Exploring Digital Technology to enhance the learning environment for pupils with Special Educational Needs Erasmus Project

Project Title

Exploring Digital Technology to enhance the learning environment for pupils with Special Educational Needs

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Disabilities – special needs; Access for disadvantaged; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Context
The main aim of this project was to enhance the learning environment for students with Special Educational Needs through challenging traditional teaching methodologies with the use of Digital Technology to remove barriers to learning, communication and facilitating opportunities to experience the wider world. The partners developed a working group that clearly identified the target group and through a needs analysis approach incorporated institutional priorities and personal motivations to highlight a collaborative aim and concrete objectives.

Objectives and description of undertaken main activities.
1. Develop student’s digital skills through Digital Leader Accreditation Workshops – Throughout the Teaching and Learning Mobilities each school identified pupils with additional needs to participate in workshops facilitated by recognised trainers (Apple Distinguished Educators, Apple Teachers). The content of each workshop focused on the development of transferable digital cross curricular skills, the understanding of accessibility features to reach all learners, and the introduction of new emerging technologies into the curriculum. In total 126 Digital Leaders were identified and trained, 22 workshops delivered and a resource bank of teaching resources made available across each of the five partnering schools.

2. Improve teacher’s skills in the use of digital technology within the classroom – The partner schools audited and identified individually key areas for development regarding staff professional development taking into consideration the profiles of the students enrolled (specific education needs or barriers to learning), their school’s vision, ethos, whole school action plans and resources.. The Project Management Team collated the results and created a menu of Training Workshops and support materials that would be made available to each partner school. and have been made available to each partner school. These included –
– Accessibility Features and Reaching All Learners
– Pupil Digital Learning Journals – Seesaw
– Coding
– Skoog
– Digital Music Making with GarageBand
– Taking the first steps…
– Digital Assessment Tools
– Digital Book Creation – Book Creator, iBook Author
– Moving Image Arts – Animation and Green-screen
– Lego Based Therapy
– Video creation and editing using Clips
– Deployment and Infrastructure
The workshop and support materials have been uploaded onto a shared learning space (iTunesU) and can be accessed by all partnering schools and individuals. During all Teaching and Learning Mobilities an International Regional Training Event was held for all staff. The invitation to this event was shared with local schools and associated educational institutions. We held five International RTC training events throughout the project and had in attendance 430 representatives from various educational backgrounds including schools, colleges, universities, Educational Authorities and Institutions.

3. Develop digital curriculum resources – Resources have been created and stored on a shared learning platform in relation to specific curriculum areas – Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Moving Image Arts, Language and Literacy and Mathematics.

4. Sharing good practice – During the Teaching and Learning Mobilities travelling staff got the opportunity to experience classroom practice by job shadowing teaching staff. The Project Management Team identified individuals in their own school and the host schools were able to facilitate relevant classroom experiences based on this information. Partnering schools presented on the specific whole school structures and strategies that are in place to reduce the barriers to learning for students with additional needs – including teaching styles, resourcing, and Wellbeing support. Staff got the opportunity to ask specific questions, and reflect on their own educational establishment throughout the Teaching and Learning mobilities but also through email, video conferencing and other digital communicational tools.

5. Develop strategies to assist pupils with anxiety or challenging behaviours – A resources bank of materials to support the use of monitoring heart rate and pupil wellbeing has been created consisting of – trigger observation sheets, heart rate monitoring grids, app resources and suggested individual pupil profile sheets.

6. Promote parent’s engagement in pupils learning -It was established that across the partner schools that the level of parental engagement with their child’s learning was low. As a partnering group we identified the need to develop the use of digital learning journals which would automatically connect with a parent app and in real time notify parents to the classroom activities being carried out and the level their child is working at. Parents are able to ‘like’ and add a comment to their child’s learning journal.The Journals also provided a tool to enhanced the ability for students with communication issues.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 87841,75 Eur

Project Coordinator

Cedar Lodge School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Ylitornion yhteiskoulun lukio, Ylitornion Yhteiskoulun Kannatusosakeyhtiö
• Dame Ellen Pinsent School
• Rivers International School Arnhem
• Holy Cross Mercy National School