Are you a person who is interested in making K-12 schools more inclusive for people with disabilities? If so, check out the video below that outlines the highlights of my applied research project that I created for the part-time VIU Master of Education in Special Education program. My project is an online course for educators on the topics of disability awareness and inclusion.
As a person with a disability myself, I have a unique perspective of experiencing Special Education from both sides; both as both a student and as an educator. In this video I give you a short introduction to my life as a person with both cerebral palsy and epilepsy. I also outline what the research says regarding teachers’ concerns about inclusion, and what the experts state should be done to alleviate these concerns to create greater inclusivity in the classroom. As the video concludes, I provide an overview of the online course that I created for teachers and teaching assistants that is based on the research that I have conducted.
After watching this video, if you would like to view the course I have created, you can find the login information and a print overview of the course here. I would welcome any feedback you have on the course. Enjoy the movie!
~ Melissa Lyon
** Thank you to Dr. Bob Esliger for being an outstanding supervisor for my applied project!
Wow! Melissa what an impressive accomplishment. Your story is inspiring! Your course looks thoughtfully planned and looks highly practical. I am curious. I particularly love the idea of an “Escape Room” for summarizing knowledge at the end of the course. So fun! I am curious about your comfort with technology before you developed this course. How much of a learning curve did you have? Also, what were some of your major resources in order to find out areas of growth for educators when it comes to inclusive educational practices? Wonderful job! I look forward to exploring your course further.
Thanks Melissa for sharing your thorough work. My question for you is – how will you offer this course to educators? Do you have some strategies like reaching out to school districts or maybe teacher education programs to offer this course as a resource to their students?
Hello. My dream would be that I will be able to teach at a post-secondary institution either in a Teacher Education Program or in a Teaching Assistant Program. I thought I would reach out to various universities once it is completed to see if there is any interest. I will also continue to network to see if anyone has a use for it. If you have any suggestions for people that may want to see it, please let me know.
Hi Andrea. This wouldn’t post under your comment so I will try it here. Thank you so much for the feedback. I know quite a bit about technology so that helped me with the creation of my project. I also have experience creating online courses because I work as a curriculum developer making modified courses for students with disabilities at the Kleos Open Learning School. The only learning curve I really had when creating my project was finding appropriate software to create the interactive activities. I signed up for an excellent, easy-to-use online program called Book Widgets, which is how I created the activities for my escape room and several other activities. If you don’t know about it, you can create things like crosswords, word searches, bingo games, and a bunch of other things. See https://www.bookwidgets.com/ When it came to knowing about the major resources for the gaps of inclusive practices for educators, I based a lot of it on my personal experiences as a person with a disability. I also used some resources and many articles that I have gathered over the years with all the schooling and disability-related volunteering that I have done.
Well done Melissa! Great idea to provide an online course to further awareness of disabilities and inclusion. Diversity in the classroom can benefit all the parties involved. I think it would be a useful resource for educators in k-12. Good luck with pursuing your dream in post-secondary teaching.
Hi Melissa, I am so impressed with what you have designed and created! It is clear that each element of your course was grounded in research and experience. It looks like a valuable resource that will be well received by preservice teacher programs and practicing educators. I will recommend it to some informal educators that are looking to learn more about creating inclusive programs.
Thank you so much for your kind words. That means a lot because I put so much work into it and I really want it to be useful.
Thanks Bindy!
Melissa,
Thank you for sharing your story and your work with us. Diversity and inclusive education are such important areas for continuous growth. The course seems very thorough and thoughtfully constructed. Your rock analogy was beautiful too. Well done.
Hi Melissa, awesome job creating such a systematic course for the teachers to follow through. I like your video concept of simple but informative at the same time.
Well done Melissa!
Regards: Ariff
Melissa, you are such an inspiration! I was drawn to your video because “inclusion” is a strong interest of mine and connected to my own thesis topic (I’m a first-year MEDL student). Your course was much more than I was anticipating it would be. I believe inclusive education can teach everyone involved so much. Thanks for your incredible work.
Thank you all for the kind words and best wishes with your work.
Hi Melissa,
What a comprehensive and thorough presentation on such an important topic! I enjoyed exploring all of the different sections of your online course. I think your course has a pragmatic and engaging approach that can inform a broad audience (teachers/EAs/parents/students). The assignment section is excellent and could lead to facilitating important conversations in the classroom. I really liked the lessons on teaching self-advocacy, barriers to inclusion and using appropriate language – to name a few!
