The key question which shall be answered is whether specially-educated teacher-students - who act as “digital scouts” to support pupils with special educational needs in schools in the context of digital media – are beneficial or not. The question falls into 3 minor research areas, namely 1) motivational benefits (as far as atmosphere in class is concerned) on the one hand and 2) the performance/output level of the pupils (in form of marks) on the other hand. 3) Furthermore, the teachers who open their classrooms for digital scouts shall discuss their experiences not only with their colleagues but also with the digital scouts of other schools. The aim of this networking platforms is to raise the awareness for universal design (Wember et al, 2018). Thus, the third aspect of the research question is whether the digital scouts help to change the teachers’ sensitivity for digital barriers in teaching or not.

The topic is of paramount concern: Due to Covid 19 distance-learning has become a common way of teaching. But although the technical equipment of schools is getting more and more satisfactory the potential of digitalization for the topic of inclusion has not adequately been considered. The concrete support of pupils with additional needs in inclusive settings is not focused a lot (Bosse, Kamin, Schluchter 2019; Bosse, 2018; Miesenberger et. al., 2012; Goldan/Geist/Lütje-Klose, 2020). 

The aim of this project is empowerment and participation of every pupil in the class – regardless of any form disability.  The research is conducted in grades 5 & 6 (age: 10 to 12 years) of comprehensive schools in Germany. The focus is on pupils with the focal point of support via ICT being “learning strategies” respectively any form of mental disability.

Empirical research in the last decade which focuses the interrelations of digital media and inclusion at the same time is not widespread. In a systematic review we identified less than 20 peer-reviewed studies when analyzing 7 data bases (submission process: accepted). Yet, it goes without saying that digitalization is both a chance and a risk for people with special educational needs. Benefits can be expected for all of the three involved target groups: pupils with special needs, teachers and digital scouts. For each group a separate methodological approach is necessary: A) Benefits for the students with additional support needs: To find out whether the students with special educational needs benefit from the coaching of the digital scouts the motivational aspects will be studied by structured interview studies. These will be transcribed and analyzed by a qualitative content analysis (Mayring). B) Benefits for the involved teachers: The same methodological approach is chosen for finding out whether the coaching of the digital scouts has had a positive influence on the involved teachers. To analyze whether the performance of the students got better, the marks of the students are taken into consideration. C) Benefits for the “Digital Scouts”: In addition, the students shall self-reflect their professionalization as far as giving respect to universal design and as far as being sensitive to the special concerns of pupils with additional support need. Portfolios shall be analyzed with a grounded theory approach.

The aim of the project is empowerment & participation of every pupil in the class – regardless of disability. It is expected that the integration of the digital scouts into teaching has manifold positive consequences: The cooperation of the 3 phases of teacher-education is hopefully improved: students get more hands-on practical experience by working in schools before graduating from university. Likewise, experienced teachers at school are likely to benefit from the students’ theoretical experience – who act as “digital natives”. First and foremost, handicapped pupils are expected to draw benefits from the 1:1 tutoring of the digital scouts. Teachers get more time for teaching because the individual mentoring of pupils with special needs is delegated to the students. Hopefully, the educational system can be improved on several levels. The 1:1 support of the disadvantaged pupils is the most obvious benefit: In the daily routine there is not enough time for individual coaching – at least not in an adequate manner. Especially with COVID-19-distance learning certain groups are disadvantaged – not only with regard to the access to digital media, but first and foremost with regard to kind of use of media (digital divide: Kutscher 2012, Kamin 2020b; Kamin, Schluchter, Zaynel 2018; Bosse, Haage, Kamin, Schluchter 2019). The hope is that via the extra support of digital scouts, experiences of exclusion on behalf of disadvantaged pupils can be reduced. An analysis of digital content used in the school context shows that most ICT-lectures are structured towards overcoming deficits. Pupils are separated from the rest of the class to catch up with content whilst the majority of the class works on different content – which again widens the gap instead of overcoming barriers. Digital scouts shall enforce that both handicapped pupils and the rest of the class work on the same content.

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