Teaching and Learning with the Internet: Issues for Training Special Education Teachers.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted in a graduate level course for teaching and learning with the Internet for high school teachers working with students having severe learning and emotional disabilities. Qualitative interview data were used to explore issues throughout the course as teachers used information in their classrooms. The results indicate that ongoing inservice education needs to be specific to identified classroom needs. Teachers integrating technology into the special education classroom face an extremely diverse student body. There should be ongoing development for teachers as they work through teaching and learning with the Internet in their classrooms. Results also indicate that it is important to realize how special education teachers can use the tool in their classrooms, and to understand why they use the Internet and what it accomplishes for their own personal teaching and learning needs. (Author/MES)