Julie Loland Page 1 4/16/2011

Inclusive Field Study, Fall 2009

Step 1: Providing Background Information
As I began this term, I was convinced I would be working on a field study involving parent
communication, but it is amazing how one student can completely change a teacher’s focus. Melody
registered at Terry Fox Elementary on the first day of classes. She was a sweet, smiling child with a
profound hearing impairment. She had moved to BC from Alberta and she touched my heart. I
wanted to support her, to make school an inviting place for her and to build a classroom community
with the same goals. Why one student can walk into a teacher’s life and in moments change the
direction of all planning, I’ll never know, but that is exactly what happened with Melody.
Reflecting on my philosophy and the time I spent revising it during the summer,
inclusiveness has always been a part of it. I have struggled with the pullout and segregation methods
for “dealing with” special needs. Both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the UN Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Canada signed, require the practice of inclusive
education for students with disabilities. In addition, presuming that any child with special needs must
be sent to a special program erodes the professional stature of teaching as a profession. Teachers
have a professional and ethical responsibility to teach all children. Even the research says that,
segregated education has failed to produce results. “Students who experience segregated education
are not prepared for fulfilling lives in their communities when their education is finished. In fact
research in Canada has indicated that they do less well than similar children who go to regular
schools” (Porter, 2008, p. 64). So, as a democratic Canadian citizen, I believe I have a responsibility
as a teacher to provide inclusive education to my students and have made it my goal and
commitment to carry out an effective,
inclusive environment in my
classroom.
Essentially, my curiosity
around Melody and my desire to
provide and carry out an effective,
inclusive environment led me to my
wonderings. I wanted to do a field QuickTimeª and a
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study that focused on encouraging

interaction and communication
between mainstream students and
special needs students (specifically
Melody), while also helping me
develop my technology skill set.
Therefore I began my field study with
the following wonderings:
 How can I encourage interaction and communication between mainstream students
and a student with a profound hearing impairment who communicates through sign
language?
 How can I create a learning environment that holds positive expectations and
opportunities for all students?
 How can I create a learning environment that understands the importance of social
responsibility, including the celebration of differences, setting the tone for
acceptance?
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 Will cooperative learning encourage and support social interaction?

 Will students act as a support for each other, understanding the various challenges
others may face, when involved in a cooperative learning task?
 What kind of inclusive, collaborative, and technological activities can I incorporate
into my classroom that will meet the needs of all of my students, hearing impaired,
ESL, LA, etc.

Step 2: Sharing the Design of the Inquiry

Once I developed my wonderings, I began studying special needs students, specifically the
deaf, looking for suggestions and ideas to support them in the mainstream classroom. I read the
Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines from the BC Ministry of Education Special
Education Services along with information provided by the Special Education Association of BC to
determine how the province suggests and has typically structures its support for special needs
students. I also read Roeher Institutes: Inclusive Policy and Practice in Education: Best Practices for
Students with Disabilities and an article by Porter (2008), “Making Canadian Schools Inclusive: A
Call to Action” to determine what the best practices for students with disabilities are. I also spent
time observing my class and noted that the students were very interested in Melody and their desire
to interact and communicate with her was great. Attempts to link arms and pull her around the
playground, or simply curious looks as Melody’s interpreter signed instructions for her suggested
that the environment was ripe for learning activities that would help students better interact and
communicate with her. The students were eager, I just needed to create opportunity.
As I began to think about creating these opportunities for interaction, initially I had trouble
looking beyond programs that had sign language capabilities (oardMaker) and could produce
products that would support students learning Melody’s “language.” The problem was, I wasn’t
excited about the direction I was heading, so I decided to seek advice from an expert. After class
one evening, I spoke with Tom about my inquiry. I shared that I was passionate about my inquiry
question and what I wanted to accomplish, but wasn’t exactly sure of the best method to use. He
suggested the idea of digital storytelling and then proceeded to throw out a few more unfamiliar
terms. I wasn’t sure exactly what digital storytelling was, nor how my field study would look after
our conversation, but I was excited about it and felt that was very important. I began researching
digital storytelling in the classroom to
discover what was involved, the best
tools to complete the task, and possible
topics for my classroom. I also
desperately looked for some research
that would support the notion of digital
storytelling being an effective way to
QuickTimeª and a support and encourage special needs
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could find as I found my mind
spinning with the different ways that
digital storytelling could potentially
bridge gaps for special needs students.
So, the plan I decided to
undertake involved both small and
large group instruction and required
Julie Loland Page 3 4/16/2011

Melody’s interpreter to help her to understand and participate. Initially, I begin sharing examples of
wordless stories by David Wiesner (Flotsam, Tuesday, Sector 7, and Free Fall). Then I challenged
students in small collaborative groups to create a picture-less story together. After creating a story,
the students used storyboards to lay it out. Each student in the group was then responsible to create a
picture using AppleWorks Paint that illustrated one part or aspect of the story. Once the students
finished designing their pictures we uploaded them into iMovie, added a title page and credits, music
and sound effects and then published them. We are now sharing them with our parents through our
class website.

