Research design

In this study, we used a convergent parallel mixed-method design. According to Creswell and Clark (2011), a convergent parallel mixed-method design entails that the researcher concurrently conducts the quantitative and qualitative elements in the same phase of the research process. We have chosen an embedded mixed-method design to understand the results of our intervention with teachers using the SELI smart learning platform by incorporating perspectives of participant views within the context of inclusive education. After the workshop, we surveyed for quantitative analysis for usability of the platform and a case study as qualitative research to understand how workshop-based DST can contribute to teacher professional development as an educational strategy for inclusive education.

Participants

A total of 47 special education teachers who volunteered to attend the Dominican Republic workshop between 22-24 January 2020 comprised the participants in the present study. Participants were secondary school teachers working with students with hearing disabilities in special education schools. These teachers consisted of 38 females and nine males in their mid-career (5 to 15 years’ experience). In addition, within the qualitative part of the research, three female and one male volunteer participated in the study. Then we had face-to-face semi-structured interviews with a total of four special education teachers.

Data collection tools

We collected quantitative and qualitative data after the workshop through two data collection tools. As a quantitative data collection tool, we administered the USE questionnaire developed by Lund (2001) with the author's permission to understand the general overview usability of the SELI smart learning platform. The USE questionnaire comprises four dimensions; including usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction, on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) with one (N/A) option. Native Spanish speakers among the authors translated questionnaires based on scale adaptation suggestions (Dantas et al., 2017). The USE questionnaire is a widely used, valid, and reliable tool for assessing self-perceived usability in different cultural settings. Studies that examined psychometric properties of the USE questionnaire reported that it is a valid and reliable instrument (Gao et al., 2018). In addition, we looked at Cronbach's alpha values to test reliability in order to ensure that the questionnaire provided stable and consistent results by using SPSS 21.0. The instrument is reliable as the Cronbach's alpha's cutoff value is at least 0.7 (Landauer, 1997). According to Table 1, all construct items (usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction) had a value greater than 0.7. Thus, Cronbach's alpha values show good values for all constructs of the USE questionnaire.

The second data collection tool was qualitative and based on the DST process. The research team created it to explore teachers' experiences in the DST workshop process as one of the tools offered by the SELI smart learning platform. The questions aimed at insights of participants based on their experiences in workshop-based DST, including feelings about one's personal story, the process of creation and sharing, DST role for personal/professional change, watching others' stories.

Procedure

We worked with the teachers to understand their experience of creating digital stories through the SELI smart learning platform. A lead facilitator who is a certified DST facilitator joined the workshop online and shared the background regarding workshop-based practices adopted by Lambert and Hassler (2018). Later, we created small groups among teachers, including a co-facilitator in each group. All the groups involved a maximum of 8 teacher participants. During this workshop, teachers first listened to the online facilitator's story projected in the workshop room. Then teachers told their stories face to face in the story circle. After that, teachers continued digital processes through a DST tool in the SELI smart learning platform. The SELI smart learning platform allowed functionalities of using DST as well as accessibility module. Details of the open-source application are reachable in the open-source project platform. Co-facilitators focused on listening to the participants. Co-facilitators lead six phases of the workshop within the groups. Story circle was the first phase that aimed at establishing trust by telling inclusion-related personal stories in small groups. There were participants with hearing disabilities, however, and a sign language interpreter could express personal stories to them. The second phase was text writing as a dialogic stage where participants wrote down their text and discussed similarities and differences among their accounts. The third phase of image search allowed participants to use their mobile phones for collecting personal images from WhatsApp or other applications. Some others preferred to search the Internet. The co-facilitators considered the ICT skills of participants and provided help when needed. The fourth phase was for recording the audio throughout the SELI smart learning platform. The fifth phase allowed users to merge image and audio through a storyboard on the SELI smart learning platform. Figure 1 is a screenshot of the storyboard used in the SELI smart learning platform.

The sixth phase was publishing the created stories and sharing final versions of the story, which allowed further discussions before the data collection.

Data collection and analysis

In this study, we analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data after data collection. Firstly, the research team distributed the printed version of the USE questionnaire (Lund, 2001) to teachers at the end of the workshop process for quantitative data collection. Based on the suggestion of Nielsen (1994), we calculated the mean value of each variable to describe the outcome of the usability measurement. The qualitative collection involved participatory observation and semi-structured interviews because of the nature of the qualitative analysis. We carried out an inductive thematic analysis to code the data without fitting it into a pre-existing coding frame explained by Braun and Clarke (2006). We then gathered data in an online document.

