Hear my story’. The Shape project: working with school communities to create digital stories about embedding technology use in classrooms
Abstract
This presentation reflects on the co-creation of digital stories with school practitioners in a project focusing on embedding the use of innovative technologies in the classroom for children on the autism spectrum. The project pioneered a new form of knowledge creation. It enabled teachers to improve their assessment of children and to extend their uses of technology to support learning.
Citation
ITASD 2014 Paris Conference: Digital solutions for people with Autism, October 3-4
Description
The paper presented original research in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL), emerging from the ESRC funded SHAPE digital storytelling project undertaken with a range of pupils on the autism spectrum. Evidence gathered from four TEL projects (including my work with ReacTickles and Somantics) revealed how particular technological tools, that promote the pupil voice, can enhance the practice of teachers. We demonstrated innovative methodological approaches that reflected the realities of the classroom. Significantly, through the publicly released video outcomes, we were able to position the professional knowledge of school practitioners on a par with scientific knowledge. This provides an important stepping stone for enabling the development of a formal methodological framework, based on interdisciplinary insights, that responds to the call for applied knowledge transfer and, for addressing the key aspirations of TEL.