Technology in the Inclusive Co-Teaching Classroom

Abstract

Recently, educating special education students in the least restrictive environment places additional demands on teachers and principals. The practice of co-teaching classrooms, to respond to this concern, continues to increase as a way to meet inclusion needs of exceptional learners. Another big concern in education is that these teachers are asked to utilize technology to maximize student learning. As technology continues to evolve and the use of co-teaching classrooms grows, the question then becomes how are teachers in co-teaching classrooms using technology to enhance instruction and engage students in learning? Therefore, the purposes of this study were to explore teachers’ usage of technology in co-teaching, their confidence level in using technology, to explore teacher technology usage by age, content, and grade level and lastly, how students use technology in the classroom. Teachers from grades K – 12 were asked to complete an online survey on technology usage in the classrooms. Pearson Correlations and t-tests will be used for data analysis. The findings will provide valuable information for improving effectiveness of technology on student learning in a co-taught classroom. Suggestions for future studies include measuring the impact of technology on students in co-teaching classrooms.

Key words: co-teaching, technology, special education