Use of Educational Technology in Inclusive Primary Education: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

Abstract

Background: Educational technology (EdTech) has been instrumental in the last few decades in promoting inclusive education by overcoming various learning barriers and offering tools and opportunities to all students, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). However, there is limited understanding of current classroom practices and policies and of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on EdTech use in the inclusive classroom.

Objective: This systematic review aims to outline the current knowledge on the use of EdTech to support the learning of students with SEND in inclusive primary schools in high-income countries.

Methods: We followed the PRISMA-P (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols) and the Generalized Systematic Review Registration Form in reporting the details of this protocol. The inclusion criteria for the systematic review require that studies focus on students with SEND who are attending the primary stage of school in high-income countries. The studies can be qualitative or quantitative and should explore the design and use of EdTech with these students. Eligible studies must be published between 2016 and 2024, be peer-reviewed, and be available in English. We systematically searched the ACM, Directory of Open Access Journals, British Educational Index, ERIC, Google Scholar (first 100 records), IEEE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The titles and abstracts of all records will be screened for relevance according to the inclusion criteria. Following this, the full text of the articles will be screened. To ensure the reliability of the screening process, an independent reviewer will screen a percentage of the records for the first screening round. The data extraction process for this systematic review will start with a pilot stage to validate and eventually update the list of entities to be extracted. Following the pilot stage, the final data extraction will be undertaken. An independent reviewer will extract data from a subsample of the records to ensure the reliability of the data extraction process.

Results: The database search was conducted in July 2024. The database search identified a total of 547 records. It is anticipated that the study findings will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal by the end of January 2025.

Conclusions: This study will provide up-to-date evidence of the use of EdTech in inclusive primary school settings in high-income countries and will describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of EdTech with students with SEND.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/65045.