Digital Media as a Means of Developing Reflection in Students with Disabilities: Cultural-Historical Perspective

A multidisciplinary research project “Understanding Digital Media” was launched in Moscow State University of Psychology and Education in 2011. The project aims at investigating the influence that digital technologies exert on various intra-psychological aspects of development – particularly on the formation of higher mental processes. The research is based on the fundamental idea of the cultural-historical theory (L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontev, A.R. Luria) that demonstrates the crucial difference between tools and signs in human activity. In the research digital media are perceived as cultural signs, oriented towards higher psychological functions and mental processes. The article focuses on a longitudinal case-study undertaken with a disabled student of the IT Department. The goal of the study consists in investigating the influence of digital technologies on the reflection of the student while he is working on his graduation project – shooting a documentary about his love story.

Since 2011 these issues have become the focus of a multidisciplinary research project “Understanding Digital Media” launched in Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. The project aims at tracing the impact that digital tech­nologies, used in educational process, have on various aspects of development in young people. The research is conducted in collaboration with the Department of Informational Technologies, which specializes in the education of disabled stu­dents. Thus one of the research target groups is represented by students with disabilities.

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