All the best,
Jess
Hi Melissa. I like the way that you used your personal experience as a starting point. I thoroughly enjoyed this resource. I believe this resource is invaluable to the teaching field. Keep following your dreams! One question I have is about finding information on your course. I liked the video on differentiating classroom instruction but when I went back to find it I couldn’t? Is there a search tool that I am missing? Thank you, Mary
Hi Mary. Thanks so much for your feedback. I just updated the differentiation video about the dinner party analogy as Dr. Novak has made a new one. The new video is found at https://youtu.be/eYN-qrKIIYI I am glad that some of the info has been useful to you.
Hi Melissa,
Thank you for sharing your story! What a wonderful achievement and congratulations of creating such a fantastic resource. My question would be similar to what someone had asked above. Creating a resource like this is an amazing idea, but how proficient were you with technology prior?
Again, thank you for sharing!
Marley
Hi Marley. I am glad you like my course. I had a fair bit of technology skill before starting the project. I had conducted several workshops for teachers on assistive technology and had created several webpages before starting. I had a lot of fun trying some new technologies to integrate into my course, such as Book Widgets. Best wishes to you.
Congratulations on the impressive realization of your Master of Education in Special Education work, Melissa. I was excited by the possibilities of the inclusive education course you envisioned from when you first described it. The organization of the course through the lenses of teaching strategies, student needs, and environmental considerations offer an accessible framework for considering inclusion. I particularly like your key assignment instruction — Try it! True professional learning is grounded in practice change, and your course encourages those opportunities. I wish you much success as you share this work, and imagine the learning that will be impacted by your contribution. Thanks so much Melissa!
Thank you so much Dr. Richards. I appreciated your help with formulating my research question and with teaching me about conducting research. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I can’t believe how much I have learned and done since then. It has been a wonderful journey and I look forward to where it all takes me next.
Hi Melissa, This is a wonderful presentation, thank you for sharing! Did you use a needs-based research tradition model? This resource would be so great for educators and EA’s. How do you think you will spread your wonderful message? Thanks again!
Hello. I did not conduct a study before creating the resource. My research was based on an extensive literature review and on the needs that I was aware of based on my own experiences as a person going through the school system with a disability and in my work with people who have disabilities.
Hi Melissa, this is amazing work! I have the same questions as Ashleigh. As well as, how do you envision these ideas spreading? I am at the point where I am like, can one thesis change the world. But reading through these works has made me feel a little more uplifted, so thank you!
Hi Layna. What a wonderful idea – it would be so great if one thesis could change the world and I think that in a small way it can. That makes me think of a quote by an anthropologist named Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. I hope that in some small way I am making a difference. I am hoping that through conferences such as these and networking, I can get the news out about my course to see if anyone has any use for it. I agree that reading through everyone else’s work is very uplifting and a reminder of how we are all trying to make the world a better place. Thank you for reminding me of that.
Hi Melissa,
I too have taken interest in this particular topic! My thesis consideration began by looking at transitions for students with diverse-abilities. However, even with a wealth of research, I kept noticing a similar pattern; neurotypical researchers and advocates were speaking on behalf of the neurodiverse. Reference to student-voice and student-centred planning was evident in their “products” but the tools were rarely informed by the population they were intending to serve. And so, as a means of creating further awareness, my desire is to address positive identity and its relationship to self-advocacy for authentic inclusion.
Your innovative work is clearly spearheading this shift in understanding inclusion and the rights of those with exceptionalities. This website has amazing applications and I look forward to seeing such a resource utilized in our education systems!
I am particularly interested in the informative data collection of students with diverse needs. I am curious about how it informed the creation of your course and concept of self-advocacy? I am also hoping you could speak to the methods/collection of participants, specific to those individuals with exceptionalities. Do you feel that those participants expressed a positive sense of identity?
Apologies for my many questions but thank you for inspiring them.
Callum
Hi Callum. That is so wonderful that you recognize the importance of actually talking to people who have disabilities and including them in the process of change. I think that creating connections and relationships is always the first step towards change. I am doing some work right now at the BC Cerebral Palsy Association and the framework we are using does just that…it starts from the participants inner thoughts and concerns and builds on that through exploring values, relationships, and needs. The creation of my course was based on my research about teachers’ concerns about inclusion and I tried to create lessons that would alleviate those concerns. An extension of this would be to do a study to find out if further needs could be identified and/or to see if my course does help to improve inclusive practices. I am so glad that I inspired some questions for you and best wishes in your research!
Hello Melissa,
Thank you for sharing your work and your story! I am, like Callum, curious about your research methods in terms of involving and capturing the voice of individuals with exceptionalities. For instance, you mention the importance of the inner thoughts and concerns of individuals. Is this a process that your course outlines for educators?
I am very impressed by the breadth of your work and thank you for your time!
Quincy
Hello Quincy. Thank you for your kind comments. Yes, I have endeavoured to include a lot of discussion and reflection activities in my course. I have also included a portfolio activity where course participants can reflect and gather resources as they move through the course. Best wishes!