04. Inclusive Education
Paper
Music for all: Contributions of Technology for Inclusion in Music Learning in Portugal
Davys Moreno1, António Moreira1, Oksana Tymoshchuk1, Carlos Marques2
1University of Aveiro; 2Artistic School Conservatory of Music Calouste Gulbenkian, Aveiro
Presenting Author: Moreno, Davys
In Portugal, inclusive education is considered fundamental as recommended by the current legislation of the country. Despite this, in Artistic Education Programmes, most teachers do not have adequate training to work with children with Special Needs. For this reason, and in order to promote inclusion in Arts Education Programmes of Music, in the year 2018 we started an action-research project, entitled: Inclusion of Children with Special Needs in Arts Education Programmes: From Research to Action.
Through this research, we intend to find solutions so that children with motor disabilities arising from Cerebral Palsy can attend the Art Education Programmes in Primary Education, to develop their potential and musical skills, with possible use of Digital Technologies.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Work financed by FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology, within the scope of the PhD scholarship with reference 2020.07331.BD, and by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, IP, within the scope of the UIDB/00194/2020 project, referring to CIDTFF - Research Center in Didactics and Technology in the Training of Trainers.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedFor the development of this research, we adopted the Action-Research Methodology.
The work plan consists of three major research cycles: a Diagnosis Cycle, a Preparation Cycle, and an Intervention Cycle. Each of these cycles considers planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation actions in an inclusive and change-oriented perspective.
As a result, these Cycles lead us to the practical development of a Training Programme for Arts Education Programmes of Music teachers as well as an Intervention Programme in a Portuguese Artistic School.
Throughout this study, a flexible participant observation posture was adopted, assuming a "technique based on observation, focused on the researcher's perspective, in which the researcher observes directly and in person the phenomenon under study" (Coutinho, 2018, P.370)". In this context, for the development of this study, we chose to use a "flexible approach that involves performing a naturalistic observation of the different environments, using Participant Observation and the Field Diary, conducting interviews and analysing different documents" (Amado, 2017, p. 150).
All the information compiled by this action-research was organized and studied through software-supported content analysis in the webQDA platform (https://www.webqda.net). webQDA is a web-based qualitative data analysis software for all researchers and practitioners who conduct qualitative research.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn this research work, the following actions have already been carried out:
(i) Approval with favourable opinion to carry out this study, by the Ethics and Deontology Council and the General Regulation of Data Protection, of the University of Aveiro; (ii) Characterization of the child with Cerebral Palsy that gave origin to our study; (iii) different bibliographic reviews in different contexts, in order to know what has been done by science so far; (iv) 18 interviews with parents of children with Cerebral Palsy and 18 interviews with professionals who work with children with Special Needs, in order to know their Needs and the Good Practices developed in favour of children; (v) different Short Duration Training Workshops in different establishments in Portugal, in order to raise awareness for Inclusion in Music - music for all; (vi) a PhD internship in the Department of Music Informatics of the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of Milan, Italy, to get to know the different technologies they are working on, which can also be used to promote music learning for users with specific special needs.
At this moment we are ready to develop the Long-Term Training Programme and the Intervention Cycle is taking place in the Artistic School where the child with Cerebral Palsy has already entered.
The results obtained so far show that teachers are not yet prepared for the challenges posed by Inclusion in Artistic Education Programmes. We highlight the need for specific training, focused on the use of Technologies, involving the educational community in an active and collaborative way. Thus, it will be possible to stimulate the potential of children and adults to transform Music Education into Inclusive Education for all.
ReferencesAmado, J. (2017). Manual de Investigação Qualitativa em Educação 3ª edição. Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra/Coimbra University Press. ISBN: 978-989-26-1389-5
Coutinho, C. P. (2018). Metodologia de investigação em ciências sociais e humanas: Teoria e Prática. Coimbra: Almedina. Ministério da Educação/Direção-Geral da Educação (DGE). ISBN: 978-972-40-5137-6.
Costa, A. P., & Amado, J. (2018). Análise de conteúdo suportada por software. Aveiro (PRT): Ludomedia
Davanzo, Nicola (2022). Accessible Digital Musical Instruments for Quadriplegic Musicians, Dipartimento di informatica "Giovanni Degli Antoni"(Doctoral Thesis), Università degli studi di Milano, Itália. https://hdl.handle.net/2434/920339
Frid, E. (2018). Accessible Digital Musical Instruments: A Survey of Inclusive Instruments Presented at the NIME, SMC and ICMC Conferences. In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, Daegu, South Korea, 5–10 August 2018; pp. 53–59.
