scholarly journals Theoretical and Methodological Validation of the Action Research: Methodology of the Scientific Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Ona Monkevičienė ◽  
Alvyra Galkienė
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Design For Learning

AbstractThis chapter presents the theoretical and methodological substantiation of the action research, which was used by collaborating research teams from Poland, Lithuania, Finland and Austria for the study “Improving Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning”. The chapter discusses different sociocultural contexts in the participating countries and what led to the research question, which asks “How does the implementation of universal design for learning enrich the practice of inclusive education in different educational contexts”. This question was looked at in terms of its relevance to the four above-mentioned countries. It can be argued that the action research is favourable for the development of theory and that inclusive education can be changed and reflected by it. The types of action research chosen by the research teams are discussed, those being collaborative, and critical participatory. The cycles of action research and their goals are also presented. Seeking to substantiate the choices of research teams regarding the process and methods of action research, this chapter elaborates on the aspects of action research organisation that are interpreted differently by the researchers: Can the action research be conducted only by the researcher–teachers or can it be carried out by teachers in cooperation with researchers? Is it possible to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research? The problem with quality and validity of action research is discussed.

scholarly journals Examining a Universal Design for Learning Approach in Music Education

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Miedema
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Percussion Instruments

typical classroom in Ontario is filled with a variety of learners with diverse needs. These various needs require teachers to differentiate instruction or create a universal design for learning (UDL) so that all students can participate. As a result, research is needed to explore and describe successful programs that can support all learners. One way to do this is to develop pedagogical practices for atypical learners and examine how these could be broadened for more typical learners. This research examines a series of general music lessons, including singing, playing percussion instruments and musical games, for atypical twelve-year-old learners. An Action Research methodology was used to examine six weeks of lessons taught to three students by the primary researcher. Data were collected using reflective journals, portfolios and videos of the sessions. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine similarities and differences in learner profiles, trends in the content of the lessons and pedagogical development over time, as well as to define some strategies or activities that could form the basis of a UDL approach. Despite the students’ atypical learning profiles, only minor accommodations were required during lessons. Overall, this research demonstrates the value of a pedagogical approach that articulates learning goals while allowing the path to achieving those goals to be different for each student, reinforcing the importance of the UDL approach. Moreover, the action research methodology highlights the importance of incorporating opportunities to work with atypical students in music teacher education, so that future teachers can develop a UDL approach. 

scholarly journals Universal Design for Learning: The More, the Better?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Marvin Roski ◽  
Malte Walkowiak ◽  
Andreas Nehring
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Epistemic Beliefs ◽  
Learning Gains ◽  
Inclusive Settings ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Multiple Indicator ◽  
Science Classes ◽  
Mimic Approach

An experimental study investigated the effects of applying principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Focusing on epistemic beliefs (EBs) in inclusive science classes, we compared four groups who worked with learning environments based more or less on UDL principles and filled out an original version of a widely used EBs questionnaire or an adapted version using the Universal Design for Assessment (UDA). Based on measurement invariance analyses, a multiple indicator, and multiple cause (MIMIC) approach as well as multi-group panel models, the results do not support an outperformance of the extensive UDL environment. Moreover, the UDA-based questionnaire appears to be more adequately suited for detecting learning gains in an inclusive setting. The results emphasize how important it is to carefully adopt and introduce the UDL principles for learning and to care about test accessibility when conducting quantitative research in inclusive settings.

scholarly journals VALUES SUPPORTING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN DIFFERENT PRACTICES

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 192-202
Author(s):  
Alvyra Galkiene
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
The Real ◽  
Real Existence ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Fundamental Values

This article analyses how fundamental values underpin educational practices that have emerged in the development of society and create the preconditions for the sustainability of inclusive education. Through the analysis of the scholarly literature, the expression of inclusive values in the application of approaches to integrated, individualised inclusive education and Universal Design for Learning is analysed. It has been established that the effectiveness of inclusive education is substantiated in practices which are based on real existing inclusive values: equity, equality, communality and respect for diversity. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the sustainability of inclusive education coincides with the real existence of inclusive values in practice, equally applying to all students.

