Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Jennifer L. Courduff

Abstract

The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore parents’ perceptions of the use of mobile devices as tools for learning for their children in special education settings. Research literature on mobile-device use in special education indicates that little is known regarding parents’ perception of mlearning. While studies provided information on teachers’ perspectives of mlearning in their special education classrooms, parents’ perspectives on mlearning to support their children’s needs remained unexplored. The conceptual frameworks used included Rogers’s diffusion of innovation theory and Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s theory of parental involvement. Individual semistructured interviews of eight parents of elementary students in special education were conducted to explore parents’ perceptions of the use of mobile devices as tools for learning for students in special education. After interviews were conducted, audio recordings were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using thematic inductive analysis. Through data collection and analysis, this study identified four main themes of parental perspectives relative to mlearning for students in special education. Parents affirmed their approval of mlearning overall, but not as a primary source for learning due to needs including modeling, human interaction, and novice skill. This research may provide perspective regarding the alignment between at-home and in-school use of mobile devices for learning. This insight may also lead to positive social change and overall advancement in mlearning for students in special education and the mobile learning experiences of their families by providing parent-caretakers with strategies for more effective mlearning for their children in special education class settings.

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