Frid, E. (2019). Accessible digital musical instruments—a review of musical interfaces in inclusive music practice. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 3(3), 57. https://doi.org/10.3390/mti3030057
Moreno, D., Maia, A. (2022). Accessible Music for Everyone: Discovering Resources. In: Mesquita, A., Abreu, A., Carvalho, J.V. (eds) Perspectives and Trends in Education and Technology. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 256. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5063-5_73
Moreno, D., Moreira, A., Tymoshchuk, O., Marques, C. (2022). Studying Inclusion in Music Education - An Integrative Literature Review as a Support in the Choice of Methodology, Using WebQDA. In: Costa, A.P., Moreira, A., Sánchez‑Gómez, M.C., Wa-Mbaleka, S. (eds) Computer Supported Qualitative Research. WCQR 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 466. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04680-3_12
Moreno, D. & Maia, A. (2021). Descobrindo Tecnologias Facilitadoras da Inclusão na Aprendizagem da Música. In Transformación digital e innovación tecnológica en la Educación. Thomson Reuters, Aranzadi. Pamplona, 427-440.
Moreno, D., Moreira, A., Tymoshchuk, O., Marques, C. (2021). A Child with Cerebral Palsy in Arts Education Programmes: Building Scaffoldings for Inclusion. In: Costa, A.P., Reis, L.P., Moreira, A., Longo, L., Bryda, G. (eds) Computer Supported Qualitative Research. WCQR 2021. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1345. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70187-1_13
Moreno, D., Moreira, A., Tymoshchuk, O., & Marques, C. (2021). Children with special needs in music Arts education programmes: challenges. In String teaching in 21st Century: Bridges between research and practice (pp. 60-74). Edições Politema. https://ria.ua.pt/handle/10773/32444
Moreno, D., Moreira, A., Tymoshchuk, O., & Marques, C. (2021). Finding solutions to promote the inclusion of children with Cerebral Palsy in Arts Education Programmes of Music: an integrative literature review using webQDA. Indagatio Didactica, 13(3), 537-558. https://doi.org/10.34624/id.v13i3.25599
04. Inclusive Education
Paper
Analysis of Technological Barriers with Visually Impaired Students at the University of Ghana
Esmerlinda Kokor Ofoe
University of Ghana, Ghana
Presenting Author: Ofoe, Esmerlinda Kokor
In 2020 when Covid19 struck, about 89% of the world's students were affected by the school shutdown and 24 million of these students are likely to drop out of school (UNESCO, 2020). Further report by UNESCO (2020) expounded the migration of teaching and learning to online has disproportionately affected Student with Disability(SWDs), therefore they are least likely to benefit from online learning.
The challenge with the use of digital technologies is that students with disabilities, face several barriers accessing digital learning platforms. According to Fichten, Olenik-Shemesh, Asuncion, Jorgensen & Colwell (2020) there is a stark incompatibility between software used by universities and the students as a result, most websites for learning are inaccessible with student not knowing the use of these technologies. Even though much has improved in recent decades, there are still technological, structural and attitudinal characteristics that make it difficult for this SWDs to fully participate in society (Dirks, Bühler. Edler, Miesenberger& Heumader,2020)
In Ghana, few studies conducted in higher education have focused on identifying physical barriers (Akoto et al., 2022; Odame et al., 2020; ) and socio-cultural barriers (Adom-Opare, 2022; Ocran, 2022) as the major contributors of barriers to education with no specific mention of the barriers to the use of classroom technology initiatives by student with hearing and visual impairment . In light of this, there is a need to investigate these barriers to inform policy and practice. This study, therefore, fills the gap in research by exploring the widely used classroom technology by students with hearing and visual impairment at the University of Ghana. The study focused on the following to achieve its goal.
What are the widely used digital technologies for visually impairment?
How are these technologies a barrier to students with visual impairment?
What support services are available to visually impaired for use
This study was guided by transformative learning and life course theory. Merriam and Caffarella (1999) define transformative learning as “dramatic fundamental change in the way we see ourselves and the world in which we live”. It describes one’s learning transformation occurring as a result of a 10-stage process that begins with a “disorienting dilemma” which leads to self-examination, planning and some experimentation with new roles and ultimately reintegration. By this, learning is achieved through critical self-reflection on one’s experiencesThis is useful in explaining the changes coping strategies to the use of technology. The study thus draws on the concepts of Transition, Meaning Making and Critical Discourse to explain the changes students face and how they cope
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedUnderpinning Philosophy: This study adopts an interpretivist paradigm, which views reality as relative and subjective (Schwant, 1994; Reason, 1996). Using snowball sampling, 30 students with different categories of hearing and visual impairments at the university of Ghana were sampled. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and observation and analysed thematically (Merriam,1998).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThematic analysis revealed a variety of assistive technology available to students with visual impairment. Auditory-based technologies such as Read Aloud.Natural Reader Speechify.and computer magnifiers are used by students with visual impairment in their academic work. All students used (JAWS- Job Access with Speech), Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) and the university learning management(SAKAI) These findings show that assistive technology is an important tool in the inclusion process and can promote independence and autonomy of students with visual impairment. The education of students with visual need for technological infrastructure and pedagogical support.