Step 3: Stating the Learning and Supporting the

Statements With Data
Digital storytelling as a performance enhancer
Through collaboration, students were exposed to new ideas and different perspectives. This
helped them create better stories.
Before, I assigned groups and asked students to begin planning and creating a collaborative
story, we discussed as a class the expectations and skills required to be successful, i.e. taking turns
sharing, respecting others ideas, building a cooperative story that included aspects of everyone’s
ideas, and compromising. I was surprised by the questions and concerns the students presented at
this time and wondered if some of their past experiences with group assignments had been difficult
or unsuccessful.
Despite these initial concerns, all groups were able to collaboratively create a story. I
enjoyed circulating around the room and listening to the conversations taking place. The excitement
in students’ voices as they shared their ideas and were listened to was really satisfying for me. I
watched wonderfully creative ideas emerge as the children worked together, feeding off of one
another and expanding on others ideas as they were presented.
According to Slavin (1995), cooperative learning produces greater student achievement than
traditional learning methodologies. Slavin found that 63% of the cooperative learning groups
analyzed had an increase in achievement. In the end, we definitely found this to be true. 82% of the
students agreed (on a survey
complete after the project was
finished) that working in a
group helped them create a
better story than they would
have been able to on their own.
When asked why, students listed
reasons that included, “when
you put all kinds of ideas QuickTimeª and a
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together it makes one cool

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idea,” “I got some ideas from

others,” “we all worked
together,” and my favourite
“there was three brains” that
helped explain their thinking
and why they felt they were
more successful.
Julie Loland Page 4 4/16/2011

Digital storytelling as a community builder

Students developed new friendships and got to know each other better.
Combs and Beach (1994) indicate that including storytelling in the curriculum creates a class
bond through shared experiences. As I reflected, throughout the process, on my inquiry question:
How can I encourage interaction and communication between mainstream students and a student
with a profound hearing impairment who communicates through sign language? I often found
myself disappointed and somewhat discouraged. M, the main subject of my inquiry, was often
absent on the days I had planned to work on our digital stories. Unfortunately, because of our
limited lab, I had to proceed as planned. But, without M in attendance, how could I analyze my
inquiry? In addition, when M was in attendance, I often noticed that her group would tell her what
to do, creating a digital story with little of M’s input. The students in M’s group did keep M updated
and participating, but I didn’t feel like she had a real “voice.”
Feeling as though my
inquiry had not quite achieved what
I had hope it would, I was amazed
by responses on the student survey
suggesting quite the opposite. M,
herself, suggested that the best part
of the project was “making new
friends.” Her TA also noted that
“working in groups allowed for new
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friendships to start.” And when I

inquired about this further in an
interview, it turns out that M, has in
fact developed friendships with
students from her digital
storytelling group and regularly
interacts with them during recess
and lunch. How exciting!

Students worked together and helped one another, developing communication and problem-
solving skills.
As Dahley, (1994) states, one of the essential elements of cooperative learning is the
development of social skills. Students work with classmates who have different learning skills,
cultural background, attitudes, and personalities. These differences force students to deal with
conflict and interact with others and this improves communication skills.” Throughout my
observations and reflections, I noted students helping others especially when learning the new
technologies. I observed an academically strong student struggling to illustrate his frame, request
help from a special needs student who really excelled at creating his frame in AppleWorks Paint.
These types of interactions were unexpected, but very exciting.
At the beginning, one group had a difficult time agreeing on a story. One of the special
needs students in the class was not willing to change any of the aspects of his story to include others
ideas. He had suggested the group write a story about super heroes, while others in the group had
wanted to tell a story about animals. In an attempt to include aspects of all ideas, someone suggested
that the super heroes be animals. J didn’t like this. He had an idea and was not willing to
compromise and as a result walked away from his group and refused to work. The rest of the group,
Julie Loland Page 5 4/16/2011

with some guidance, was able to work together to solve this problem. Eventually, J rejoined the
group and continued the process, but still couldn’t bring himself to draw an animal super hero. 
Some of the comments from the student surveys suggested it was difficult to work together
and agree on a story. Reasons, such as “bickering,” “different thoughts,” and “no one would say ok,
we’ll go your idea” were listed as some of the many challenges the students faced. The interactions
were not always positive, but students were forced to deal with these conflicts, solving problems and
working together as a team.

