Role_of_E-Lng_in_Empowering_Learners_in_Inclusive_Setting

Role of e-learning in empowering the learners in inclusive setting. V.A.L.Prasuna, Lecturer in Education, M.E.S.Teachers College, Bangalore-10 ------------------------------------------------- Information and Communication Technology has provided a new access dimension to the field of education. A great flexibility is provided with the e-learning with respect to place, time and methodology, meeting the individual differences of the learners. Students with disabilities, with their diverse needs are successfully accommodated in the educational programs with the support of Information Technology. E-learning has the potential to improve the life of learners by providing opportunities for growth, development and inclusion. However, the full potential of such technologies is unlikely to be achieved without concurrent changes in pedagogical practices. Pedagogical practices such as cooperative learning, collaborative learning have great potential for synergy with Information communication technology to benefit learners with disabilities. In this paper the author discusses how e-learning can support and improve learning in an inclusive setting, relationship between e-learning and different pedagogies. The author concludes the paper by discussing the application of emerging technologies to the connected pedagogical issues. ------------------------------------------------- Key Words:-E-learning, inclusive setting, pedagogical practices. Introduction: - In the global context of Education for All, every child has the right to attend the School. But 77 million children are not in schools (UNESCO 2006) - and at least 25 million of them have disability (World Bank 2003). Even more appalling, no more than 5% of children with disabilities complete even a primary education. Most of those children live in developing countries. In Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and countries in transition, many children with disabilities are also out of school. Reports say that most of the children with disabilities do not attend the school with their non-disabled peers or do not receive the support they need. Although the benefits of education are obvious to the society, attitude towards the disabled is indifferent and callous. The families of the disabled remained frustrated, as the education in schools separate disabled from their non-disabled peers leading a school life in segregation and isolation. Both the groups are not learning to get along with each other. These children with disability are not forming the friendship they need later in life in order to fully participate in their communities. In developing countries, the situation is still worse with many children are out of school, there would never be enough resources to build new schools for all the children with disabilities. For this, the answer is inclusive education or integrated education. Integrated education Vs Inclusive education – In integrated education children with disabilities are accepted into regular classes, but the class structure didn’t change. Usually these attempts are successful only if the students with disability have an assistant to help them. In fact, these assistants are the true teachers as the regular classroom teachers did not accept the responsibility of the children with disabilities. Both families and educators saw that integration would not work. It would be too expensive to provide aids for all the children with disabilities, and the aid was often a barrier to form relationship with other children. But both parents and educators saw advantages of learning children with and without disabilities together. The children with disabilities could learn and model from the other children; and they could make friends with non-disabled children in their community. Children without disabilities learned about diversity and teachers learned to provide individualized approaches. Teachers were challenged to find innovative strategies to teach cooperation. UNESCO, in 2006, describes inclusive education as …..a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through inclusive practices in learning, cultures and communities and reducing exclusion within and from education. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision which covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that it is the responsibility of the regular system to educate all children. In inclusive education schools should be completely adapted to the needs of the students and not students to adapt to schools. Inclusive classrooms are ones where students enjoy learning. They are dynamic. They recognize that there are multiple intelligences –including verbal, linguistic, musical/rhythmic, body/kinesthetic, visual/spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic (Gardner, 1983) – and a good teacher taps them all. But inclusion doesn’t mean that putting the entire responsibility on the teacher. An inclusive system provides support to teachers. It recognizes that students with disabilities need to have their special needs addressed-whether through provision of equipment like braillers or hearing aids, by making schools more physically accessible, curriculum adaptation and appropriate teacher training, or by withdrawing students for special training such as sign language for deaf students or mobility training for students who are blind. The reasons for the inclusive approach can be broadly grouped into three categories. 1. Human rights- every person has the right to be educated along with others. 2. Quality of Education- inclusive education provides better emotional and social development and more or less the same level of cognitive development leading to better results than integrated education. 