ReferencesFichten, C., Olenik-Shemesh, D., Asuncion, J., Jorgensen, M., & Colwell, C. (2020). Higher education, information and communication technologies and students with disabilities: An overview of the current situation. Improving accessible digital practices in higher education: Challenges and new practices for inclusion, 21-44.
Merriam, S B., Caffarella, R.S., & Baumgartner, L. (1999). Learning in adulthood. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. Revised and Expanded from" Case Study Research in Education.". Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St, San Francisco, CA 94104.
Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. In ERIC. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome Way, San Francisco, CA 94104. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED448301
Miesenberger, K., Dirks, S., Bühler, C., & Heumader, P. (2022, July). Cognitive Disabilities and Accessibility: Introduction to the Special Thematic Session. In Computers Helping People with Special Needs: 18th International Conference, ICCHP-AAATE 2022, Lecco, Italy, July 11–15, 2022, Proceedings, Part I (pp. 409-416). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Reason, P. (1996). Reflections on the Purposes of Human Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 2(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780049600200103
Schwandt, T. A. (1994). Constructivist, interpretivist approaches to human inquiry. Handbook of qualitative research, 1(1994), 118-137. UNESCO. (2020, March 4). 290 million students out of school due to COVID-19:
UNESCO releases first global numbers and mobilizes response. Retrieved April 17, 2020, from UNESCO: https://en.unesco.org/news/290-million-students-out-school-due-covid-19unesco-releases-first-global-numbers-and-mobilizes
04. Inclusive Education
Paper
Speech Technology for Improved Literacy, an Exploratory Study of Speech-to-Text Technology as an Inclusive Approach in Lower Secondary Education
Marianne Matre, David Lansing Cameron
Universitetet i Agder, Norway
Presenting Author: Matre, Marianne
Speech-to-text (STT) technology enables pupils to write using their voice and has been presented as an alternative to handwriting and typing for pupils who struggle with writing as it reduces the constraints of transcription (Arcon et al., 2017). Baker, Gersten and Graham (2003) posit that dictation allows pupils to spend less effort on lower-order skills, such as spelling, punctuation and grammar, and enables them to devote more attention to higher-order skills, such as planning content, creating a good structure, and text coherence.
Research indicates that students with learning difficulties are able to produce higher quality compositions when dictating texts to a scribe compared to writing by hand or typing (De La Paz & Graham, 1997; Gillespie & Graham, 2014). Similar outcomes have been observed among children without writing difficulties. For example, Hayes and Berninger, (2009) found that primary school students in grades 2, 4, and 6 showed an increase in the number of ideas generated, as well as both the quantity and quality of texts produced when dictating to a scribe compared to writing texts by hand or on a keyboard. However, the approach was not as effective for older students who have already developed solid handwriting and transcription skills (Hayes & Berninger, 2009).
Given the sensitive emotional development and attitudes of pupils in lower secondary school, the social implications of using STT technology among this age group is an important consideration with respect to creating inclusive classroom environments. Inclusive education has been described as a response to diversity, aiming to empower all learners, celebrate differences in dignified ways and improve participation of all students (Barton, 1997). Access to speech technology may provide several advantages to segregated one-to-one instruction or writing with a scribe. For example, the technology may enable pupils to take part in a greater range of writing activities than would otherwise be available to them (Quinlan 2004). Though, there is a risk that these instructional adaptations may create new forms of exclusion when only provided to individual students. As a student may experience feelings of inferiority or low self-esteem when they are permitted to use resources that are not accessible to their classmates (Polgar, 2011).
To address this issue, researchers in the Speech Technology for Improved Literacy (STIL) project have explored how teachers and school leaders at a Norwegian lower secondary school introduce STT technology as an option for all students during writing activities. Schools are now in a position where they must decide whether STT technology should be accepted as an assistive tool available only to a certain group of students, in certain contexts, or as a tool for all learners. Very little research has been conducted on STT as an inclusive approach.
The STIL project comprises three studies, a scoping review study (study 1), a qualitative interview study (study 2) and a stimulated recall study (study 3). The aim of the scoping review is to assess the size and scope of available empirical research on the use of STT in a lower secondary context and identify the nature and extent of evidence. The second study explores teachers’ experiences with introducing STT as an inclusive approach in a full class environment. While the third study aims to explore how pupils with low writing achievement experience writing a reflective text with STT technology and keyboard.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe STIL project employs an exploratory research design with a sample of six teachers and six pupils from a rural lower secondary school in Norway. The use of more than one data collection method, also known as methodological triangulation (Noble & Heale, 2019) was chosen to enrich and validate findings. According to Denscombe (2017) the aim of an explorative research design is to generate insight and information from a little explored area of research. Exploratory studies are often small-scale and employ qualitative research methods (Denscombe, 2017). The explorative design was considered applicable for the STIL project as there had been conducted little previous research on the use of STT in lower secondary school.
