Challenges and opportunities of using a cooperative digital educational plan. Evaluation of the implementation

Contact restrictions, coronavirus lockdowns and distance learning are three terms that characterised everyday school life in 2020 and 2021. As a result, schools needed to digitalise their work. Despite extensive attention to this topic, the challenge to digitalise seems to be particularly high and students’ learning is at risk, especially for students with the need for special education. Casale, Börnert-Ringleb and Hillenbrand (2020) analysed distance learning in special education in Germany and found that digital solutions encounter specific challenges and have so far only been used to a limited extent. Mølster and Nes (2018) found that many teachers lack digital skills and need more education and training in this area. In addition, the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) for written language classes is not recognised by teachers for children with learning difficulties. Arhipova and Sergeeva (2015) indicated that ICT can be little used due to poor technical and material equipment in the school; however, the lack of computer skills of teachers, students and their parents make the implementation of ICT in the educational process considerably difficult. For example, among teaching staff, 50% (ibid. p. 165) of respondents said they have basic computer skills but find it difficult to apply them when teaching students with special needs; 10% (ibid. p. 165) of teachers do not even have basic computer skills and are unwilling to acquire them for their work. The need is also evident on the part of conference of the German ministers of education (KMK), which wants to advance the digitisation of teaching and learning (2020a) and was finally able to approve the equipping of all teachers with digital devices (2020b) in Germany.

There are currently only a few findings on the opportunities for innovative technologies. In their systematic review, Starcic and Bagon (2014) investigated which ICT-based learning research topics were published between 1970 and 2011 on students with special educational needs (SEN). They identified 118 papers, almost half of which were investigated and released in 2006. The most frequent topic was the use of ICT to support children with learning difficulties. The main finding of the review was that the potential of ICT-based learning for use with people with special needs has not been adequately investigated. The authors demand that research on educational ICT use should be significantly intensified. Kirkpatrick et al. (2022) identified 19 studies in their systematic review that showed the effectiveness of behavioural analytic interventions in reducing problem behaviour at school. In contrast to other countries, the use of evidence-based practice is not common in German schools and even less so with the support of ICTs. Teachers often fail to identify effective approaches to support students (Grosche & Grünke, 2008).

However, next to digitisation, the planning, design and assessment of individual learning opportunities for students with SEN is a huge challenge for teachers. In their international review on the implementation of an inclusive education and training mandate, Forlin, Keen and Barrett (2008) found that inclusion increases the complexity of the requirements of an already highly complex profession. Within the sample of teachers, 93% fear that inclusion will make it difficult to monitor all pupils, and more specifically, 87% state concerns about providing adequate support. Imhäuser (2012) identified bureaucratic structures in Germany as a further challenge. In school, these sometimes create a complex and difficult-to-understand landscape of responsibilities for individual support. It can take a long time before a student's relevant needs are identified. Resources are made available for these needs and information about the support for a child with SEN is communicated between the people and systems involved. For children with learning and behaviour problems with SEN, individual education plans are very important in order to facilitate their participation. However, Keiser et al. (2020) found that 50% of special education teachers use support plans less than once a month. For classroom teachers, 75% use support plans less than once a month. This is a big problem because these children need support continuously and thus the support plan must be updated frequently by a multi-professional team. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to carry out support work in cooperation with different professions at a distance.

To sum up, there are two major challenges for inclusion. The first is that German teachers hesitate to use ICT, especially with regard to students with SEN, although there is evidence of its effectiveness. The literature suggests that a major reason for this might be a lack of relevant competencies. The second problem is that individual support plans are used infrequently. To address these problems, we developed a digital tool, the virtual school board (VSB), to promote individual support work in a multi-professional team.

The VSB (Hövel & Hennemann, 2019) is a browser-based platform for teachers and other educational staff to digitally structure and document individual support for students in inclusive settings. It offers a range of opportunities to support school staff in meeting the challenges of the inclusive distance-learning education system mentioned above. It helps with the structuring and documentation of individual support, the planning, implementation and evaluation of learning and behavioural diagnostics and multi-professional cooperation and thus represents an opportunity to improve the planning and design of educational trajectories.

The content preparation of the VSB is based on the school-wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS) model (Sugai & Horner, 2009, a description of this model can be found at: https://www.pbis.org/pbis/what-is-pbis). The SWPBS follows a preventive orientation and is based on ethical norms and values. Furthermore, it is characterised by close integration of diagnostics and educational support. Therefore, prevention in the VSB is multistage and multi-professional. A universal level of the VSB addresses all students. The regular use of diagnostics is intended to track the success of preventive interventions used and to identify children and adolescents who are exposed to an increased development risk so that they may receive additional attention at an early stage. A key attribute of SWPBS is data-based decision-making. This second level, secondary prevention, has its foundation in primary prevention but then offers the possibility of integrating individualised support into the funding process at an early stage. Based on course diagnostics, the success of preventive interventions is continuously reviewed for individual cases so that, in the absence of development progress, attention can be further intensified on a third-level, tertiary prevention. The transitions between general pedagogical and special education support are fluid and understood as a common task of a multi-professional team. To increase support levels, certain conditions must be met, for example, a cooperative intervention, target agreement and its evaluation. These conditions are technically modelled. A level increase is not possible without fulfilling these rules.

There is a broad international body of evidence for the use of SWPBS. Positive effects include an increase in academic performance (Gage, Sugaim, Lewis, & Brzozowy, 2013), a reduction of problematic behaviours (Bradshaw & Leaf, 2012), an increase in appropriate behaviour and an improvement in school climate (Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010).

