“Hands on iPad” – How do students with intellectual disability participate in media aspects of digital and inclusive teaching?

Background

Considering the transformation processes of inclusion and digitality in tandem is gaining importance in both research and teaching. Digital media have the potential to enable students with intellectual disability (ID) to participate in lessons through multimodality, interactivity, and adaptivity.

Aim

Using video data from a project week on digital storytelling with iPads, this paper empirically examines how extensively first and second-grade students with ID participate in the use of an iPad in an inclusive setting.

Methods and procedures

Using video data from 16 inclusive pairings, the exact timing for when each person had their hands on the iPad was coded, and subcategories were used to determine the type of access to the iPad.

Outcomes and results

A key finding is that students with ID have significantly less access to the iPad than their classmates without ID.

Conclusions and implications

We discuss this result critically in light of theoretical assumptions about the importance of digital media for academic participation in inclusive education. Research needs as well as implications for teaching practice are formulated.

What this paper adds?

This study provides insights into the academic participation of students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in the context of inclusive education and the role of digital media in this process. As it is assumed, that digital media can foster the participation of students with ID, we focus on both the amount of time spent using an iPad and the way it was used in an inclusive education setting. This paper highlights the potential for a discrepancy in participation in inclusive instruction with digital media, which appears problematic concerning the goal of academic participation for all students. Though the paper cannot provide a definitive answer to how students with ID can achieve equal access to digital media, the results of this study show that this discrepancy must be considered as inclusive and digitally supported instruction progresses.