Digital storytelling as a motivator

Students were excited to participate and share ideas with others. They put increased effort
into their stories.
“Interview data suggested that digital
storytelling enriched the classroom learning
environment, the curriculum, and student
learning experiences by providing an open-
ended, creative and motivating productive tool in
the classroom. In addition, teachers perceived
students to be motivated and excited to use the QuickTimeª and a
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computer…to develop their stories.” (Sadik, p.

502) This is a quote from a digital story project
conducted in Egypt in 2008. The focus was on
using digital storytelling as a meaningful
technology-integrated approach for engaged
student learning. I found the findings on
engagement similar to what I experienced in my
own classroom. The students were excited to participate in the project and despite all of the
technological “glitches” were patient and willing to go with the flow. In my observations I noted
that, “After the students had completed their pictures and were taught how to drop them into iMovie,
they were very excited and were actively participating and engaged in the activity. Despite the
different versions of the program running, students were patient and motivated to complete the
project, helping each other where they could.” Although engagement was not necessarily the focus
of my inquiry I was thrilled to see the extent of it and thought it was significant enough to mention
and thought it was significant.
After our project was complete, I asked the students, in a survey, what they enjoyed most
about the process. 59% enjoyed creating pictures in AppleWorks Paint, 24% enjoyed adjusting and
selecting sound to go with their movie and 18% enjoying thinking about the project and working in
groups. When asked if they would like to make another digital story using the computers 93% said
yes they would, with only 1 student or 7% saying no. Wow!
As for increased effort, a common complaint I had from students was they needed more time.
One student mentioned, “I did not like that we had to finish it [picture] today because I wanted to
add more detail to my picture.” It is like Robin (2008) said, “Technology can be used to bring out
the very best in how students learn.”

Students demonstrated a pride in the digital stories they accomplished.

The students were so excited about the end product and eager to share them with their
families. The hits on my website jumped over 300% the day the stories were published online.
There were 110 view of the site that day. The hits continue with the Digital Story page being the
Julie Loland Page 6 4/16/2011

most viewed page for the last 14 days and counting.

Digital storytelling as a confidence booster

The process of creating digital stories enabled special needs students to excel and changed
some students’ perspectives of them.
Digital storytelling “requires a range and variety of instructional and learning strategies
which assists all students including students with a disability affecting their learning, and increases
student achievement.” (Michalski, 2005). For all of my students, digital storytelling was a new
concept. The computer programs (iMovie and AppleWorks Paint) we used to complete the task
were also new to my students. Because of this, a new set of skills was required and it was interesting
and powerful to see that the students who excelled at these new skills were not the typical high
achievers. This was great all students were accepted, viewed as capable and involved in the learning
task.
An observation made by a TA involved in the project details an example of this well.
“During the initial creation of the story, J, who is quite rigid in his thinking, struggled. He was
visibly upset and left his group.
Once some compromises were
made, J moved on to the computer
to begin creating his picture [in
AppleWorks Paint]. He was very
capable and excelled beyond his
peers. It was evident to all, so much
so, that his peers came to him for
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hadn’t seen J in a very positive
light, now had respect for him. In
fact, it was this student who first
asked J for help saying, ‘I want my
picture to look like yours.’ It was a
great moment. To see these hidden
talents was an eye opener for his
peers.”

Digital storytelling as a challenge

Some students found collaborating and working together in a group very difficult.
One high achieving student in particular had issues working in a group, commenting that she
didn’t like “anybody else telling me how to do it” and “we were bickering about how it [the story]
should go, a lot.” She also mentioned that one student “was like the boss and I felt like she wasn’t
giving [everyone] an opportunity to share [our] opinion.” She later stated, when asked if she would
like to do more group work, “No because it was very hard for everyone to get along.” Her favourite
part of the project was working independently to create the picture because “ we got to do it on our
own, without anybody else telling how to do it.” She also suggested that she would only like to
make another digital story “IF we do it along, I mean no groups or nothing.”
A special needs student, as I have previously mentioned, struggled early on with changing
aspects of his story to include others ideas. He had suggested the group tell a story about super
heroes, while others in the group had wanted to tell a story about animals. In an attempt to include
Julie Loland Page 7 4/16/2011

aspects of all the ideas, a student in the group suggested that the super heroes be animals. J didn’t
like this. He had an idea and was not willing to compromise. He left his group when challenged and
refused to work. The rest of the group was able to work around him and tell a story about animal
super heroes that included everyone’s ideas. Eventually, J continued to complete the project once
we moved to the computer to create our pictures, but still couldn’t bring himself to draw an animal
super hero. 
Collaborating is difficult for many, but in this particular project it seemed to be the most
difficult for students with special needs
and students who were typically
academically successful and required
little support. The main challenges faced
by the groups were conflict (students
didn’t feel listened to or felt the work
load wasn’t being shared equally) and
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solve and come to a resolution, others had

more difficulty. Working together is not
always something that comes naturally
but is an essential skill in the 21st
Century. I will continue to work on
developing collaborative skill with my
students in the classroom.

