Introduction:
Before the technology revolution, the world was still trying to figure out how cars worked which is not uncomplicated as that may seem now. This situation is the same as education. Before the technology revolution, the teachers used the traditional way and focused on what they teach, whereas the modern way of teaching is involved in interactive methods. The modern way is also involving in many online learning programs, which is a big difference in a conventional way. Moreover, the teaching style has changed significantly over the years. Many educators talked more about the online open pedagogy teaching style which they think it outperforms than the traditional teaching method. The online learning program does benefits many students even for the disabilities students when using open pedagogy. For example, students can learn a new culture via questioning, playing, and imagination. It helps peer-to-peer learning because it can help students to shape the attitude of diversification of culture. It also increases the student’s openness and trust through sharing resources to each other. The most impressive point is student engagement (Hegarty, 2015). Although open pedagogy can exist in an online or face-to-face form, teachers still face the same problems. In other words, the teacher has to face problems like what kind of method the teacher used and what kind of training should teacher receive. For disabilities students, do they have to prepare something before the online course or face-to-face course? All of the questions should be addressed before the teachers use open pedagogy for teaching because the teacher needs more professional skills for teaching disabilities students. Therefore, I will introduce some suggestions or studies from expertise to show how teachers use open pedagogy for disabilities and what kind of training teacher should receive to help disabilities better involve in the learning.
Brief review:
Considering the teaching, how to teach and how to know when students have learned are basic teaching-learning skills for all teachers. However, the truth is the special educator teachers will face more challenges than we thinking. For example, they need to deal with multiple disabilities. In a special education teacher’s class, they may have students with various disabilities and deal with simultaneously. Since each student is a unique case, the teacher has to modify their lesson to suit each disabled learner by providing individualized education method. In addition, a special education teacher sometimes suffers from professional isolation. The nature of a special education teacher’s work is different from traditional teachers. As we have known, special education teachers may often work with smaller groups and focus on skills rather than content which leads to the standard classroom teachers may not view them as colleagues. Moreover, the difficulty of discipline in a special needs classroom which is harder than the standard classroom. Special education teachers have to learn how to take appropriate disciplinary measures because disabled children may have behavior issues including restlessness and moodiness. In this case, how to appropriately teach disabled students is important for special education teachers (2013, August 13). Therefore, there are several suggestions for the special education teacher which may help them to improve disabled students’ learning. The first important thing for special education teacher need keep in mind is the connection which is between reflective observation of students and their specific individual response to curricular experience. Teachers need to regard reflective observation of students and specific individual response to curricular experience as a central point when they learning how to teach. Because only special education teachers are aware of this connection is important for disabled students, they can engage in reflective observation in an intentional and thoughtful way by taking the teacher professional learning (Jones & Lawson, 2015). The second training the special education teacher should learn is collaborating. For special education teacher, knowing how to collaborate with teams and how to use the resources is important, because being collaboratively teacher can expand their learning opportunities and improve their skills to better meet the needs of disabled students or help them meet the academic requirements. To be more specific, the paraprofessional who accompanied the students to a general education classroom in the collaboration meeting is helpful in supporting the students and teachers. The reason why the teachers should know how to collaborate with paraprofessional is that the teacher can make sure the successful inclusion by compromising with the general educator about responsibilities and helping to create effective instructional approaches (Hanline et al., 2012). The last thing should pay attention to is the teacher should know how to use inclusive pedagogy in their teaching. First, they need to what inclusive pedagogy is. Inclusive pedagogy is similar to the open pedagogy but more than open pedagogy. The core of inclusive pedagogy is the valuing the diverse experiences, perspectives and learning way that contribute to the unique learning environment and it is the one-size-fits-one. Therefore, teachers need to know how to use them specifically. For example, it is important to be mindful what each student brings and gains from the complex interaction. According to the response from students, teachers need to draw their professional judgment to choose the most appropriate approach to teaching and learning in any context from the collaboration between children in learning activities (Spratt & Florian, 2015).
Discussion:
The purpose of the suggestion or the training the teacher need to receive are the basic elements to show how the special education teacher teach the disabled students by using the open pedagogy. Connection, collaboration, and inclusive pedagogy can help teachers to learn how to teach the disabled students, which is focused on the teaching skill or training before they teach the disabled students. It is important for teachers to learn. However, in my opinion, those three suggestions only can solve part of the problem, we need more solutions to help special education teacher makes a more efficient instructional approach. Not only from the teaching method of teaching skills, but also from the course itself such as course design and course content. With respect to the course design, the instructors may not be able to change the course design to accommodate the students who have learning disabilities, but the instructor can change the course elements that might be a problem for some disabled students. For example, students with visual discrimination disorders may have a problem distinguishing text from background colors, instructors can use web tools to add bells and whistles to help them to distinguish (Kelly, 2010). In terms of course content, how to make accessible content for disabled students is also need teachers to consider. The special education teachers can use technology to get more meaningful content for disabled students. For example, they can use Microsoft Word and Excel by using style sheets and the word which make the difference from the normal course content. In this case, the content may be easy for disabled students to understand. Also, the use of text boxes should be avoided by teachers, because a transcript of the narration should be provided for the hearing disabled people (ARI, 2018). There are also have many technologies or web tools can help teachers improve their teaching. For students who are limited mobility, they can use FaceMouse which allow students to use their head and facial gestures to meet academic requirements. For different learning difficulties, teachers can choose a variety of web tools to suit their students (Rooney, 2016).
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the purpose of this article is trying to solve the problems: what kind of training should teacher receive, how to use open pedagogy, and which part they should focus when they teach the disabled students. From my partner, when we talked about the disabled students, they think the universal pedagogy and inclusive pedagogy both can be used for the disabled students. For my understanding, universal pedagogy is one-size-fits-all and inclusive pedagogy is one-size-fits-one. Therefore, I think the inclusive pedagogy may be better for the disabled students because each disabled students is a unique case and we cannot deal with all the disabled students with one teaching method. Thus, in my article, I illustrated the basic suggestions for using open pedagogy such as collaboration, connection, inclusive pedagogy, and technology. However, teachers need more solutions and training in reality. In my view, teaching the disabled students is not only the special education teacher’s work, but it also needs support from society, teachers’ parents and disabled students’ parents. In future studies, I hope we can focus on those three subjects and research on what they can do for the disabled students.
References:
(2013, August 13). Retrieved from https://www.special-education-degree.net/what-are-the-challenges-of-being-a-special-education-teacher/
ARI, S. (2018). REVIEW: Making online teaching accessible: Inclusive course design for students with disabilities. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), 193-195.
Hanline, M. F., Hatoum, R. J., & Riggie, J. (2012). Impact of online coursework for teachers of students with severe disabilities: Utilization of knowledge and its relationship to teacher perception of competence. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 37(4), 247-262. doi:10.2511/027494813805327269
Hegarty, B. (2015). Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources. Educational Technology,55(4), 3-13. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/stable/44430383
Jones, P., & Lawson, H. (2015). Insights into teacher learning about pedagogy from an international group of teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 30(3), 384-401. doi:10.1080/08856257.2015.1023000
Kelly, R. (2010, July 22). Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities in the Online Classroom – Faculty Focus: Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/teaching-students-with-learning-disabilities-in-the-online-classroom/
Rooney, J. (2016, June 29). 8 Online Tools To Help Educate Students With Disability. Retrieved from https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/online-tools-for-teaching-students-with-disability/
Spratt, J., & Florian, L. (2015). Inclusive pedagogy: From learning to action. supporting each individual in the context of ‘everybody’. Teaching and Teacher Education, 49, 89-96. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2015.03.006