A Pilot Study Investigating the Use of Mobile Technology for Coordinating Educational Plans in Inclusive Settings
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SAGE journals
Abstract
Good coordination among school staff and families leads to increased learning quality and academic success for students with
special education needs and disabilities (SEND). This pilot study aims to investigate the use of mobile technology for the
coordination of therapy and learning for students with SEND. This study first follows a participatory design methodology to
identify the key design principles required to inform the design of a coordination mobile app for special education. Then, a
mobile app (IEP-Connect) is designed and implemented with the aim of facilitating information sharing between different parties
involved in the intervention of students with SEND. The proposed app uses the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) as the focal
point of coordination. The evaluation of the app focused on students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as their learning
requires sharing information from different distributed sources. Results from the usability study revealed that the app has
“good” usability and that participants were satisfied with the use of the app for recording and sharing IEP information. The
results of this study provide an understanding of the ways in which a coordination app for special education could be made easy
and rewarding to use.
Description
Keywords
mobile app development, usability, special education, individualized education program (IEP), autism spectrum disorder
Citation
Siyam, N. and Abdallah, S. (2022) “A Pilot Study Investigating the Use of Mobile Technology for Coordinating Educational Plans in Inclusive Settings,” Journal of Special Education Technology, 37(4), pp. 455–468.