Views /Opinion

Engaging educators, parents and children for inclusive learning

Doha: Inclusive education refers to the pedagogical approach that aims to ensure every student, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic, or other conditions, has the opportunity to learn and participate in educational settings alongside their peers.

This concept is grounded in the belief that education is a fundamental human right and plays a crucial role in building more inclusive societies. It seeks to address and remove barriers to learning and participation and to foster an environment where diversity is valued, and all students can thrive. The role of technology in achieving inclusive education is increasingly significant and multifaceted.

Technology has the potential to be a great equalizer in the educational landscape, offering numerous benefits. Technology can provide alternative forms of access to learning materials for students with disabilities. For instance, text-to-speech software helps students with visual impairments or reading difficulties, while speech-to-text software supports those with mobility issues or writing challenges. Technology facilitates communication and collaboration among students of diverse needs, breaking down social, physical, and language barriers.

Nowadays, technology comes in multiple forms and shapes, pushing innovation to unimaginable limits. Tangible technologies, which encompass physical objects designed to interact with digital information, offer a unique and innovative pathway to enhance inclusive education. These technologies, such as interactive tabletops, physical manipulatives connected to digital applications, and touch-based devices, provide sensory-rich experiences that are particularly beneficial for learners with diverse needs.

For example, students with visual impairments can benefit from tactile interfaces that translate visual content into touchable formats, while those with motor difficulties can interact with learning materials through gesture-based or physically adaptive devices.

By offering a multisensory approach to learning, tangible technologies can cater to a wide range of learning styles and abilities, fostering an environment where all students have equal opportunities to engage, understand, and express themselves.

This hands-on, experiential form of learning not only supports the principles of inclusive education by accommodating different learning preferences and needs but also promotes active participation, collaboration, and engagement among all students, creating a more inclusive and accessible educational landscape.

With my research team at the College of Science and Engineering, we collaborated with teachers from Shafallah Center for Persons with Disability and Hamilton International School Qatar to co-create, with autistic children, tools that will support them in engaging in play during learning. This project is funded by Qatar National Research Fund as part of its National Priority Research Programme.

Play is a critical element of childhood development, with its social, educational, emotional, and developmental impacts well-documented through extensive research.  Play during learning is a fundamental and powerful approach to education, especially for children. It merges the natural joy and curiosity of play with structured learning objectives, creating a dynamic environment where children can explore, discover, and understand the world around them.

This method is rooted in the belief that children learn best when they are engaged and motivated and play naturally fosters these conditions. Integrating play into learning supports cognitive development, as it encourages children to think critically, solve problems, and make connections between ideas. Through play, children experiment with new concepts, test their understanding, and learn from their mistakes in a safe and supportive setting.

 Our project is dedicated to facilitating the social inclusion of children with autism within educational settings by integrating them into both outdoor and indoor social play activities. Our goal is to collaboratively create and refine a multi-sensory interface that incorporates cutting-edge technology with the children.

To achieve this, our team has undertaken an exploratory phase to thoroughly understand the dynamics of play within the current educational setting. Based on these insights, we have moved towards co-designing a tool that promotes collaborative play, working closely with the children themselves to ensure the tool meets their needs and preferences.

In assessing the tool’s effectiveness within the school environment, it became clear that it significantly boosted children’s collaboration, engagement, and, ultimately, their learning experience.

Engagement with educators, teachers, and children is crucial in designing impactful inclusive education tools that promote learning and engagement. This collaborative approach ensures that the tools developed are not only theoretically effective but also practically applicable and responsive to the diverse needs of learners.

Educators and teachers bring invaluable insights into the classroom dynamics, understanding the specific challenges and opportunities present in teaching a diverse group of students. Their expertise in pedagogical strategies and firsthand experience with students’ learning preferences and obstacles are essential in shaping tools that are both accessible and engaging.

 In the area of human-computer interaction, involving children in the design process, especially through participatory design methods, is known to empower them to express their needs, preferences, and feedback, making the tools more user-friendly and relevant to their learning journey.

This direct involvement of all stakeholders fosters a sense of ownership and ensures the development of educational tools that are not only inclusive but also motivating and effective in promoting learning.

By prioritizing engagement with educators, teachers, and children, the creation of inclusive education tools becomes a collaborative, iterative process that directly addresses the needs of the learning community, leading to more meaningful and impactful educational experiences.

Qatar Foundation provides a unique opportunity to foster such an engagement with its collaborative ecosystem where engaging with teachers, students, and parents is facilitated and encouraged.

Dr. Dena Al-Thani is Associate Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Programmes at the College of Science and Engineering at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, discusses in this Op-ed peice, the role of the collaborative design of educational technology in inclusive education.