Voices of Primary School Teachers About the Intelligent Material System Developed for Inclusive Education
Abstract
This study investigates the primary school teachers’ perceptions towards the Intelligent Material System (IMS), which was developed to enhance the quality of inclusive environments and support the academic skills of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Within this scope, IMS training was conducted with 84 classroom teachers who worked at primary schools in İstanbul. Following the training, an open-ended questionnaire and two focus group interviews were used to collect data. The findings revealed that IMS has the potential to support the students with SEN academically, as it provides motivating and rich content, has a user-friendly interface and a desired level of accessibility despite the system’s limitations and the need for improvements noted by the participants.
Keywords
Special Education, Special Education Technology, Intelligent Material System, Technology, Inclusive Education
Supporting Institution
This study was supported by the European Union Increasing the Quality of Special Education Services for Inclusive Education Grant Scheme (Project Number: TREESP2.1.IQSES/P-03/032) and also supported by the Scientific Research Project Coordination Unit of Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa (Project number:SDP-2022-36920).
Project Number
TREESP2.1.IQSES/P-03/032, SDP-2022-36920
Ethical Statement
Ethics committee approval for this study was received from the Ethics Committee of Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa (Date: September 09, 2021; Decision Number: 2021/214).
References
- Acenas, M. S., & Dalonos, S. J. (2020). Training program on special education: A development of teachers’ knowledge and skills for the proper implementation of inclusive education. American Journal of Educational Research, 8(5), 272-277.
- Akalın, S. (2015). Opinions and needs of mainstream classroom teachers about classroom management. Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education, 16(03), 215-236.
- Akcan, E., & İlgar, L. (2016). Investigating the adequacy of inclusive classroom teachers about inclusion. HAYEF Journal of Education, 13(2), 27-40.
- Andrian, R. A., Yasin, A., Hanan, M. R. I., Ramadhan, M. I., Ridwan, T., & Hikmawan, R. (2022). Development of a digital platform prototype, to facilitate inclusive learning for children with special needs. Journal Online Informatika, 7(2), 161-167.
- Avcıoğlu, H. (2011). Mental Handicapped Class Teachers’ Thoughts on Preparing IEP (Individualized Education Program). Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education, 12(01), 39-56.
- Berndsen, M., & Luckner, J. (2012). Supporting students who are deaf or hard of hearing in general education classrooms: A Washington State case study. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 33(2), 111-118.
- Birkan, B. (2002). Erken özel eğitim hizmetleri. Ankara University Faculty of Educational Sciences Journal of Special Education, 3(02), 99-109.
- Buell, M. J., Hallam, R., Gamel-Mccormick, M., & Scheer, S. (1999). A survey of general and special education teachers' perceptions and in-service needs concerning inclusion. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 46(2), 143-156.
- Burke, K., & Shutlerland, C. (2004). Attitudes toward inclusion: Knowledge versus experience. Education, 125(2), 163-173.
- Cabero Almenara, J., Tena, R. R., & Rodriguez, A. P. (2020). Evaluation of teacher digital competence frameworks through expert judgement: The use of the expert competence coefficient. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 9(2), 275-293.