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Professor Jane Seale

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Professor in Education & REF Unit Panel Chair
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • Research Excellence and Knowledge Exchange
  • jane.seale

Professional biography

Jane graduated from Plymouth Polytechnic in 1987 with a degree in psychology. She then went on to join the Computer Applications to Special Education Research Unit at Keele University where she completed her PhD focusing on the management of special needs technology in adult special education. In 1993 she joined Southampton University, taking on various roles including lecturer in higher education and innovation. Between 2000 and 2002 Jane set up the first ever UK based Masters in Assistive Technology at Kings College, London. In 2010 Jane became Professor in Education at Plymouth University, moving in 2013 to take up a position of Professor in Inclusive Education at Exeter University. Jane joined the OU in April 2016 in order to lead on REF related strategy and capacity-building for 100+ education researchers across the university.

Jane has developed a national and international profile in the field through key roles such as President of the Association for Learning Technology (2006-7) and Digital Inclusion consultant to the ESRC funded Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) Programme in the UK (2009-2012).Between 2007 and 2010 Jane was Co-Director of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. She served on the REF 2014 Education panel in the UK which had the responsibility for assessing the quality of research conducted in UK universities.

Research interests

Jane’s teaching and research interests lie at the intersections between disability, technology and inclusion. Her work focuses in particular on three areas:

  1. The role that technologies play in the lives of people with learning disabilities. For example during the pandemic she has examined whether and how people with learning disabilities are being supported to use technologies to keep connected and stay well. One outcome of this work is a toolkit for support workers to enable them to support people with learning disabilities to use technologies.
  2. The factors that influence or sustain the digital exclusion of disabled learners in higher education. She has recently led a Leverhulme Trust funded International Network of researchers from US, Canada, Israel, Germany and UK in examining solutions to the exclusion that disabled university students experience either through lack of access to technology or through inaccessible technologies.
  3. Developing and evaluating participatory research methods that promote voice and empowerment for disabled research partners. She contributed to a H2020 funded research study which used participatory methods to engage people with sensory and intellectual impairments in the design and evaluation of technologies that facilitates their access to museums.

Impact and engagement

Jane is currently working with a range of learning disability organisations to support them in developing and implementing digital inclusiion strategies that focus on enabling adults with learning disabilities to access and use everyday technologies and building capacity across the workforce to support technology access and use. 

Publications

Access and Participation: The use of Technologies as tools for Inclusion by Spanish University Lecturers (2024-03-15)
Sánchez-Díaz, Maria de las Nieves; Beatriz, Morgado and Seale, Jane
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 40(1) (pp. 94-109)

Reimagining citizen science as inclusive praxis (2024)
Carr, Jessica E; Holliman, Richard; Seale, Jane; Scanlon, Eileen; Shaw-Williams, Ruth and Banbury Self Advocacy Group, My Life My Choice
Research for All ((In press))

It’s not all doom and gloom: what the pandemic has taught us about digitally inclusive practices that support people with learning disabilities to access and use technologies. (2023-06)
Seale, Jane
British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51(2) (pp. 218-228)

[Book Review] Supporting people with learning disabilities to use technology, frameworks and toolkits, By Jane Seale (2023-05-04)
Eshleman, Julie; Seale, Jane; Lunness, Kate; Blackburn, Ellie; Gaunt, Jane; Hammond, Alistair and Waldron, Sean
British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 51(2) (pp. 279-282)

Assessment, life circumstances, curriculum and skills: barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing in distance learning (2023-02-06)
Lister, Kate; Andrews, Kyle; Buxton, Jo; Douce, Christopher and Seale, Jane
Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1076985

One model to rule them all, one model to bind them? A critique of the use of accessibility-related models in post-secondary education (2022)
Seale, Jane; Burgstahler, Sheryl and Havel, Alice
Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 37(1) (pp. 6-29)

Taking risks to enable participatory data analysis and dissemination – A research note (2022)
Rix, Jonathan; Garcia Carrizosa, Helena; Sheehy, Kieron; Seale, Jane and Hayhoe, Simon
Qualitative Research, 22(1) (pp. 143-153)

"Dreaming in colour’: disabled higher education students’ perspectives on improving design practices that would enable them to benefit from their use of technologies" (2021-03)
Seale, Jane; Colwell, Chetz; Coughlan, Tim; Heiman, Tali; Kaspi-Tsahor, Dana and Olenik-Shemesh, Dorit
Education and Information Technologies, 26(2) (pp. 1687-1719)

A participatory approach to the evaluation of participatory museum research projects (2021)
Seale, Jane; Garcia Carrizosa, Helena; Rix, Jonathan; Sheehy, Kieron and Hayhoe, Simon
International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 44(1) (pp. 20-40)

