1. Inclusive Education for All?
WebQuest
UC.EDU.1100 Roles & Responsibilities of the Educational Assistant
Created By: Krystle Robinson
krobinson@ucn.ca
Introduction
The issue of Inclusive education remains to be a controversial topic among
educators and parents alike. As Canadian society has moved toward a more
inclusive view of all individuals, so too have schools moved toward inclusion. In the
school context, Inclusion assumes that all children will be a part of the regular
classroom and given the same opportunity to learn as everyone else. Some suggest
that inclusion of special needs students detracts from the quality of learning on
non-special needs students.
As a member of the educational team, paraprofessionals are responsible for
supporting individual students in their learning. It is important for the
paraprofessional to be familiar with the concept of Inclusion and understand the
implications it has for your professional practice.
So, the question is: What is Inclusion, why is it important and do you support or
oppose inclusive education?

2. Task
After completing this webquest, you will be able to:
 Define the term “Inclusion” and why it is important
 Describe Manitoba Education’s Philosophy of Inclusion
 List the characteristics of an Inclusive school
 List the pros and cons to inclusion
 Identify your own position on Inclusive education
Your task after completing this webquest is to:
1. Create a Visual Presentation that represents what inclusion is- using Microsoft Word,
create a 5-6 page document using pictures, text, quotes and brief sentence
explanations to depict, describe and represent visually what “Inclusion” is.
2. Produce a written summary that identifies “YOUR” position on Inclusive Education,
which you must defend. Do you support or oppose inclusive education and why? What
are the limitations and benefits of inclusive education?
3. Create a Word Cloud – select appropriate words to create a visual representation of
the concept of Inclusion. (see further details in Process below)

3. Process
Research
1. Take a few minutes to review the following links that discuss different ideas on
inclusive education in Canada. This piece promotes Canada’s vision for inclusive
education and outlines the benefits and vision for inclusive education across
Canada.
 http://www.inclusiveeducation.ca/documents/IncEd%20brochure%20Nat%
20Eng3.pdf
 http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/inclusion.html
 http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr034.shtml
2. The Centre for Inclusive Education has created a website dedicated to inclusive
education. This site has information and resources for further investigation.
Make note of the “inclusion defined” and “inclusive education news” pages, which
provide valuable information about inclusive education in Canada and its history.
http://www.edu.uwo.ca/inclusive_education/index.asp
3. Explore Manitoba Education’s Philosophy of Inclusion. All schools in Manitoba
are expected to practice from this philosophy. This is located as item 1 when the
web page loads. Along the left-hand side of the screen you can explore
additional links regarding provincial legislation of appropriate educational
programming.
http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/aep/index.html
4. Read this brief news article from CTV news regarding the debate over the policy
of inclusion in Manitoba schools. To the right of the screen, watch the brief video
clip on this current debate. As you watch the video, record your thoughts on the
following: what are the issues? What are the benefits and limitations of
inclusions?

4. http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101116/wpg_inclusion_10111
6/20101116/?hub=WinnipegHome
5. Read the attached article from CBC news: Analysis & Viewpoint on School by
Mary-Ellen Lang. Think about the following as you read it: does the author
support inclusion and what issues does the author raise about inclusion? What
are responding comments from readers?
*See Attached Article
6. Watch the following video on the Inclusive Classroom. Make notes on what you
observe. How do the students looks? Does inclusive education appear to be
working? What do you see your role being in supporting inclusion?
http://youtu.be/o5WCX-998vs
Create
Visual Presentation
1. Open up a Word Document.
2. Open up Internet Explorer and go to www.google.ca
3. Based on your understanding of “inclusion” do a search for images that would
visually represent your understanding.
4. Copy and paste them into your open word document.
5. You may also search for quotes and other text in addition to the images
6. Under each image, briefly describe how it represents the concept of inclusion
7. Your presentation should be between 5-6 pages and use a variety of pictures,
texts, quotes with descriptions that clearly explain how this represents inclusion.
8. Save your document and submit it for marking.
Reflective Position Summary
1. Open up a Word Document
2. Prepare a 1-2 page, minimum 500 word reflective summary based on your
research findings from reading, viewing and representing the concept of inclusion
from the above investigative learning activities. Your summary should clearly
identify:
a. What inclusion is
b. whether you support or oppose inclusive education.
c. You must provide support for your view by making reference to the
readings/sites and videos viewed.
3. Edit and check your summary for: spelling, grammar and complete sentences.
4. Save your document and submit it for marking.

5. Word Cloud Visual
You are now going to create a “word cloud” using words related to the
concept of inclusion. Have some fun with this!!
1. Open Internet Explorer and go to: http://www.wordle.net/
2. Click the link that says “create” your own.
3. In the textbox, type several (minimum 10) words related to and including the
word “Inclusion”. (See example of what it will look like below). When you have
entered all the words you want to use, CLICK “go”.
4. Wordle will generate an image that looks like the one above. You can now edit
the font, layout and color BE CREATIVE!!!
5. When finished, print and save a copy for submission.
Evaluation
This is how your work will be evaluated.
Beginning Developing Accomplished Exemplary Score
0-2 3-5 6-8 9-10
Presentation Presentation use of text,
uses limited incorporates images,
Visual forms of text use of some quotes and
Presentation
Presentation and images. but not all with clear
incorporates
Descriptions are forms and descriptions
few visuals
not clear. Page descriptions related to the
with unclear
criteria is not are provided. concept of
descriptions.
met Presentations Inclusion and
is 5 or less meets 5-6
pages page criteria
Summary is Summary Summary
underdeveloped, provides a exceeds or Summary
lacking limited does not meet meets word
definition, with definition of word count; count;
Reflective limited inclusion; Definition of Inclusion is
Summary understanding viewpoint is inclusion is clearly defined
of viewpoint. not clearly provided. and viewpoint
articulated Viewpoint is is articulated
and no inconclusive and
support is and not well supported.
provided . supported.
Individual has Less than 5 Use of atleast
failed to identify words; words Use of 10 or 10 words;
Wordle more than 2 not directly less words; words directly
words. No related to words directly related to
creative effort inclusion; related to inclusion;
shown. minimal inclusion visually
effort attractive;

