Case Study: Collaborative Individualized Education Program Development Process

The purpose of this study is to reveal the process and the results of the development of an individualized education program (IEP) and gaining the ability to work cooperatively in a team for the junior students of the special education department. The research was carried out as an action research within the look-think-act circle. Data were collected using participant observations, field notes, home works, and diaries of candidate teachers and instructor opinions. Data collected were subjected to the content analysis procedure. During the implementation process, collaborative teaching and learning approaches were adopted. With collaborative learning, along with IEP preparing skills, teamwork capabilities of participants, which are one of the requirements for IEP, were also improved. Moreover, implementation of the course using collaborative teaching represented a good model of collaborative working for participant students. Findings of this study will help teacher educators better prepare their future teachers to cope with the challenges and demands they will face.