Emergent analysis and dissemination within participatory research (2021)
Rix, Jonathan; Garcia Carrizosa, Helena; Hayhoe, Simon; Seale, Jane and Sheehy, Kieron
International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 44(3) (pp. 287-302)

Mental health in distance learning: a taxonomy of barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing (2021)
Lister, Kate; Seale, Jane and Douce, Christopher
Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 38(2) (pp. 102-116)

Were we right? A re-evaluation of the perceived potential of technology to transform the educational opportunities and outcomes of learners with special educational needs (2020)
Jane, Seale
History of Education, 49(2) (pp. 247-264)

The while of participation: A systematic review of participatory research involving people with sensory impairments and/or intellectual impairments. (2020)
Rix, Jonathan; Garcia Carrizosa, Helena; Seale, Jane; Sheehy, Kieron and Hayhoe, Simon
Disability and Society, 35(7) (pp. 1031-1057)

Engaging Ignored Stakeholders of Higher Education Accessibility Practice: Analysing the experiences of an international network of practitioners and researchers (2020)
Seale, Jane; King, Laura; Jorgensen, Mary; Havel, Alice; Asuncion, Jennison and Fichten, Catherine
Journal of Enabling Technologies, 14(1) (pp. 15-29)

Designing technologies for museums: accessibility and participation issues (2020)
Garcia Carrizosa, Helena; Sheehy, Kieron; Rix, Jonathan; Seale, Jane and Hayhoe, Simon
Journal of Enabling Technologies, 14(1) (pp. 31-39)

Wilderness and resistance: Illuminating the digital inequalities experienced by adults with learning disabilities between 1970 and 1999 (2019)
Seale, Jane
Disability & Society, 34(9-10) (pp. 1481-1503)

Inclusive museums and augmented reality. Affordances, participation, ethics and fun (2019)
Sheehy, Kieron; Garcia Carrizosa, Helena; Rix, Jonathan; Seale, Jane and Hayhoe, Simon
The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, 12(4) (pp. 67-85)

‘I’ve been a whizz-kid since I’ve been at college’: Giving voice to the collective memories of adults with learning disabilities about the role that technology has played in their lives (2019)
Seale, Jane; Choksi, Ajay and Spencer, Karen
Disability Studies Quarterly, 39, Article 6621(4)

A proposal for a unified framework for the design of technologies for people with learning difficulties (2018-09-05)
Seale, Jane; Garcia-Carrizosa, Helena; Rix, Jonty; Sheehy, Kieron and Hayhoe, Simon
Technology and Disability, 30(1-2) (pp. 25-40)

From the voice of a ‘Socratic Gadfly’: a call for more academic activism in the researching of disability in postsecondary education (2017-02)
Seale, Jane K
European Journal of Special Needs Education, 32(1) (pp. 153-169)

How does risk mediate the ability of adolescents and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live a normal life by using the Internet? (2017)
Seale, Jane and Chadwick, Darren
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 11, Article 2(1)

The Conundrum of Training and Capacity Building for People with Learning Disabilities Doing Research (2016-11-30)
Nind, Melanie; Seale, Jane; Chapman, Rohhss and Tilley, Liz
Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 29(6) (pp. 542-551)

How can we confidently judge the extent to which student voice in higher education has been genuinely amplified? A proposal for a new evaluation framework (2016)
Seale, Jane
Research Papers in Education, 31(2) (pp. 212-233)

Not the right kind of ‘digital capital’? An examination of the complex relationship between disabled students, their technologies and higher education institutions (2015-03-31)
Seale, Jane; Georgeson, Jan; Mamas, Christoforos and Swain, Julie
Computers & Education, 82 (pp. 118-128)

Negotiating a third space for participatory research with people with learning disabilities: an examination of boundaries and spatial practices (2015)
Seale, Jane; Nind, Melanie; Tilley, Liz and Chapman, Rohhss
The European Journal of Social Science Research, 28(4) (pp. 483-497)

Power and resistance: Reflections on the rhetoric and reality of using participatory methods to promote student voice and engagement in higher education (2015)
Seale, Jane; Gibson, Suanne; Haynes, Joanna and Potter, Alice
Journal of Further and Higher Education, 39(4) (pp. 534-552)

Inclusive research in education: contributions to method and debate (2014)
Seale, Jane; Nind, Melanie and Parsons, Sarah
International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 37(4) (pp. 347-356)

The role of supporters in facilitating the use of technologies by adolescents and adults with learning disabilities: a place for positive risk-taking? (2014)
Seale, Jane
European Journal of Special Needs Education, 29(2) (pp. 220-236)

When digital capital is not enough: reconsidering the digital lives of disabled university students (2013)
Seale, Jane
Learning, Media and Technology, 38(3) (pp. 256-269)

