Understanding Inclusive Approaches to Technology Adoption
How inclusive are our ideas around planning?
'Instead of starting with our perception of which technologies to use and of what counts as a worthy activity, let's look at what the students are already doing outside of school. What sorts of technologies they have access to at home? Maybe smartphone devices, maybe gaming consoles. They might be engaging in making films for YouTube or TikTok already. How do we incorporate those skills, knowledge and understanding into everyday learning activities to help be more inclusive of all learners?
Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith (Founder of PedTech) P PedT 5b
How can we harness the power of technology to support truly inclusive practice?
'When we think about inclusive practice, we then just want to think about what kinds of tasks are we asking children to undertake. How can we be flexible enough to allow children to have the freedom to respond to the tasks that we set in a way that suits them, builds on their strengths, and doesn't undermine things that they find more challenging? If we're asking children, for example, to write an essay, how can we use technologies to help children for whom writing is more of a challenge? That might be something as simple as a talk-to-text feature, for example, so that the child is then focused on editing and improving their work rather than the laborious task for them in particular, of writing the essay in the first place. For another child, it might be that that type of evidence of learning is not appropriate at all, and they might feel much more capable of displaying their learning and understanding using a totally different approach.'
Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith (Founder of PedTech) PPedT 11 b
How do we know if technology is making a difference?
'There's many of us who are able to point to practice and say, if it wasn't for the technology, I couldn't be doing this. If it wasn't for the technology, these children wouldn't be doing this. And if we then extend that to people, to special educational needs and disabilities, there are children who literally couldn't function in schools without technology; children who it's their voice, children [for whom], it's their means of demonstrating what it is they've learned.'
John Galloway (Inclusion Consultant) & Carol Allen (Education Advisor for IT and Inclusion)
What is the role of UDL?
'It's an offer for everybody, it's not just specialist kit anymore just for the students who've got barriers to learning. This is something which is there. It's there in people's pockets everywhere they go. And it should just be there in every classroom, in every school. And yes, I'm talking about from EYFS up.'
John Galloway (Inclusion Consultant) & Carol Allen (Education Advisor for IT and Inclusion)
How can we harness the power of technology to support truly inclusive practice?
'I think we're in the best position we have ever been in, as teachers, as schools, as educators, as a country, to harness the power of technology for inclusive teaching and learning. I think we've passed the point where there are excuses. I think we've passed the point where it's a choice. I think we've passed the point of no return.'
John Galloway (Inclusion Consultant) & Carol Allen (Education Advisor for IT and Inclusion)
Research papers linked to quotes above:
Holland, B., and Ham, M., A growing danger of the digital use divide