Inclusive Uses of Digital Technologies for Developmentally and Linguistically Diverse Learners
PI: Mark Warschauer, University of California, Irvine, School of Education
Investigator: Yenda Prado, University of California, Irvine, School of Education
Project Funding: Orange County Educational Advancement Network (OCEAN)
Summary: This project is situated within an emerging body of special education research on inclusive uses of digital technologies. Research to date indicates that developmentally and linguistically diverse emerging readers and writers benefit from instructional supports that scaffold engagement in reading and writing. Within this context, there is an emerging body of research specifically targeting the uses of digital technologies to scaffold learners’ engagement with, and development of, reading and writing. However, this research has not been conducted with developmentally and linguistically diverse learners in full inclusion environments.
We partnered with Tomorrow’s Leadership Collaborative (TLC) Charter School, a full inclusion school integrating developmentally and linguistically diverse students, with and without disability, to examine how digital technologies are used to engage learners as readers and writers. We used an embedded case study design utilizing inductive methodologies to analyze student, teacher, and parent interview, focus group, and field data. Outcomes of this project include an improved understanding of how practitioners and researchers can integrate digital technologies into developmentally and linguistically diverse learners’ reading and writing practices to support:
Investigator: Yenda Prado, University of California, Irvine, School of Education
Project Funding: Orange County Educational Advancement Network (OCEAN)
Summary: This project is situated within an emerging body of special education research on inclusive uses of digital technologies. Research to date indicates that developmentally and linguistically diverse emerging readers and writers benefit from instructional supports that scaffold engagement in reading and writing. Within this context, there is an emerging body of research specifically targeting the uses of digital technologies to scaffold learners’ engagement with, and development of, reading and writing. However, this research has not been conducted with developmentally and linguistically diverse learners in full inclusion environments.
We partnered with Tomorrow’s Leadership Collaborative (TLC) Charter School, a full inclusion school integrating developmentally and linguistically diverse students, with and without disability, to examine how digital technologies are used to engage learners as readers and writers. We used an embedded case study design utilizing inductive methodologies to analyze student, teacher, and parent interview, focus group, and field data. Outcomes of this project include an improved understanding of how practitioners and researchers can integrate digital technologies into developmentally and linguistically diverse learners’ reading and writing practices to support:
- Inclusion and engagement in reading and writing activities
- Identity and growth as readers and writers
- Reading and writing skills development
- Positive attitudes towards reading and writing