Transforming positive risk-taking practices: the possibilities of creativity and resilience in learning disability contexts (2013)
Seale, Jane; Nind, Melanie and Simmons, Ben
Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 15(3) (pp. 233-248)

Technology Use by Adults with Learning Disabilities: Past, Present and Future Design and Support Practices (2022-05-18)
Seale, Jane
Routledge Research in Special Educational Needs
ISBN : 9780367753573 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

E-Learning and Disability in Higher Education: Accessibility Research and Practice. Second Edition (2014)
Seale, Jane K.
ISBN : 9780415629409 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York

Addressing the main challenges of future assistive technology research by building a community of practice (2024-04-09)
Seale, Jane
In: Seale, Jane ed. A Research Agenda for Disability and Technology (pp. 227-242)
ISBN : 9781800888647 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing

Scoping a future research agenda for disability and technology: issues to consider (2024-04-09)
Seale, Jane
In: Seale, Jane ed. A Research Agenda for Disability and Technology (pp. 19-60)
ISBN : 9781800888647 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing

Constructions of disability and technology and the shaping of future research (2024-04-09)
Seale, Jane
In: Seale, Jane ed. A Research Agenda for Disability and Technology (pp. 1-18)
ISBN : 9781800888647 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing

Methods for achieving greater involvement of people with disabilities in the design of technologies (2024-04-09)
Seale, Jane
In: Seale, Jane ed. A Research Agenda for Disability and Technology (pp. 195-226)
ISBN : 9781800888647 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing

The potential contribution of ethical frameworks in guiding the development of digitally inclusive support practices for adults with learning disabilities (2024)
Seale, Jane
In: Bianchi, Andria and Vogt, Janet A. eds. Intellectual Disabilities and Autism: Ethics and Practice. The International Library of Bioethics (pp. 195-207)
ISBN : 978-3-031-61564-1 | Publisher : Springer | Published : Cham, Switzerland

Accessible Inclusive Learning: Foundations (2019-12-18)
Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate; Seale, Jane; Scanlon, Eileen and Weller, Martin
In: Ferguson, Rebecca; Jones, Ann and Scanlon, Eileen eds. Educational visions: The lessons from 40 years of innovation (pp. 51-73)
ISBN : 978-1-911-52980-4 | Publisher : Ubiquity press | Published : London

Accessible Inclusive Learning: Futures (2019-12-18)
Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate; Seale, Jane; Scanlon, Eileen and Weller, Martin
In: Ferguson, Rebecca; Jones, Ann and Scanlon, Eileen eds. Educational visions: The lessons from 40 years of innovation (pp. 75-91)
ISBN : 978-1-911-52980-4 | Publisher : Ubiquity press | Published : London

A Research Agenda for Disability and Technology (2024-04-09)
Seale, Jane
Seale, Jane ed.
ISBN : 9781800888647 | Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing

From participants to creators: Considerations for community-led citizen science (2022)
Herodotou, Christothea; Twiner, Alison; Scanlon, Eileen; McLeod, Kevin and Seale, Jane
In : Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS) (6-10 Jun 2022, Hiroshima, Japan) (pp. 11-18)

In search of a decision-making framework for involving users who have learning disabilities or sensory impairments in the process of designing future technologies (2019)
Seale, Jane
In : Proceedings of the Future Technologies Conference (FTC) 2019 (24-25 Oct 2019, San Fransisco) (pp. 844-861)

Keeping connected and staying well: the role of technology in supporting people with learning disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic. (2020)
Seale, Jane
The Open University

Symposium Four: New Practices. Proceedings from the Ed-ICT International Network. (2018)
Ed-ICT International Network, and Seale, Jane
October 16 - 17, 2018, FernUniversität in Hagen, Hagen, Germany

Proceedings of the Ed-ICT International Network. Israel Symposium: In Search of New Designs. (2018)
Ed-ICT International Network, and Seale, Jane
March 13 - 15, 2018, The Metropolitan Hotel, Tel-Aviv & The Open University of Israel, Ra'anana

What common design principles can be distilled out from literature in the field of technologies and learning difficulties that might inform the design of technologies within the EU funded ARCHES Project? (2017-05)
Seale, Jane; Garcia-Carrizosa, Helena; Rix, Jonathan; Sheehy, Kieron and Hayhoe, Simon
Jane Seale

Proceedings of the Ed-ICT International Network Montreal Symposium: Stakeholder Perspectives (2017-05)
Ed-ICT International Network, and Seale, Jane
May 30 - June 1 2017, Dawson College Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Symposium One: Effective Models, Frameworks, and Approaches. Proceedings from the Ed-ICT International Network: Disabled students, ICT, post-compulsory education & employment: In search of new solutions (2017-03)
Ed-ICT International Network, and Seale, Jane
March 14-15, 2017. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington