Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto
Proposal submitted by Judith Kimel and Richard Reeve
The project described in this proposal is an ongoing project that was developed over a three-year period beginning in 2004. The main objective of this project was to develop a means by which all of those who are typically involved in the development and execution of a student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP) could be “virtually” brought together on a more continuous basis. The concerned parties include the classroom teacher, special education teacher, speech pathologist, educational assistant, principal and parents. This team worked together on a continuous basis using an innovative on-line environment to help manage an IEP. Due to the fact that the IEP document by virtue of being became “dynamic” it was referred to as the Dynamic Individual Education Plan (DIEP). In this new on-line space the shared goals of all concerned were continuously addressed in response to the student’s evolving needs. The creation, evaluation and modification of educational programming for this student emerged out of the contributions of team members within the database. This stands in stark contrast to the way IEPs are normally only addressed at two points in year (e.g. beginning and end) and that these documents are only discussed in the context of face-to-face meetings at these end-points of the year.
The initial year was divided into three phases of development. Phase I provided a space for home and school communication to occur and allowed team members to become familiar with each other and with the database. In Phase II, concrete and specific short-term goals were developed, documented and implemented. These goals were created collaboratively. During this phase, goals were assessed and modified in continuous response to the child’s progress. Phase III allowed team members to highlight a specific subset of goals (communication), devoting intense focus on programming in this area.
Knowledge Forum (KF) was the shared problem space that was used. The innovation was the use of this existing software to support the process of group knowledge building. The main goal was to explore and expand best practices associated with the use of Individual Education Plans that serve to support student achievement and team communication. The central research question was, “To what extent can a Dynamic IEP be used to improve team communication and therefore student achievement using an on-line environment?” A related sub-question was, “What effect does a team approach and focus on common and shared goals have on student achievement?”
2007 Winners:
"Long Jump Ahead" | "Dynamic Individual Education Plan" | "Poetry, Music and a Garage Band"