase of the project idea, the authors of this paper conducted a review of papers indexed in Web of Science to provide a needs assessment and a design template for the project objectives. The results of the search clearly showed that ICT-supported learning for people with special educational needs is in the domain of the educational technology journals, with more papers published in the British Journal of Educational Technology than in any other journal. This paper presents the results of a content analysis of all papers published from 1970 to 2011 in seven educational technology journals indexed in Web of Science. More papers were published from 2006 to 2011 (44.7%) than during any other of five periods examined. Findings in terms of ICT intervention, disability groups, groups of study participants by relationship with ICT, and research design, together with trends in published studies in terms of mainstreaming and inclusion, are presented. The main objective of the study was to identify the level of inclusion through analysis of educational context (special schools [30.51%], mainstream schools [28.81%] and general support for life [40.68%]). Based on content analysis, ICT interventions were classified into the two categories of technical intervention in the pedagogical context (62.71% of all papers published) and technical intervention in the wider context (37.29% of all papers published), with nine paper types identified: papers on ICT access, papers on teaching and learning methods, papers on development and testing of ICT solutions, reviews, assessments, papers on inclusion, papers on behavioural and social development, papers on use of information technology and papers on interaction. Papers were also categorised according to types of disability and according to groups of study participants by relationship with ICT. Published papers British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 45 No 2 2014 202–230 doi:10.1111/bjet.12086 © 2013 British Educational Research Association were divided into four categories by research design: descriptive (49.15%), developmental (26.27%), experimental (17.8%), and developmental and experimental (6.78%). During the period from 1970 to 2000, papers examined design of learning materials with regard to particular categories of disability and particular accessibility needs, while papers published after 2000 also discussed universal design. Based on the review, the authors of this paper have identified a need for application of universal design principles in research and development of learning environments to provide equal accessibility and inclusive education. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic • The main dilemmas of teaching and learning for people with special needs are the dilemma of identification, the dilemma of curriculum and the dilemma of location (Norwich, 2008). The use of ICT-assisted learning is becoming increasingly significant in addressing these three dilemmas (Ralph, 2006). What this paper adds • This paper presents the results of a content analysis of all papers published from 1970 to 2011 in seven educational technology journals indexed in Web of Science. The results of the search clearly showed that ICT-supported learning for people with special educational needs is in the domain of the educational technology journals, with more papers published in the British Journal of Educational Technology than in any other journal. • This paper presents trends in ICT-supported teaching and learning for people with special needs, examining ICT interventions used, disability groups investigated, participant group size, research design and trends in mainstreaming and inclusion. • This paper focuses on how ICT-assisted learning provides accessibility and facilitates inclusion and integration. The issue of the potential of ICT-supported learning for the inclusion process of people with special needs has not been explored sufficiently. This study has determined that papers on this issue began to appear in 2001 and has categorised, in total, 17 papers in this category published during the period from 1970 to 2011. Implications for practice and/or policy • By addressing questions about the role of ICT for inclusion and mainstreaming, this paper raises broader issues of inclusion and social integration in modern society and the educational process, allowing researchers from various fields insight into the field of ICT-supported learning for people with special needs. • ICT-supported learning is becoming important in formal educational settings, in nonformal settings and in general support for life. ICT-supported learning should be investigated and designed on the basis of universal design, providing accessibility and facilitating inclusion for all. The main conclusion derived from the papers reviewed is that research supporting the design of inclusive learning environments needs to address students with special needs and students who do not have special needs equally. ICT-supported learning for special needs 203 © 2013 British Educational Research Association Introduction The main dilemmas of teaching and learning for people with special needs are the dilemma of identification, the dilemma of curriculum and the dilemma of location (Norwich, 2008). The use of information and communication technology (ICT)-assisted learning is becoming increasingly significant in addressing these three dilemmas (Ralph, 2006). ICT has a transformative and equalising potential for efforts to achieve integration and inclusion of students with “special educational needs” in mainstream classrooms and society (Florian, 2003). This paper focuses on how ICT-assisted learning provides accessibility and facilitates inclusion and integration. It presents a review of published scientific papers on this topic for the period from 1970 to 2011. Analyses were conducted with regard to ICT