As facilitators of the workshop, we collected observational data regarding the implementation of the process and participants' attitudes. At the end of the workshop, we conducted semi-structured interviews. Open-ended questions of the interview were oriented toward the process of the DST workshop (Lambert & Hessler, 2018). The university ethical commission provided ethical approval, and participants gave informed consent throughout the SELI smart learning platform to participate in the study. We made constant comparisons of data within the research team through online collaborative documents and video conference discussions. Codes with example quotes from data analysis are provided in the Appendix.

Usability of SELI learning platform

The first research question focuses on the usability of the SELI smart learning platform. We identified the usability of the SELI smart learning platform used in the workshop based on the data analysis. The mean scores for usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction in the current study are 6.61, 6.07, 5.90, 6.40 on a seven-point Likert scale (Table 2). The scores converted from the mean for usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction are 94.43, 86.71, 84.29, and 91.43, respectively.

Based on these results, the SELI smart learning platform has shown good usability. The high results of usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction prove that the users accept the SELI smart learning platform.

Workshop-based DST as a way of enjoyment for driving change for inclusive education

The second research question focuses on the use of workshop-based DST for inclusive education. Data analysis resulted in overarching themes as (a) enjoyment of expressing, listening, and learning through DST and (b) "Driving change" with DST to being "able to create more inclusive environments."

Discussion

Acknowledging short-term educational workshops is an essential part of continuing professional development. Our study explored special education teachers' perceptions about implementing workshop-based DST as an educational strategy through the SELI project. The study provides significant findings regarding the usability of the SELI smart learning platform and an in-depth understanding of the workshop in the context of inclusive education. Teachers in this study evaluated the usability of the SELI smart learning platform well in all dimensions of the USE Questionnaire. Although this workshop included only limited use of the SELI smart learning platform, involving DST in a short period that lacks extended user experience, these results are significant as the first usability results of the SELI smart learning platform. Some other studies that have assessed the usability of educational systems reported similar good usability results (Faria et al., 2016; Filippidis & Tsoukalas, 2009; Lattie et al., 2017; Hariyanto et al., 2020).

Teachers valued workshop-based DST to allow enjoyment for expressing, listening, and learning. This finding is similar to the result of the research conducted by Park (2019), which aimed to identify experiences of graduate students in a program for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) when completing DST. DST facilitated the participants' dialogic hybrid learning, which Park (2019) defines as learning via traditional and technologically assisted methods with internal and external dialogic interactions. Participants explained dialogic interaction as "I like to see how to relate what I like and don't like and to understand the stories of inclusion. ...I identified with the stories of my colleagues" (P3) and "how something simple leads you to find great learning" (P1). Similarly, the results of another short teacher professional development study offer optimistic insights regarding the effectiveness of dialogic teaching and learning practice (Rapanta et al., 2021). Therefore, dialogue towards DST can foster an inclusive dialogic stance among teachers.

Participants enjoyed sharing their stories, and they felt motivated and empowered when listening to the stories of others. This finding is similar to the result of another study that aimed to examine the effect of the DST process on the digital literacy skills of pre-service teachers and examine the creation process in detail (Çetin, 2021). Çetin (2021) reported that pre-service teachers found digital story creation makes a course fun and attractive as it increases participation, motivation, interaction and provides better learning and permanence. Differently from previous studies that had an emphasis on the improvement of digital literacy skills (Ranieri & Bruni, 2018; Çetin, 2021) through DST, in this study, teachers perceived DST as a way of using "new technologies for education" (P2) to "have in hand and thus be able to adapt it to the context of the students'' (P8). The findings of the present study are in line with the studies reported use of DST in inclusive methodologies as an instrument of constructive and experiential learning based on the diversity of each student (Kouvara et al., 2019) and a way of starting up different learning channels (Albano & Iacono, 2019).

Moreover, in this study, we implemented DST with teachers who work with students with hearing disabilities. Therefore, inclusive education was the main topic of the DST workshop, which aimed to provide learning opportunities through teachers' stories. Similarly, DST is also applied in a different context of students as a strategy for children’s and adolescents’ self-expression, particularly immersed in unequal and ethnically diverse educational contexts (Valdivia, 2017). Although the Covid 19 circumstances revealed inequalities in access to education caused by access to technology and online delivery, where teaching approaches may not always address the student voice with an appreciation of their culture (Istenič, 2021), DST can be a solution for teachers learning to make sense of inclusive education. Apart from this technical or technological aspect, implementing workshop-based DST facilitates the value of listening, as it provides multiple ways of expression, which allows connecting with other stories in a specific topic such as inclusion. Therefore, teachers valued DST beyond improving digital skills to learn from each other in the context of inclusion. As facilitators of the workshop, we experienced using DST flexibly by implementing workshops with two participant teachers with hearing disabilities. During the implementation of the DST workshop, participants had a collaboration in terms of interpreting sign language. Facilitators in small groups joined the conversation in an equal participation principle. This dialogue allowed a collaborative, co-creative learning environment between participants and facilitators. Creating such learning environments and co-creative habits gains importance for both students and educators (Tomczyk et al., 2019). In addition, digital story creation was not limited to only one-way communication and focused on sharing experiences that provided multimodal communication, including at least one of text, audio, and visual elements.

