INTRODUCTION:

The rationale behind this assignment was to produce, pilot and evaluate a set of resources to enable a student to learn how to send and receive E-mails which is a basic skill that supports inclusive learning.

The underpinning philosophy of this essay relates to Booth (2000 p.79):

 

“I regard inclusion/exclusion, essentially, as a political process. Possibilities for, and barriers to, inclusion are shaped by all aspects of education and social policy – not just by policies that carry an inclusion label.”

 

 

The Wolverhampton Adult Education Service (WAES) employ me as a specialist ICT instructor, and has provided a vision statement listing its concept of inclusion (see appendix 1). 

The specialist ICT unit supports learners who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The students are segregated, and not fully included into the college network. However when the students have been properly trained they will have gained the techniques to support themselves in further education, and when empowered by the use of technology it will be easier to be fully included in society. In addition, due to the level and intensity being taught relying heavily on audible feedback from the specialist equipment, it makes sense to be in a specialist unit. The students are studying to gain an accreditation, which should be beneficial in building up their self-esteem.

The students gain a lot of support from each other, which has had a positive effect.

This theory is supported by Moore (2000p.26):

 

“Some disabled people gain confidence and a positive self-identity through mixing with similarly disabled people and escaping the oppression of a disabling society.”

 

WAES have made some alterations to the premises to comply with the new amendments to the disability discrimination act (DDA), which has gone some way in facilitating learners with impairments to access services. 

To find out more about the DDA visit:

http://www.nta.nhs.uk/programme/national/mapping14.PDF

  So to comply with the DDA accessibility was an important factor in the design and development of the resources.  The environment that WAES has created is appropriate and stimulating, allowing for differentiation. 

This has been achieved by creating some minor environmental adaptations at little or no cost, such as changes in floor surfaces, sound clues and tactile labels.  We have doors that open automatically, and a fully equipped suite of computers with specialist software to assist with certain impairments. 

 

My personal experience with sight loss, and how visually impaired students perform within their own guidelines, moving from dependence to independence was a significant advantage in the design and development of the resources created. 

 We can provide one to one support for students that need it without being invasive.   Student support assistants who get paid considerably less than tutors keep a term- time review for each student (see appendix 2).

 

Lee, B. and Mawson, C. (1998 p38) argues:

 

“A third (30 per cent) of classroom assistants are unhappy with their 'pay'.”

The student support assistance are valued and treated as equals, which goes some way in compensating for the lack of pay.

Lee and Mawson  (1998p.12) argues:

 

"Value them as individuals and professionals in partners with school teaching staff parents and governors”.

 

We have organised workshops regarding how to use ICT with specialist software for visually impaired students and all support staff were very enthusiastic and requested further training. 

 

There is a pen picture with an outline of the student, and a completed learning styles questionnaire in appendix 3.

This learner attended a school for the blind, which has had a significant impact on her early education.  Apparently the specialist school seemed to concentrate more on self-care than academic achievement. The consequence for the student was that she left school without qualifications and only gained basic literacy skills. She stated that it would be preferable to be taught in a specialised unit because they understand her needs which could suggest she is some what institutionalised.

 

 Moore (2000, p.20) argues:

 

“Many specials schools placed a huge emphasis on practical tasks.”

However I believe this is not a universal phenomenon, due to the fact I have taught student’s who have attended University, having already attended a school for the blind.

 

 

The initial assessment method was made accessible and recordable for the learner’s use.  It served as a self-assessment approach, which was incorporated into the resource. This approach is important because it includes the student in the assessment process (see Appendix 4).

 Jacobson. (2000 p.133) supports this theory:

 

“ Students with learning difficulties want to be involved        in their own assessments and reviews of their learning.”

                   

The initial assessment was useful to establish the student’s prior learning, and the preferred format for receiving information. This was completed before the student was given either resource. 

 

The aim of the first resource was to encourage the student to develop her listening skills, in order to learn how to send an E-mail after proof reading it for spelling and grammatical errors.  The intention of the second resource is that the learner would attempt to send an E-mail requesting a resource.

 

The learning objectives were positive ‘can do’ statements structured at the learner’s level, and at the same time being progressive, demonstrating that the resource allowed for differentiation. The outcome of the resource was that the student demonstrated that she could send an E-mail free of spelling and grammatical errors. 

 

 

There is a detailed outline of the resources that deals with the copyright issue and gives a list of resources in appendix 5.  The student was provided with a set of step-by-step instructions with each resource in Braille, large print and audiotape (see appendix 6)

The first resource was put onto a compact disk and is a compilation of audio information, extracted and inserted into PowerPoint in manageable chunks from tutorials, specifically designed for visually impaired students. This fits the student’s needs, cutting down on jargon and the use of non- pictorial information that is not important to the visually impaired student (See appendix 7).

 This approach was chosen because the student stated during her initial assessment, that audio information would be her preferred format. The compilation consists of audio information, that should enable the student the ability to develop a key skill in ICT, while improving basic skills in literacy, by providing an audio demonstration on how to proof read a document for spelling and grammatical errors. Adding slides, with information on how to manually edit documents and send E-mail attachments, can further develop the resource. 

The fact the student was identified as a pragmatist was a factor behind me trying something new and practical. 

Duff (2000) asserts that:

 

 “Pragmatists are said to enjoy trying out new ideas, theories, and techniques to see if they work in practice”

 

 http://www.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/trr/Issue3/Is3-1_4.htm

 

The second resource consists of an accessible system on floppy disk created in Microsoft Excel to be used with the student’s Jaws screen reader, in order for the learner to request resources by sending an E-mail which is regarded as a basic skill in today’s society. In fact I would go further and describe sending e-mails as a social skill, enabling students with impairments to compete on an equal basis with people who do not have impairments.

Frankel and Reeves (1998 p. 39) argues:

 

“The concept of basic skills must be widened to provide greater recognition of self-care and safety and scientific , technical (including information technology) , practical, aesthetic and social skills”

 

  The student followed her step-by-step instructions and entered on a hyper-link on the requested resource, which sent me an E-mail. The student sent me a message after proofing it for spelling and grammatical errors, a basic skill she acquired by listening to the first resource.  The information was spoken at all times due to the screen reader and the design of the resource. The learning experience for the learner was the ability to acquire information in an appropriate format, a basic right that has been a barrier for this particular student. 

Sutcliffe and Jacobsen (1999p.33) argues:

 

 “Basic rights such as access to information, choice and education have frequently been denied to people with learning difficulties. Some groups have missed out more than others”.

 

 

Throughout the planning and design stage, the student was consulted on what she wanted out of the resources,.   Moore, M.  (2000 p20) argues:

 

“Inclusion essentially involves disabled people in the planning and evaluation of educational policy and provision.”

 

 The student stated that it was important to have easy to follow instructions in a range of formats due to her fluctuating vision. She felt the first resource was easy to use even though she had only basic keyboard skills.  Her thoughts regarding improvements for the first resource was that she would need to use it over a long period of time in order to suggest improvements.  These thoughts were provided on cassette tape (see appendix 8)

The student sent me an E-mail, which served as a record form to prove the success of the second resource.

  (see appendix 10). 

However the response to the first E-mail was very short, so I got her to expand on the next message.  The next message was not much longer, so to improve the resource I could have stipulated it needed to be over 50 words long.

 

The vision statement WAES have produced demonstrates an ethos towards a concept of inclusive learning.  It would seem that they provide a facilitative classroom, which supports the student with varying impairments, and allows for discovery learning through a holistic program.