interventions used, disability groups, groups of participants by their relationship with ICT, school level and the research designs of published studies, including sample size. The paper also summarises the research trends in published studies focusing on mainstreaming and inclusive educational opportunities. In the last 40 years ICT has become an important part of learning and developmental support for children with special needs. In the past, attention to ICT in learning was restricted to experts in special education and ICT specialists. In the last several decades ICT has become an important part in the design of inclusive learning environments in mainstream schools and classrooms, with teachers in mainstream classrooms involved in ICT-supported learning for children with special needs (Istenic Starcic, 2010). This paper presents trends in ICT-supported teaching and learning for people with special needs, examining ICT interventions used, disability groups investigated, participant group size, research design and trends regarding mainstreaming and inclusion. Some countries define one or two types of special needs (disability groups), as for example do Denmark and Austria (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2010). Others, like Poland (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2010), classify special needs into more than 10 categories, while most countries recognise from 6 to 10 kinds of special needs (Opara, 2009), as does, for example, the Belgian Flemish-speaking community (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2010). The term “special educational needs” has been used for 30 years to define the needs of children with developmental difficulties that affect learning, behaviour, social and emotional development, communication, ability and independence (Lindsay, 2007). Shortly after the start of the second half of the 20th century, the idea of integration emerged in opposition to the segregationist school system, which separates the regular and special education systems. A new paradigm of integrated education for children with special needs emerged, based on new philosophical foundations and ethical values. It facilitated integration of children with special needs into a regular classroom environment, facilitating their engagement based on appropriate conditions and relationships of mutual acceptance and respect (Opara, 2007, 2009). Integration supports a child’s development and learning in the company of peers, providing social engagement (Kolenc & Lebarič, 2007). The integration of a few decades ago has further developed into inclusion, based on postmodern philosophy, ethics and values such as human rights, absence of discrimination, equal opportunities and justice, from which developed the ideal of the modern heterogeneous school where every child is different (Opara, 2009). “Inclusive education constitutes the inalienable right of children with special needs to appropriate and effective education in mainstream schools” (Kavkler, 2007, p 77). Research on the effects of inclusion and inclusive approaches in education on pupils is inconclusive. Lindsay (2007) investigates the tension within inclusive education between the children’s rights and the effectiveness of educational processes and outcomes. While it is important in terms of providing equality to put 204 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 45 No 2 2014 © 2013 British Educational Research Association students with special needs in mainstream classrooms, this is not enough. In order for them to be fully included rather than just being present, a change in culture is needed within the teaching profession in order to produce suitable teaching practice, and according to Lindsay, there also needs to be research-based evidence for what constitutes optimal teaching and learning practice and children’s outcomes. There is little literature available about the diversity of contexts in which children are educated (Davis & Florian, 2004). Recent research findings indicate that pedagogical practice is still not ready for inclusion (Runswick-Cole, 2011). This study deals with the use of ICT and its potential for inclusion of people with special needs. ICT could present an important contribution to differentiated instruction, establishing a creative learning environment and supporting teachers in an inclusive classroom (Istenic Starcic, 2010; Istenic Starcic, Cotic & Zajc, 2013). While ICT has the potential to promote inclusion and support differentiated instruction, the technology itself could also present the main obstacle to inclusion. “For many disabled people, computers offer the potential to increase independence and quality of life and to reduce the degree of handicap caused by their disability (Neilson, Pickering & Vella, 1989, p 57).” In addition, “the use of information technology is often the vital link that enables disabled students to participate fully in learning (Wisdom et al, 2007, p 222).” “Information technology may be the only means for communication and self-expression for people with special needs (Kurhila & Laine, 2000, p 163),” and it can provide “access to their environment and opportunities for personal development which are otherwise denied them (Hegarty, Bostock & Collins, 2000, p 199).” “Assistive technology offers socially impaired individuals an environment in which they can learn the meaning of emotions and understand more about the way they communicate with their peers (Bishop, 2003, p 554).” Hegarty et al (2000) present a definition of ICT intervention for special needs that considers psychological aspects (ie, attitudes and self-confidence) and technical aspects. A 4-category classification based on the World Health Organization classification of impairment, disability and handicap is used; the categories are cognitive difficulties, emotional difficulties, physical disability and