Teachers expressed open curiosity about each others’ stories by "identifying" themselves with the stories of inclusion related to their work contexts. Sharing stories allowed collaboration with and learning from peers throughout sharing stories of inclusion which provided an endless opportunity for teachers to align technology with meaningful context for learning which can be called a meaningful technology-integrated approach (Sadik, 2008). Therefore, the DST workshop provided an inclusive example for teachers to use in their setting. For example, P1 highlighted "DST as an audiovisual content which many people with disabilities can learn to build meaningful learning. I can now drive change since now I know a new tool."

A previous study reported that reforms have failed to significantly improve access to regular schools and classes for students with a disability (De-Bruin, 2019). However, the teachers in the present study look for new ways to change traditional practices. Therefore, workshop-based DST can provide a promising approach for improving inclusive education. Several other studies highlighted DST as being a source for social change in different areas such as women's participation (Şimşek, 2012; Hlalele & Brexa, 2015), teaching to Children with hearing disabilities (Flórez-Aristizábal et al., 2019). Like these studies, teachers in this study considered DST to drive change in the context of teacher education as it promotes "inclusion in the classrooms," "building," meaningful learning" when used in the classroom. The participants in the study did not have any experience in using DST; therefore, a step-by-step DST workshop process was implemented. Participants joined a story circle where they listened to facilitators' stories and had dialogic interactions about their inclusive education experiences. Unlike studies which focus on acquiring digital competencies by the teacher or the student through DST implementation, workshop-based DST adopted in this study may contribute to the development of teachers' emotional intelligence as it "was interesting to hear and see the different points of the others", thereby establishing enhanced professional development in inclusive education. For teachers to be effective co-agents, they need "the capacity to act purposefully and constructively to direct their professional growth and contribute to the growth of their students and colleagues" (Calvert, 2016). To achieve this, teachers need continuing professional development in designing learning environments that support student agency. The present findings show that workshop-based DST can be an engaging, inclusive approach to achieving meaningful learning outcomes to contribute professional development of teachers for promoting inclusive education.

Conclusion and suggestions

This study provides the first usability results of the SELI smart learning platform. Further studies which focus on the usability of the SELI Learning platform might give detailed information for validation of results. To achieve sustainability in inclusive education, Vanderpuye et al. (2020) call for intensive staff training and continuing professional development to sufficiently prepare teachers for inclusive education. Our example of using DST to enhance teachers' professional development demonstrates the benefits of sharing stories for reflecting and understanding inclusion through diverse stories from the Dominican Republic. We experienced a case of inclusion through the inclusion of two participant teachers with hearing disabilities in the DST workshop. This experience provided learning from diverse stories and provided a practical example of implementation for participants and facilitators.

When facilitating DST workshops, there are restrictions and risks as facilitators need to be confident with the process and technologies to help solve technical problems and support participants through ethical issues. Much can be solved initially through good preparation and setting specific ground rules and by actively promoting dialogic mechanisms such as story circles and digital processes like sound and image merging. The SELI smart platform fosters the inclusion of disabled people through DST by facilitating participation in ICT-enhanced learning. In addition, ICT use for inclusive education should be considered beyond disability research and focus on quality education for all students with diverse backgrounds.

Workshop-based DST goes beyond the dominant discourses and initiatives of digital inclusion, focusing mainly on the use and acquisition of digital devices and digital competence development. Nevertheless, workshop-based DST was one of the strategies of the SELI project to allow different levels of communication among teachers, technology experts, and teacher educators to use the potential of digital technologies to trigger a transformation in education. We used workshop-based DST as an educational strategy to understand and use digital technologies in teachers' professional development with an active, respectful, and critical perspective. Teachers can experience inclusive ways of using ICT-based technologies to transfer inclusive competencies to their classroom settings. This practice allowed listening differences among various levels of stakeholders for promoting inclusive education.