The VSB has been in use since 2017 and is used at project schools in the Mettmann district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The implementation showed significant heterogeneity in the acceptance and use of the VSB. First, findings from an evaluation of technology acceptance on the part of school administrators are available (Hövel, van Zadelhoff, Hennemann, & Fränkel, 2020). The study was able to show that, in addition to technical barriers (e.g. lack of WiFi in schools), the attitude of users towards the new technology and the user interface also exercises significant effects on the probability of use. The current challenge in implementing the platform in an ongoing pilot project is low usage behaviour by the teachers. Therefore, the current study aims to systematically evaluate the acceptance of the tool.

Based on the extended technology acceptance model TAM; figure 1 (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), both the perceived usefulness and the perceived user-friendliness moderate the intended use and behaviour of ICT. Venkatesh and Davis (2000) have shown in a confirmatory model analysis that users’ perceptions are significantly influenced by social influence processes (subjective norm, voluntariness and image) and cognitive instrumental processes (job relevance, output quality, result demonstrability and perceived ease of use). The model provides a detailed account of the key forces underlying judgements of perceived usefulness, explaining up to 60% (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000, p. 198) of the variance in this important driver of usage intentions. The TAM is therefore well suited as an analysis grid to improve the use of ICT.

The TAM was confirmed by Anni, Sunawan and Haryono (2018) for deployment and use by school counsellors.

This article aims to systematically record the technical acceptance of the VSB along with the TAM. The goal is to identify influencing factors based on the TAM (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), which determine the perceived usefulness, perceived user-friendliness, intention of use and thus usage behaviour. Support from school management, an individual and collective self-efficacy experience, and a good illustration of the work-relevant processes in the VSB are expected to be potential influencing factors for the improvement and acceptance of the VSB. By identifying relevant influencing factors, clear action plans for the sustainable implementation of the software in school operations can be developed. As an overarching goal, we want to discuss the identified factors as possibilities for and challenges to the implementation of innovative digital technologies in schools. Our research questions are as follows: (1)

Based on the TAM, what challenges and opportunities do teachers see in the use of the VSB tool at their school?

Figure 1

TAM reflects and theorises different processes that influence usage behaviour. In the following section, the results of our analysis are listed (compare table 4) and include social influence processes, users’ experience and cognitive influence processes. Categories are listed by the number of coded passages. In addition to categories provided by TAM, passages in the category of further development suggestions are listed last.

The introduction and use of the VSB in the Mettmann district shows a rather heterogeneous picture. Based on TAM, we can outline the first research question regarding the challenges and opportunities of using a digital tool such as the VSB as follows. Within most coded passages in the ‘experience’ category, it becomes evident that the usage behaviour of the sample is low. ‘At the moment, I do not use it as much as I would like to. I would like to use it on a daily basis, but at the moment it is more like—at most once a month’ (MGS1-I2). Although the ‘image’ of the VSB and its possibilities, such as multi-professional collaboration, diagnostics, access to data and the structuring of the individual support process, is rated innovative and useful (25 codings), teachers have unpleasant emotions, such as stress and frustration, while using the VSB. ‘It was frustrating and so I didn’t use it anymore’ (GGS1-I5). In line with Fergens, Pilawka, Broholm and Magnussen's study (2020) into users’ experience, VSB users perceive the time spent within the software as ‘a lot of work and additional work’ (GS2-I) and have a negative perception of the VSB. (46 codings). Next to these barriers, users reported the most ‘hindering aspects’, such as difficulties with the interface. ‘I was facing a lot of problems with the interface and spent a lot of time searching for the right files’ (GGS4-I3). With a total of 95 coded passages referring to ‘hindering aspects’, users face a lot of challenges showing a wide variety: Concerns about data protection, technical obstacles and a lack of hardware (12 codings) were reported. ‘We have one computer for 30 teachers’ (GGS4-I2). More coded passages with ‘hindering aspects’ demonstrate software barriers (57 codings), for example its low perceived user-friendliness and the lack of a signing option. The category ‘job relevance’ shows the extent to which the VSB matched teachers’ tasks (21 codings). ‘Yes, it was useful to record parental conversations’ (GGS2-I1). Upon review of the results in the perceived ‘output quality’, it becomes clear that most of the participants rate the fulfilment of the VSB tasks as limited or non-existent (41 codings). In conclusion, the implementation of the VSB faces a large variety of challenges, which gives it a rather negative image.

We identified two main reasons for this: (1) Job relevance: There is a contradiction between the actual and the theoretically intended educational use of the VSB. This is due to the fact that the rules of the technical system do not coincide with pedagogical practice. This leads to frustration among users, weakened job relevance and subsequently to a negative subjective norm and image. (2) Output quality: The user interface and the operation of the VSB are perceived as nonintuitive. In addition, there are equipment problems that also contribute to an experience of stress. Concerning the second research question, the implications arising from both aspects in the context of previous research will be discussed below.

To conclude, the evaluation of the VSB against the framework of the TAM has provided information about the acceptance of ICT in schools that supports the revision of the VSB tool and lends credence to the view that this tool merits transfer to the realm of further research activities connected with the use of digital tools in schools.

While an insufficiency in the level of technological sophistication of, or simply the quantum of, technical equipment available at a school might pose the primary hindrance to the effective usage of ICTs, such as the VSB tool, it is also true that the number of barriers influencing usage behaviour from a pedagogical perspective is greater. Phenomena, such as recontextualisation, categorisation and the behaviour of the principals, represent an equally important aspect. A key factor for future projects can therefore be to look at possible mechanisms of action for efforts to adapt MLESM to the categorical processes existing in school practice. To enhance digital rather than analogue, we identify the need for a joint understanding within schools. We assume that close, constant and collaborative work by users, including teachers and principals, service providers and IT experts, can improve the technical acceptance of ICT so that analogue systems may be completely abandoned.