sensory disability. The definition highlights the dimensions of activity and participation. In this context, ICT support therefore provides opportunities to increase performance in activities and/or opportunities to increase participation (Douglas, 2001). Lewis and Neill (2001) identified the following main functions of ICT support: interaction communication, physical control and access to the normal curriculum, subject-linked learning, reward/motivation, information technology skills, assessment, record-keeping and teacher support. In this paper, the authors have focused on ICT-supported learning. They conducted a content analysis and identified two categories—technical intervention in the pedagogical context and technical intervention in the wider context—covering nine types of paper: papers on ICT access, papers on teaching and learning methods, papers on development and testing of ICT solutions, reviews, assessments, papers on inclusion, papers on behavioural and social development, papers on use of information technology and papers on interaction. How equity of accessibility can be addressed has been investigated. Witt and McDermott (2004) report on the UK, where the Disability Discrimination Act (2002) regulates this for all education providers, requiring their compliance with accessibility legislation. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines three priority levels of Web accessibility provided by the use of tools (evaluation tools, repair tools and filter and transformation tools). Developers should apply the principles of inclusive design, barrier-free design, universal design and design for all (Witt & McDermott, 2004). Universal accessibility in a web-based education system has been explored, examining standards, interoperability, design and delivery (Iorio, Feliziani, Mirri, Salomoni & Vitali, 2006; Nevile & Treviranus, 2010). Seale and Cooper (2010) define technical, design and ICT-supported learning for special needs 205 © 2013 British Educational Research Association conceptual tools for accessibility. Technical tools consist of authoring applications, evaluation applications and repair applications. Design tools for accessibility consist of standards and guidelines. Conceptual tools are metaphors and models. Universal design applies to the architectural environment and requires technological devices to be accessible for all users, including users with disabilities. Universal instructional design has been applied in education to address accessibility issues in instruction. Innovative approaches to utilising universal design have been studied, among them computer-assisted instruction (Silver, Bourke & Strehorn, 1998). Researching the underlying teaching and learning practice in the use of ICT in inclusive classrooms is raising questions of differentiation and individualisation in mainstreaming special educational needs. Research has focused on curriculum-authoring tools (Bain & Parkes, 2006), learning-management systems providing digital learning environments (Bishop, 2003; Freire, Linhalis, Bianchini, Fortes & Pimentel, 2010; Istenic Starcic & Niskala, 2010; Luke, 2002), teachers’ preparation and professional development (Istenic Starcic, 2010; Wearmouth, Smith & Soler, 2004; Winter & McGhie-Richmond, 2005), computer-supported collaborative learning as social support to facilitate mainstream inclusion (Lewis, Trushell & Woods, 2005; Mavrou, Lewis & Douglas, 2010; Tan & Cheung, 2008), and accessibility of computer-based resources in inclusive education and the wider context (Abbott & Cribb, 2001; Iorio et al, 2006; Nevile & Treviranus, 2010; Witt & McDermott, 2004). This paper also focuses on groups of study participants by relationship with ICT, structure of published papers and how disability groups are presented in the papers. To identify the research design, a 3-category classification was used based on Jonassen’s (1996) classification of educational communication and technology, which was also applied by Shih, Feng and Tsai (2008). The classification distinguishes experimental research based on experimental and control groups (Ross & Morrison, 1996); descriptive research based on descriptions of events or participants’ input describing, explaining, evaluating or investigating the problem (Kunpfer & McLellan, 1996); and developmental research focused on design, development and evaluation of interventions or solutions (Richey & Nelson, 1996). Method The research methodology used was a systematic review consisting of a literature search in the bibliographic resource Web of Science (WOS), one of the most frequently used databases in addition to Google Scholar and Scopus (Koler Povh, Južnič, Turk & Turk, 2011). Papers with ICT-supported learning for people with special needs as a topic were included in the review. The results of the search clearly showed that ICT-supported learning for people with special educational needs is in the domain of the educational technology journals. The authors therefore limited the scope of the paper search to the seven major educational technology journals covering this topic. Searches were conducted in January 2011 and updated in December 2011. A manual search of papers published from 1970 to the end of 2011 was performed in the selected journals. Qualitative analysis of data extracted from all included studies and analyses was performed. Based on the study objectives, categories of data were identified that addressed five research questions. The coding of studies was conducted by reading the abstracts and full texts of the papers. Studies addressing several topics were assigned several codes. The coding was performed by two coders. Intercoder reliability was checked, and agreement was found to be 0.87. Alignment of codes and resolution of differences were achieved by discussion. Research questions The following research questions were asked: 1. What is the overall state of research in the field of ICT-assisted learning for people with disabilities and/or with special needs in terms of ICT intervention? 