Study 1 is a scoping review aiming to identify empirical studies on the use of STT for adolescents with learning difficulties, published between January 2000 and April 2022. Searches for peer-reviewed articles were conducted in databases ERIC, PsycINFO and Scopus, while grey literature searches were conducted in Google, Google Scholar, the NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. The PRISMA-ScR checklist (Tricco et al., 2018) was used to guide the reporting of findings.
Study 2 is a qualitative interview study where six teachers comprise the sample. The setting was a lower secondary school with 92 pupils in grades 8–10, situated in southern Norway. A team of researchers and the Norwegian National Service for Special Needs Education (Statped) collaborated on the project. The researchers were responsible for gathering data, and Statped employees developed the digital course and led training sessions with teachers and pupils. All 14 teachers at the school took part in the digital course and were invited to participate in the study, to which six teachers agreed.
Study 3 is a stimulated recall study with data from screen recordings, pupil texts and interviews. The pupils had previously been introduced to STT technology by their teachers (in study 2) and had practiced using STT with their classmates for approximately four hours per week for 10 weeks. Six pupils in grades 9 and 10 (M = 14.98 years) were invited to write a text using STT and keyboard. The pupils performed in the lower levels of the national reading test for grade 8, scored in the 30th percentile or lower on a standardized Norwegian spelling test (Skaathun, 2013), and were considered writers with low achievement based on teacher nominations.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe scoping review shows that little research has been conducted on the use of STT for adolescents with learning difficulties in secondary education. It identifies 8 peer-reviewed studies and 5 publications of grey literature. Areas of interest mainly regard five topics: writing related skills, text assessment, writing processes, accuracy of the technology, and participants’ experiences. Findings indicate that writing performance among students with learning difficulties tends to improve when using STT and that parents, teachers, and pupils report positive experiences with the technology.
The study of teachers’ experiences of STT as an inclusive approach shows that implementation of STT technology challenges different aspects of inclusion. The teachers primarily considered SST to be an assistive technology useful for pupils with writing difficulties. Yet, they noted that STT offers opportunities for all pupils to participate in collaborative writing tasks, discuss norms for formal and informal language, and produce first drafts without having to worry about spelling. Findings show that STT provides academic opportunities for most learners; at the same time, it is described as a disruptive and embarrassing element in whole-class environments. The conflict of interest between fulfilling pupils’ social and academic needs became evident when teachers argued that pupils could benefit from being placed in smaller groups and more private locations when using STT.
Preliminary findings from study 3 contest the hypothesis that STT allows pupils to spend less effort on lower-order skills and enables them to devote more attention to higher-order skills. The video and interview analyses show that pupils could not rely on STT to be 100% accurate and provide correct orthography and syntax in Norwegian. The findings suggest that technological issues need to be addressed and sufficient instruction is necessary before STT can be a truly beneficial tool for adolescents with low writing achievement in Norwegian secondary education.
ReferencesArcon, N., Klein, P. D., & Dombroski, J. D. (2017). Effects of dictation, speech to text, and handwriting on the written composition of elementary school English language learners. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 33(6), 533–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2016.1253513
Baker, S., Gersten, R., & Graham, S. (2003). Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: Research-based applications and examples. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(2), 109–123. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221940303600204
Barton, L. (1997). Inclusive education: romantic, subversive or realistic? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1(3), 231-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360311970010301
De La Paz, S., & Graham, S. (1997). Effects of dictation and advanced planning instruction on the composing of students with writing and learning problems. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(2), 203. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.89.2.203
Denscombe, M. (2017). The good research guide: For small-scale social research projects. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014). A meta-analysis of writing interventions for students with learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 80(4), 454–473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402914527238
Hayes, J. R., & Berninger, V. W. (2009). 13 relationships between idea generation and transcription. Traditions of Writing Research, 166.
Noble, H., & Heale, R. (2019). Triangulation in research, with examples. Evidence-based nursing, 22(3), 67-68.
Polgar, J. M. (2011). The myth of neutral technology. In Design and use of assistive technology (pp. 17-23). Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7031-2_2
Quinlan, T. (2004). Speech recognition technology and students with writing difficulties: Improving fluency. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(2), 337. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.96.2.337
Skaathun, A. (2013). The reading test by the Norwegian reading centre [Lesesenterets staveprøve]. Stavanger: University of Stavanger.
Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, et al. (2018) PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation. Annals of Internal Medicine. 169(7) 467-473.
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