6. Conclusion
You are finally finished!
Reflect on your webquest journey. As we have discussed earlier in this assignment,
your role as a paraprofessional is very important to the success of individual learners
and student programming in your school community. Whether or not you choose to
support inclusion, it is the philosophy through which Manitoba schools must practice
and therefore we must be mindful of how inclusion will influence our professional
practice in the classroom and in the school.
As you have probably discovered from your “quest”, there are many viewpoints and
perspectives to consider and think about, when we look at the concept of inclusion.
These perspectives are all important in helping us formulate our own understanding of
the topic and give us the ability to think about a topic from multiple angles. As a result
of your quest, what questions has it raised for you about inclusion? What implications
does what you’ve learned have on your professional practice?
Food for thought: If one does not strongly support inclusion, is it still possible to practice
as a paraprofessional in an inclusive school community? What challenges might you
face?

7. WebQuest Teachers Guide
Aim
The aim of this webquest is to introduce students to the concept of inclusive education and the
various perspectives surrounding this concept.
Rationale
The objective of this webquest is, that upon completion, students will be able to define inclusive
education, identify the limitations and positive aspects of inclusive education, describe the
importance of inclusive education in the classroom and be familiar with Manitoba’ s philosophy
of Inclusion. Students will use research skills, analytical and critical thinking skills and reflection
to develop a personal understanding of inclusion and create a written position statement on
whether they support or oppose inclusive education.
Learners
This webquest is aimed at students learning to become paraprofessionals in the Educational
Assistant Certificate Program, in the course UC.EDU.1100 Roles & Responsibilities of the
Educational Assistant.
Prerequisites
Before completing this webquest, students should understand what a paraprofessional is and be
familiar with the role of the paraprofessional and have a basic understanding of the duties, roles
and responsibilities of the paraprofessional in the school.
Subject Matter
This webquest primarily focuses on special education and the topic of inclusive education and
inclusion of special needs students in the regular classroom.
Goals and objectives
Students should have gathered enough information by the time they have gone through this
webquest to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the topic of inclusion and various
issues/controversies around the implementation and support of inclusion in Canadian schools.
Instructional Plan
1. Before allowing the students to start working their way through the Webquest, the teacher
should introduce the topic and outline any additional own objectives and expectations as
to what you want your students to focus on.

8. 2. Provide each student with a copy of the Webquest. It would be best to provide a printed
and an electronic copy.
3. *Out of class assignment – if this is an out-of class assignment, provide an appropriate
deadline that fits with the instructional schedule for the course.
4. *If this is scheduled as in-class assignment- pre book a computer lab for students to
access the internet. Students can open the electronic copy of the Webquest and read it
from the screen and click on the links to access the web sites.
a. Time-line- for in-class, this webquest and assessment should be completed within
6- 1 hour periods.
5. This webquest is designed to be worked on, on an independent basis.
Assessment
Student assessment will be based three activities:
Visual presentation
 Must be 5-6 pages long
 Must use a combination of text, quotations, pictures and other images
 Must represent the concept of inclusion
 Brief descriptions must accompany images to clearly identify meaning
Reflective Summary
 Must be Produce a written summary that identifies position on Inclusive Education,
which must be defended. Do you support or oppose inclusive education and why?
What are the limitations and benefits of inclusive education?
 1-2 pages, minimum 500 words
 summary should clearly identify:
o What inclusion is
o whether you support or oppose inclusive education.
o You must provide support for your view by making reference to the
readings/sites and videos viewed.
Word Cloud
 Create a word cloud, using a minimum of 10 words related to Inclusion.
 Use the features of wordle to edit font, color and arrangments
Assessment Rubric
Beginning Developing Accomplished Exemplary Score
0-2 3-5 6-8 9-10
Presentation Presentation Presentation use of text,
uses limited incorporates incorporates images,

9. Visual forms of text few visuals use of some quotes and
Presentation and images. with unclear but not all with clear
Descriptions are descriptions. forms and descriptions
not clear. Page descriptions related to the
criteria is not are provided. concept of
met Presentations Inclusion and
is 5 or less meets 5-6
pages page criteria
Summary is Summary Summary
underdeveloped, provides a exceeds or Summary
lacking limited does not meet meets word
definition, with definition of word count; count;
Reflective limited inclusion; Definition of Inclusion is
Summary understanding viewpoint is inclusion is clearly defined
of viewpoint. not clearly provided. and viewpoint
articulated Viewpoint is is articulated
and no inconclusive and
support is and not well supported.
provided . supported.
Individual has Less than 5 Use of atleast
failed to identify words; words Use of 10 or 10 words;
Wordle more than 2 not directly less words; words directly
words. No related to words directly related to
creative effort inclusion; related to inclusion;
shown. minimal inclusion visually
effort attractive;
Total possible points: 30