3. Social reasons- Any educational segregation makes the learner to develop prejudices which are difficult to overcome at a later stage. Only inclusive education starting at an early age, can prepare the child and the environment for optimal living within the social community in harmony leading to lifelong learning. Inclusive education on Global agenda for education Some of the important conventions which support the right to education for all and inclusive model of education are Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art.26) 1948, European Convention on Human Rights (1st Protocol) 1952, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), The World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons (1982), The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), The world Conference on Education for all (Jomtein, 1990), The World Conference on Special Needs Education (Salamanca, 1994), The World Conference on Mental Retardation (New Delhi 1994), The World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000),The E-9 Ministerial Conference on EFA (Brazil, 2000). A comprehensive set of commitments to inclusive education was made by governments and international institutions in Salamanca in 1994. A few years later, in 2000, governments and international institutions adopted Education for All and the Millennium Development Goal for universal primary education. They now constitute the global education agenda to be achieved by 2015. Yet a clear commitment to inclusive education is nowhere to be found in this framework. After the Dakar Framework for EFA was adopted a few, relatively small, initiatives were established to promote inclusive education. Fifteen years after Salamanca, the UN Convention recognizes right to education for people with disabilities. It establishes the obligation on governments and the mandate for international institutions to make education systems inclusive. So the global commitment to inclusive education has strengthened between Salamanca and the CRPD (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) 2006. But taken together, these four global commitments make clear that inclusive education has been, at best, an afterthought on the global agenda for education. Inclusive Setting for Effective Schooling:-Placing the learner in the classroom doesn’t mean inclusion, but the learner being the member of the group, with a role to play, as in cooperative learning, then the learner experiences the inclusion. Learners, who work together, develop liking to each other. Therefore, if the learners with disability are chosen as friends and accepted, understanding and empathy develops among the others and inclusion has a positive influence on the lives of all learners. Learners with and without disability working together promote a sense of well-being. This in turn promotes self-confidence, self-respect, empowerment, opportunities to participate in groups and a sense of belonging to a community, in learners with disability. Through co-operative practices, learners with disability can have access to highly motivated learners providing excellent role models and possibly enhancing aspirations. The strategies used to achieve inclusive education for learners with disabilities can be used to improve the general school learning conditions. The same strategies can benefit the children with various learning difficulties, as well as improve the quality of education for all children in the class. It is widely accepted that the conditions required to allow for successful inclusion will contribute to overall school improvement and high levels of achievement for all children. The Dakar Framework makes clear that an inclusive learning environment is an essential attribute of high-quality education. There are different models and practices of inclusive education and these practices can be used to meet the needs of diverse school population. E-learning is one of the tools which can be used to achieve the goals of inclusion in the schools. E-learning and different pedagogies related to it: - E-learning is a subset of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which uses computers and telecommunication networks in the field of education to give the information to the learners. In e-learning there is a major paradigm shift to constructivist paradigm from behaviourist paradigm (Constructivism has its roots in the psychology-based traditions going back to Dewey (1966), Bruner (1962; 1966), Piaget (1970) and Vygotsky (1978)). In constructivist paradigm knowledge is not transmitted rather been constructed by the learner. The classroom is learner centered where the teacher is a facilitator and helps the learner to promote his/her individual learning (scaffolding). Often the teacher extends his/her role beyond the classroom. By integrating technology with constructivist methods, such as problem-based learning, project based learning teachers can lead the learners towards mastery learning. For example RAFT (Remote Accessible Field Trips) project, by UK Field Studies Council and British Ecological Society, provides a platform for sustaining and developing field work for all the learners, including those with disabilities, with the help of technology, to benefit the learners with valuable educational experience. In this project, instead of whole class going to the field trip, a section of the class travels to the field site and the remaining participate live from the classroom using telecommunication links. With the help of portable computers, real time communication takes place for the classroom with the field workers, via video conferencing. Students in both the field and classroom will thus be able to interact in a synchronous fashion. This will enable all students to obtain a strong feel for the field work. It is also possible for remote classrooms and experts to be in real-time communication and able to interact. Students in the classroom work in groups with each group working on different aspects of the topic under investigation. Here the real challenge for the people in the field is responding to the questions and enquiries of the classroom that have different schemas of the problem and environment and vice versa. Learning takes place by assimilating and accommodating the schemas of the world in response to cognitive challenges and conflict, by interacting with the events and often from equally able peers. The learning is effective, as effective learning is primarily socially constructed, especially when a relative expert offers scaffolding to a less advanced learner at a level which is just appropriately challenging, zone of proximal development. Thus ICT contributes to meaningful learning. For meaningful learning the learning has to be active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative. With the help of technology learners interact with the environment and manipulate the