Designing and Validating the Blended Learning Model with Emphasis on Digital Technologies for Students with Special Educational Needs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design and validate an educational model based on blended learning approach with emphasis on digital technologies for students with special educational needs. A mixed method in a type of the exploratory was used. To obtain the components of the model, an inductive content analysis was performed and for internal validity of the model, descriptive survey method was used. The statistical society for designing an educational model included all articles, books, reports and related dissertations in the field of blended learning approach for students with special educational needs from 2008 to 2018. A statistical sample to determine the component of the model, were 23 articles, 7 dissertations and 8 books and reports that purposefully selected and analyzed until saturation. The statistical society also comprised university teachers of educational technology, psychology and special education field for validation of the model. Twenty-six university teachers were selected as samples. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire of 25 items that 23 questions were created according to7 point Likert scale and 2 questions were created according to open-ended question. The content validity of the questionnaire was approved by the experts and its reliability was 0.94 with Cronbach's alpha. According to the inductive content analysis, six main components were obtained. Also, 49 sub-components were extracted for the main components. After analyzing the content and extracting the codes, the components and subcomponents were presented in the model.

Keywords

• learning model
• blended learning approach
• digital technologies
• special education
• innovative strategies