scholarly journals Reimagining Disability and Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Doolittle Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
White Male ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Regular Classroom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design For Learning

In 1975, Congress enacted a law eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education. Since then, scholarly and popular debates about the effectiveness of inclusive education have proliferated and typically focus on the ability or inability of students with disabilities to succeed in so-called regular classrooms. These debates reflect widespread assumptions that the regular classroom is rightly the province of nondisabled students and a neutral, value-free space that students with disabilities invade and disrupt via their very presence and their costly needs for adaptation. But as many scholars in the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) have argued, these discussions often fail to recognize that the space of the regular classroom, far from neutral, is constructed for a nondisabled, neurotypical, white, male, middle-class "norm" that neither reflects nor accommodates the wide range of diverse learners within it, regardless of whether these learners have been diagnosed with a disability. A DSE perspective sees the educational environment, not students with disabilities, as the "problem" and calls for a Universal Design for Learning approach to education, or the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities and backgrounds. Agreeing with this DSE perspective, this article uses an autoethnographic approach to reexamine inclusive education and to consider how university classrooms, pedagogy, and curricular materials can be improved in order to accommodate all students, not just those with disabilities. Ultimately, the article argues that Universal Design for Learning has the potential to radically transform the meaning of inclusive education and the very concept of disability.

scholarly journals Transformations of the Teaching–Learning Process Towards Inclusive Education as a Result of the UDL Approach Implementation

2021 ◽  
pp. 95-118
Author(s):  
Jolanta Baran ◽  
Tamara Cierpiałowska ◽  
Ewa Dyduch
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Teaching Learning

AbstractThis chapter discusses the assumptions, implementation and deliverables of an action research project in a selected Polish class of integrated form. The main objective of the project was to trigger changes in the learning–teaching process based on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach and thus promote inclusive education. The action research lasted one school semester. The empirical data, mainly qualitative, triangulating various sources of information and synthesising perspectives, were used to identify specific topics and threads identified in the gathered inputs, to present it in an orchestrated manner and to interpret it. It has been indicated that UDL approach implementation has a positive impact on the course of the teaching–learning process and optimises it to enhance the activity, commitment, self-reliance and responsibility of students and develops their cooperation, which breeds inclusion in education. Meanwhile, it stimulates teachers to change their mindset with a view to the essence of success in education and supports their daily practice.

Pedagogy for Inclusive Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Loreman
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Inclusive Pedagogy

A number of different pedagogical approaches have been presented as being helpful for teachers working with students in inclusive learning environments. These approaches were developed in the late 20th century and were largely derived from models of special education. Many of them are still evident in classrooms around the world today. Based on approaches that appear to have been effective, a set of principles for the development and implementation of inclusive education pedagogy, as identified in the academic literature, can be discerned. These principles, however, are best viewed through a critical lens that highlights cautions for teachers engaged in inclusive teaching. Examples of inclusive approaches that align with some basic principles of inclusive pedagogy include but are not limited to Differentiated Instruction, Universal Design for Learning, and Florian and Spratt’s (2013) Inclusive Pedagogical Approach in Action framework.

Cross-Pollinating Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning: Toward an Inclusive Pedagogy That Accounts for Dis/Ability

2016 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico R. Waitoller ◽  
Kathleen A. King Thorius
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy ◽  
Cross Pollination ◽  
Interdisciplinary Dialogue ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Inclusive Pedagogy ◽  
Education Agenda ◽  
Language And Ethnicity

In this article, Federico R. Waitoller and Kathleen A. King Thorius extend recent discussions on culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) in order to explicitly account for student dis/ability. The authors engage in this work as part of an inclusive education agenda. Toward this aim, they discuss how CSP and universal design for learning will benefit from cross-pollination and then conclude by suggesting interdisciplinary dialogue as a means to building emancipatory pedagogies that attend to intersecting markers of difference (e.g., dis/ability, class, gender, race, language, and ethnicity).

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