This paper reports on preliminary findings from an ongoing research project in a Swedish primary school. In the spring of 2014, me and ph. D. Dan Åkerlund, will start a Design Based Research (DBR) project in eight primary school classes with the intention to develop new literacy practices and to document, evaluate and distribute knowledge from the outcomes of the project. The aim of the research project is to, in collaboration with the teachers, try out different methods, models and learning tools in order to detect some kind of best practice for all pupils. This paper will focus on outcomes from the project between February 2014 and June 2014.

Background:

The research project takes its place in a Swedish small industrial city, with economic problems and a considerable migration to bigger cities. The migration follows a contemporary pattern of young women leaving for education and young men staying, often without jobs. The results of the city´s national school assessments have been among the lowest in Sweden for a long time. This has lately made the local politicians aware and alert. Despite of the strained economy, the municipality has decided to support digital development in the schools and connected this effort with research and teachers further education.

A primary school in this city distinctly showed its interest, capability and urge for digital development in literacy education, “…for the sake of the children with disabilities”. The teachers uses a variety of learning tools and methods, such as WTR (Writing to Read) and the Kiwi-method, and after some guidance and education from a nearby university, the classes were soon skyping and blogging, using lap tops, iPads and digital cameras.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is every child´s right to become literate. One of educations most important commission is to give opportunities to make this possible. For children with disabilities, traditional education sometimes becomes a hindrance for learning. A vast variation of methods and tools, multimodalities, can on the other hand lead to development of communicative competences and afford ways to achieve the aim of the curriculum.

The most describing term for my theoretical approach would be a multimodal socio-semiotic design for learning. I will use the term as a kind of fusion where the socio-cultural theories together with educational movements in search for best practices will merge into a focal point.

Main research question:

In what way can design for learning offer and support children with literacy disabilities possibilities for development of communicative competences?

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