206 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 45 No 2 2014 © 2013 British Educational Research Association 2. What research topics related to ICT-assisted learning for people with disabilities and/or special needs were published with regard to specific disability groups? 3. Which groups of study participants by relationship with ICT are represented in the published research papers and what interventions did the participants experience? 4. Which research designs were applied in the studies? 5. What are the trends in published studies in terms of inclusion and mainstreaming? Instruments and data collection Data collection was conducted in two steps. In the first step, data were collected via search procedures undertaken in the WOS database. The second step was a manual search performed in educational technology and ICT-assisted learning journals in which the most relevant studies were published. Journals selected were Computers and Education (CE), the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET), the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL), Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D), Educational Technology and Society (ETS), the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) and the Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology (TOJET). All relevant papers are listed in the reference list. Space does not allow the inclusion of the names of all authors in the text every time a research question is discussed, so one research question has been chosen as an example. Table 2 presents the full results for the second research question: What research topics related to ICT-assisted learning for people with disabilities and/or special needs were published with regard to specific disability groups? Selection criteria The first criterion for inclusion was that the study should be concerned with ICT-supported learning, not assistive technology in general. The second criterion was that the study should report on an intervention involving ICT-supported learning for people with disabilities. Content analysis of the research topics Content analysis was conducted using categories related to ICT-assisted learning and disability groups. During the data analysis, the selected categories and subcategories were refined using the constant-comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The finalised framework of research topics, categories and subcategories consisted of seven main coding variables: • journal title; • year of publication, starting with the first editions of the selected journal published in databases, from 1970 onwards; • research design, which was analysed based on • research approach (qualitative, quantitative, mixed), • research type (experimental, descriptive, developmental; Jonassen, 1996), • research method (survey, experiment, case study, action research, etc.), • whether there was a control group and whether the control group also received intervention, • description and number of study participants or sample (learners, teachers and other groups) who experienced interventions, • research questions and/or variables; • disability by group; • educational context (special school, integration/inclusion in mainstream school, general support for life); • educational level (preprimary, primary, secondary, tertiary, lifelong learning); • type of ICT intervention (technical, pedagogical, wider-context; Conole & Oliver, 2007). ICT-supported learning for special needs 207 © 2013 British Educational Research Association Results In this section, the data are presented in the order in which the research questions were given previously, starting with ICT-supported learning interventions, followed by ICT-supported learning by disability group, then groups of participants by relationship with ICT and school level, then research designs and sample sizes, and finally the findings regarding inclusion and mainstreaming, outlining educational context (special school, integration/inclusion in mainstream school or general support for life). The number of identified papers was 118 (all 118 papers are listed in the references section); the percentage of papers published during each of five time periods is presented in Figure 1. After the starting period of 1970–1985, the review findings identified growth during the periods of 1986– 1995, 1996–2000 and 2001–2005 and extensive growth during the period 2006–2011. Among the selected journals, BJET has the highest number of relevant papers (44), followed by CE (34) and JCAL (14). BJET published the most papers (18) during the period 2001–2005, and CE published the most (20) during 2006–2011. The number of relevant papers by journal is presented in Figure 2. Based on the content, papers were divided into two groups according to whether they focused on the pedagogical or the wider context (Table 1). They fell into nine types: papers on ICT access, papers on teaching and learning methods, papers on development and testing of ICT solutions, reviews, assessments, papers on inclusion, papers on behavioural and social development, papers on use of information technology and papers on interaction. Table 2, which lists all 118 papers, presents research topics related to ICT-assisted learning for people with disabilities and/or special needs, organised by disability group. Disability terms are used as originally published in the papers. Throughout the world, groups of persons with disabilities are classified very differently. In addition there are variations in terms between the USA and the UK, for example, “learning difficulties” versus “learning disabilities” (Lindsay, 2007). The information about past research in Table 2 will inform the future research, design and development of inclusive