Giving a voice to the best faculty members: benefits of digital resources for the inclusion of all students in Arts and Humanities

ABSTRACT

This article presents the testimonies of 24 faculty members of Arts and Humanities from five Spanish universities on the use of digital technology resources and their benefits for learning and educational inclusion of students with disabilities. They were selected by their own students with disabilities for their inclusive practices. Using a qualitative methodology, two semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with each participant to analyse different areas of inclusive pedagogy: beliefs, knowledge, designs and actions. The data were progressively analysed through a system of categories and inductive codes. The results show the digital resources that faculty members put into practice, as well as the different uses they make of them. In addition, the participants highlighted a number of benefits that digital technology has for the learning of all students, including those with disabilities. Finally, these results are discussed with those of previous studies, offering recommendations for the university to move toward a more inclusive education.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive pedagogy
• faculty members
• educational technologies
• Higher Education
• Arts and Humanities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, the Spanish State Research Agency and FEDER funds European Union [Grant number EDU2016-76587-R].

Notes on contributors

Almudena Cotán

Almudena Cotán is PhD in Education and holds a degree in Pedagogy. She works at the University of Cádiz. Her research interests focus on higher education, students with disabilities, inclusive pedagogy, ICT, teacher training and qualitative research.

Rafael Carballo

Rafael Carballo is PhD in Education and holds a degree in Pedagogy. He works at the Faculty of Education of Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Spain. His research lines focus on inclusive education in Higher Education, students with disabilities, faculty members training and Universal Design for Learning.

Yolanda Spinola-Elias

Yolanda Spinola-Elias is Associate Professor in Media Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Universidad de Sevilla. Currently, she is involved in a research project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government related to Inclusive Education in Higher Education and students with disabilities. Other research interests include: Art, Science, Technology and Society (ASTS) system, transdisciplinary creative and educational processes.