objects in that environment, observe the effects of their intervention and construct their own interpretations of the phenomena resulting manipulation. Learners integrate their new experiences and interpretations with their prior knowledge about the world, and construct simple mental models to explain what they have observed. Learning is therefore constructive, articulate/reflective. Meaningful learning is also intentional, since learners articulate their learning goals, what they are doing, the decisions they make, the strategies they use, and the answers that they have found. Learning tasks are situated and authentic as they are real-world tasks or simulated in some case-based or problem based learning environment. Meaningful learning is cooperative or collaborative in the sense that learners work in groups, socially negotiating a common expectation and understanding of the task and the methods they will use to accomplish it. ICT in developing the learning environment: - Technology can be used to facilitate knowledge construction. Learners learn with technologies when they support (i) knowledge construction (ii) explorations (iii) learning by doing (simulation) (iv) learning by conversing (collaborating with others) (v) learning by reflecting. ICT can be used as a tool for developing thinking skills. Global network technology provides learners with the platform to develop their social, communication and collaboration skills through participating in online discussions. Modeling tools allow learners to show how ideas are dynamically related. Dynamic relationships are causal. Knowing causes of events or conditions would help people predict them and try to minimize the harmful effects. Spreadsheets and simulation systems are examples of software tools for representing dynamic relationships. Software tools are available to build their own expert systems. Building expert systems requires learners to synthesize knowledge by making explicit reasoning, thereby improving retention, transfer and problem solving ability. Present status of ICT in the schools: - Currently few schools are using the computers for drill and practice, and computer based tutorials. Unfortunately these two will not allow the learners to construct their own meaning. Computers are also used in schools as productive tools like word processing software, spreadsheets, computer aided design tools and graphic packages, but they are not being used as tools to learn with. Learners are using World Wide Web to download or copy material from, easily and quickly, rather than constructing and representing their own ideas. Suggestions: - Meeting the needs of the learners with disabilities is a challenge. The requirements of the learners differ with type of disability and degree of disability. To meet the challenges the entire education system should be transformed right from curriculum construction, teacher training to infrastructure. * Schools/classrooms should be learner centered. * Pedagogies should be collaborative/ cooperative. * The physical environment should be accessible with appropriate facilities. * Schools should find responsive and flexible ways to meet the needs of the learners. * Learning experiences should help children cope mentally, physically with stress. * While building values and attitude, peace and empathy should be emphasized. * Policies and standards should support new learning environments. * Technology should suit to the educational goals and standards. * Assessment should be formative for the teacher to design and modify the instruction and also to monitor the progress of the learner. * Teachers should be provided both in-service and pre-service training in using the new technologies and meeting the needs of the learners. * Teachers should have access to contemporary technologies, software and telecommunication networks. * Schools should provide/update the infrastructure of hardware and software. * Community partners should provide expertise, support and real life interactions. * Ongoing financial support is required for sustained technology use. * To establish and sustain effective learning teacher should provide real world problems, scaffolding. * Norms should be developed for the classroom and school as well as connections to the outside world, that support core learning values as the learning is influenced in fundamental ways by the context in which it takes place in a community- centered approach. Conclusion: - In the context of Right to education, every child has the right to attend the school and get the quality education. The quality of learning is and must be at the heart of the EFA (UNESCO 2000a). For, learners are central to improve quality of education. Thus education should be inclusive responding to the diverse needs of the learners giving weight to their abilities. Inclusive setting with user friendly technology provides required environment to empower the learners. For a world full of competition, stress is on grades and ranking, inclusive approach to teaching and learning is a challenge for both the teachers and learners; unless higher order thinking is the goal of educational reform and constructivist teaching practices should be promoted to achieve this. References:- Anjali Khirwadkar, R.L. Madhav, (2006) ICT in education, An integrated approach Edutracks, 14-17. Connie Laurin-Bowie. (2009) Better Education for All: When we’re Included Too, A Global Report. Universitario de Integración en la Comunidad (INICO) Salamanca, Spain.ISBN: 978-84-692-6607-6 Dr.C.Paul Newhouse. The impact of ICT on teaching and learning: A literature review Western Australian department of Education. Ghosh,Sanat.T (2003). Inclusive education in the Indian context. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers. Loreman et al. (1990) Inclusive Education - A practical guide to supporting diversity in the classroom. Australia: Allen&Unwin Mirjana Radović Marković and Biljana Bodroski Spariosub (2010) Education in Serbia: inclusive and e-learning opportunities Serbian Journal of Management 5 (2) 271 – 281 Noushad Hussain. (2010) Computer based instructional simulations in education: why and how. Edutracks, 10, 22-25. P.S.Chiniwar (2010) The role of e-learning in empowering the students with disabilities.Edutracks, 10, 15-18. 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