Welcome to the advanced training course ‘Digital Technologies for Inclusive Education’ (3 ECTS), which equips academic staff and other professionals with modern digital technologies to ensure equal access to quality education, including people with special educational needs.
Course topic
Digital technologies for inclusive education make education accessible to all, including people with special educational needs. They help create an inclusive environment where everyone has equal opportunities to learn, adapt materials and interact. Digital technologies are becoming key to building inclusive learning environments, helping to overcome barriers and create equal opportunities for everyone.
Digital technologies open up new opportunities for implementing an individual approach, adapting educational content, and organising a convenient and flexible educational process. At the same time, many teachers do not have sufficient knowledge and skills to effectively use digital tools to make education inclusive. This creates a need for special training of specialists who are able to integrate information and communication technologies and meet the needs of school students with SEN.
Course structure (topics)
- Fundamentals of inclusive education. Digital technologies in inclusive education.
- Adaptive technologies and software.
- Interactive training tools.
- Digital technologies for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).
- Web resources and online tools for inclusive education.
- Safety and ethics of using digital technologies for children with SEN.
Setting up the course
Participants will complete practical assignments that focus on the application of tools adapting learning content, including:
- Setting up digital tools and installing special applications for working in an inclusive environment.
- Work in the Digital Inclusion mobile application.
- Creating PowerPoint presentations with special features for users with special needs.
- Using digital communicators and AAC in the educational process.
- Creation and implementation of gamified content.
- Creating special educational content for SEN.
The course covers the theoretical foundations of inclusive education, the regulatory framework, and modern digital technologies that ensure the accessibility of educational content for people with special educational needs. Particular attention is paid to the practical aspects of specialised software, online platforms, mobile applications and adaptive digital resources to meet the individual needs of students. Practical tasks aimed at developing accessible learning content, designing an inclusive digital environment, and analysing the effectiveness of implemented solutions in pedagogical practice.
During the course, participants will work (online) with methodological guidelines for completing the workshop. The practical part of the course is aimed at developing applied skills while working with digital tools that support inclusive education. In the process of completing the assignments, participants will be able to apply the theoretical knowledge to real-life pedagogical situations.
The form of tasks presentation is online formats: presentations, videos, documents, interactive exercises. Assignments can be submitted in individual or group form.
Assessment
The academic content of this course focuses on real-world issues of a highly open and interdisciplinary nature, and its delivery requires the integration of a range of different academic skills and competencies, from analytical and theoretical to empirical and technical, as well as collaborative reflective practices. Assessment criteria reflect this nature.
The course grade and performance (a total of 3 ECTS credit points) is based on the following:
- Participation in the classroom (personal; 20%)
- Report on practical tasks (group work; 40%)
- Presentation (video, interactive exercises, examples of games) (individual; 40%)
Participation requirements
This interdisciplinary course is open to future educators (students of pedagogical specialities preparing to work in general secondary or preschool education, postgraduate students seeking inclusion or digitalisation of education); practicing teachers and lecturers (teachers working with students with special educational needs, teachers who want to improve their digital competence and implement inclusive approaches in the educational process); teaching assistants/tutors (specialists who directly accompany students with SEN during their studies, people involved in individual educational support); psychologists, social workers, defectologists (specialists who support the educational process and accompany inclusive education); chairs and administrators of educational institutions (educational managers responsible for implementing an inclusive environment and digital innovations in their institutions).
Form of education
This course is varied and will include lectures, class discussions, and practical assignments that focus on the use of tools to adapt learning content. It is designed as a practice-oriented course that carries out project work in an interdisciplinary manner.
Approximate time budget.
This is an intensive 6-week course of 3 ECTS. It requires attendance at all lectures and practical classes. In addition, participants will do individual work in their own time.
Learning outcomes (with Dublin descriptors):
By the end of the course, students will:
- Acquire knowledge of main digital resources and platforms for inclusive learning; understand special programmes, applications and devices (screen readers, speech recognition software, tactile displays, etc.); able to use alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) to support the learning process (knowledge and skills);
- Master the skills of developing and adapting educational materials in accordance with the needs of school students with SEN; master the skills of gamification, application of interactive technologies and multimedia in teaching; gain knowledge of integrating digital tools into traditional and distance teaching methods (knowledge and skills);
- Understand how to build an inclusive learning environment using digital technologies; master the skills of organising interaction between all participants in the educational process (students, parents, colleagues, administration); master the skills of using online services for collaboration and communication (understanding and skills);
- Understand the ethical issues of digital resources employed by school students with SEN; understand the legal framework for inclusive education and digital learning; be able to ensure the security and confidentiality of personal data (understanding and ability).
Results of education by Louis Framework
The Louis Framework is used in EURIDICE education to strengthen overall – higher order – academic and personal learning outcomes. It is based on the AAC&U-Value approach and has been adopted/adapted for higher education for societal impact by the Aurora European University Alliance.
- Critical thinking
- Integrative learning
- Information literacy
- Foundations for life-long learning
Lecturer team
- Tetiana BONDARENKO, Doctor of Pedagogic Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Information Computer Technologies and Mathematics, ERI ‘Ukrainian Engineering and Pedagogical Academy’ ([email protected]);
- Maryna VASYLIEVA, Doctor of Pedagogic Sciences, Professor, Professor of the Department of Pedagogy, Methodology and Management of Education, Deputy Director of the ERI ‘Ukrainian Engineering and Pedagogical Academy’ ([email protected]);
- Iryna SHTEIMILLER, Candidate of Pedagogic Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations at the Karazin Institute of International Relations and Travel Business, Head of the Department of International Relations at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University ([email protected]);
- Roman NESTERENKO, Deputy Head of the Department of International Relations of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University ([email protected]).
- Dr. Olena Mykolenko (General course coordinator, [email protected]).
Virtual classroom
We will use a virtual classroom available on Zoom.
Creative Commons
All materials for this course were created by Tetiana Bondarenko, Maryna Vasylieva, Iryna Shteimiler, and Roman Nesterenko.