Technical difficulties were frustrating.

Looking back at my field notes and reflections, I realized how much of this project was
plagued by technical difficulties. I am surprised in many ways that we were able to complete the
process. Tasks that should have been simple took hours to complete. Students lost work because of
saving issues. Different computers had different versions of iMovie and therefore procedures were
different. All of this was unexpected and made for some very exhausting lab blocks. Running from
one student to the next, answering questions, trying to figure out what had been clicked on and
working to save their efforts kept me incredibly busy. In the end the students completed the stories
on just five working computers. We were determined.

Creating digital stories was incredibly time consuming.

The challenge of time was a big issue that needs to be considered in all my future technology
integration plans. With limited access to the lab in just half hour blocks, there were plenty of times
we felt as though we had just gotten started and were forced to logout by a waiting class. The
process to plan and prepare lessons required a considerable amount of time as I was learning new
programs and making decisions about the best ways to teach these new technologies. In addition,
students spent a long time learning how to use the software appropriately and really needed more
time to “play” before having to begin creating their final product. This is important to be aware of
and is a reality all teachers must face when integrating technology into the classroom.

Step 4: Provide Concluding Thoughts

Julie Loland Page 8 4/16/2011

During our concluding efforts to get this project finished and saved before any more work
was lost, I was feeling exhausted and unsure of how I felt about the results. After doing some
personal reflecting, collaborating with other staff members involved (TA’s) and reading the student
surveys, I realized that this project was in fact filled with many magical moments.
When M commented through her interpreter, that the project helped her “make new friends,”
I almost started to cry. And when I discovered that J was our new star and was being asked for help
and assistance, I knew that all of the efforts and frustrations had been worth it.
As much research suggests, our brains are wired in narrative stories and having the students
construct their own story required them to become active participants instead of passive viewers
(Standley, 2003). The digital tools then gave my students a powerful way to tell their story to a
larger audience. As Standley (2003) suggests, “The power of digital storytelling comes from sharing
knowledge, feelings and
experiences within a
community of learners.”
Ultimately, digital
storytelling enriched our
classroom learning
environment, enhancing
student learning experiences
and helping us develop as an
inclusive, more unified
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community of learners.
I will definitely
continue to use digital
storytelling in my
classroom, in a variety of
ways and in different subject
areas. My mind is spinning
with new ways this medium
could be used to further
enhance student learning and motivation and to broaden our community to include others outside of
our classroom. I know that some changes will need to be made and some wrinkles ironed out (i.e.
smaller groups with assigned roles for more screen time, all using the same version of the
technology), but I hope to loose none of the positive results from the process.
Julie Loland Page 9 4/16/2011

References
British Columbia Ministry of Education (2009), Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies,
Procedures and Guidelines, Victoria, BC

Dahley, Andrew M. (1994) Cooperative Learning Classroom Research. Retrieved from

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~andyd/mindset/design/clc_rsch.html

Fewster, Saima. (2006) Inclusion: Making Education Work for all Students. Special Education
Association of BC, May 15, 1-8

Michalski, Paige, Hodges, Dodi, Banister, Savilla, (2005) Digital Storytelling in the Middle
Childhood Special Education Classroom: A teacher’s story of adaptations. Teaching
Exceptional Children Plus, 1: 4. Retrieved from
http://escholarship.bc.edu/education/tecplus/vol1/iss4/art3/

Porter, Gordon L. (2008) Making Canadian Schools Inclusive: A Call to Action. Education Canada.
Spring 2008, 62-66.

Robin, Bernard R. (2008) Digital Storytelling: A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century
Classroom. New Media and Education in the 21st Century. 47:220-228

The Roeher Institute (2004), Inclusive Policy and Practice in Education: Best Practices for Students
with Disabilities, North York, ON.

Sadik, Alaa. (2008) Digital Storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged
student learning. Education Tech Research Dev 56:487-506. Retrieved from
http://www.springerlink.com/content/c668444443573247/

Slavin, Robert E. (1995) The Cooperative Elementary School: Effects on Students’ Achievement,
Attitudes and Social Relations. American Educational Research Journal, 32:2, 321-351

Standley, Mark. (2003) Digital Storytelling: Using new technology and the power of stories to help
our students learn-and teach. Cable in the Classroom. Retrieved from
http://www.ciconline.org