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Swimming against the current: Overcoming perceived barriers to technology integration for an experienced urban special education teacher
DISSERTATION

, University of Cincinnati, United States

University of Cincinnati . Awarded

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover if an experienced urban special education teacher could overcome her perceived barriers and integrate technology into her daily lesson plans. This participatory case study used interviews, classroom observations, training observations, and review of official documents as data collection tools. All data collected during this study was manually coded and codes were assigned to the topics and categories as the data presented itself. Grounded theory was used to formulate the findings based on analysis of the data. For the purpose of this study one experienced special education teacher identified her perceived barriers. All of these barriers were addressed through interventions such as providing six networkable computers and providing training and support. The findings suggest that there are institutional barriers such as policies and inadequate representation on decision-making bodies that affect intervention specialists' attempts to integrate technology into daily lessons. Some of the official policies cause a marginalization of intervention specialists while other policies are simply inadequate or vague in providing direction. The findings also suggest that if arduous efforts are made these barriers can be overcome provided the teacher possesses a drive to provide the best learning opportunities to her students. There is also evidence in the findings that suggest that small group instruction may be an effective method to provide technology instruction to experienced urban intervention specialists because this format may be less intimidating than larger traditional classes. Implications and suggestions for further research are included.

Citation

Adams, D. Swimming against the current: Overcoming perceived barriers to technology integration for an experienced urban special education teacher. Ph.D. thesis, University of Cincinnati. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from .

This record was imported from ProQuest on October 23, 2013. [Original Record]

Citation reproduced with permission of ProQuest LLC.

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