Transcript Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation: Inclusion for All First-Year Students Presentation at the 25th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience Atlanta, GA February, 2006

Pedagogy and Student Services
for Institutional Transformation:
Inclusion for
All First-Year Students
Presentation at the 25th Annual Conference
on the First-Year Experience
Atlanta, GA
February, 2006
Presenters:
• Jeanne L. Higbee, [email protected]
• Mary Ellen Shaw, [email protected]
• Dana B. Lundell, [email protected]
• David Ghere, [email protected]
General College, University of Minnesota,
Appleby Hall, 128 Pleasant Street SE,
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Agenda
• Brief introduction to Universal Design (UD)
and Universal Instructional Design (UID)
• Why UID? Film clip: “Disclosure” from
Uncertain Welcome
• UID as a model for multicultural education
• Implementing UID in advising and firstyear experience courses
• Implementing UID in a history course
• Information about PASS IT summer
institute on implementing UID
Universal Design
Architectural concept that refers to
designing a space to take into
consideration the needs of all
potential users of that space
Curb-Cuts
Universal Design Continuum
Americans with Disabilities Act
Accommodating
individuals one at
a time
Universal Design:
Barrier-free,
fewer individual
accommodations
needed
Universal Instructional Design
(North Carolina State University, 1997; based on Chickering & Gamson, 1987)
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Create a respectful learning environment
Determine essential course components
Establish clear expectations and feedback
Develop natural supports for learning, including
through use of technology
• Use multiple teaching strategies
• Provide multiple types of opportunities to
demonstrate knowledge
• Encourage contact between students and faculty
Enhancing Classroom Climate
• Establish ground rules for class discussion
• Avoid singling out students who receive
accommodations
• Recognize the authority of personal experience
• Attend to physical needs of students
• Share your own experiences
• Honor diversity and cultural differences
• Develop inclusive syllabus statements
Benefits of UID for Students
• Eliminates need to be segregated for some
accommodations (e.g., extended time)
• Addresses stigma associated with medical
model (disability as deficiency)
• Recognizes individual differences among all
learners, including differences in preferred
learning styles
• Enables students to demonstrate knowledge
in multiple ways
Benefits of UID for
Faculty and Staff
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Cost-effective
Time-efficient
Enhances student engagement in learning
Reduces need for last-minute modifications
to accommodate students with a variety of
needs, including but not limited to students
with disabilities
Challenges for Faculty and Staff
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Advance planning/time constraints
Knowledge of available technologies
Familiarity with local resources
Administrative support (for tenure-track
faculty, particularly in the form of
recognition for excellence in teaching and
service as well as in research in the tenure
and promotion process)
Why Universal Instructional
Design?
Video clip from
Uncertain Welcome
(available streamed from CTAD Web site)
Academic Modification
Requires Balance Between
College’s
right to
maintain
academic and
technical
standards
integral to its
mission.
Rights of
students
with
disabilities
to equal
access.
Viewing Disability
Within the Frameworks of
Diversity and Multiculturalism
Defining Diversity
“Diversity signifies the simple
recognition of the existence of
different social group
identities.”
(Miksch et al., 2003, p. 5)
Inclusive Definition of Diversity
• race
• ethnicity
• socioeconomic
class
• home language
• disability
• age
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gender
religion
sexual orientation
recognition of
multiple social
identities
Defining Multiculturalism
“If diversity is an empirical
condition . . .,
multiculturalism names a
particular posture towards this
reality.”
(Miksch et al., 2003, p. 6)
Defining Multiculturalism
“an idea, an educational
reform movement, and a
process”
(Banks, 2001, p. 2)
James Banks’ 5 Dimensions of
Multicultural Education
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content integration
knowledge construction
prejudice reduction
equity pedagogy
empowering school culture
How can UID serve as a model
for multicultural postsecondary
education? (relate to Banks)
• Modeling equity pedagogy
• Creating learning environments where no
one feels segregated or excluded, where all
students feel empowered
• Enabling students to construct knowledge in
a manner that recognizes their life
experiences and values difference
UID as a model for multicultural
postsecondary education (cont.)
• Implementing content integration through
consideration of all possible learners when
developing course content, selecting
textbooks and other course materials, and
determining methods of disseminating
information and assessing learning
• Reducing prejudice and stereotyping
through more inclusive learning
environments that encourage intergroup
interaction
Universal Design in Student
Services
• GC 1086: The First-Year Experience
– Curricular features: More, shorter assignments;
exams account for only 20% of course grade;
knowledge demonstrated in different ways;
content delivery through different formats;
study guides created by instructor to focus on
development of higher-order thinking skills
– Course structure: Faculty-led lecture;
discussion sections taught by assigned adviser
for development of a community of learners
Student Services and Instructional
Interaction: Aids All Students
• Academic alert system
– Individualized electronic messages of concern or praise
from instructor to student at any point of the semester
– Goes to student and adviser as e-mail; available to
adviser in aggregate report
• 6-week and 10-week comprehensive reports
– Grade to date and individualized statement of progress,
with opportunity to respond with a click of the mouse
to objective factors (e.g., #s of absences or missing
assignments) & to provide comments
– E-mail to student; aggregate report to adviser
Adviser as “Counselor-Advocate”
• Ongoing training in diversity and disability issues
• Proactive, intrusive advising: reaching out when
concerns arise for all students
• Developmental approach: fostering growth and
independence over time
• Integration of career assessment and exploration
• Establishing intimacy and trust: allows hidden
disabilities to be disclosed, undiagnosed
disabilities assessed, services obtained
• Advocacy with instructors, within institution
Implementing UID
in the Classroom:
What Are Essential Components?
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The outcomes (skills, knowledge, and attitudes)
all students must demonstrate with or without
using accommodations to be evaluated in a
nondiscriminatory manner
Outcome, not process
Articulating the essential components
of your course allows you to
• treat all students fairly
• feel confident when making course modifications
for students who are ill or who have extreme
personal circumstances
• determine reasonable accommodations for
students with disabilities
To determine the essential components of
your course, consider the following:
• The purpose of your course
• Whether the course serves as a prerequisite for
subsequent course work
• Outcomes absolutely required of all students in
the course, with or without accommodations
• Instructional methods that most effectively
address the essential outcomes
• Effective measures that allow you to evaluate all
students fairly
Implementing UID
in the Classroom:
Dissemination of Knowledge
(Variety of Classroom Activities)
• Lecture with questions
• Class discussion: “pregnant pause”
• Detailed explanations of overheads: maps,
tables, charts, or graphs
• Conduct analysis of documents or data
• Simulations and role playing questions
Implementing UID
in the Classroom:
Dissemination of Knowledge
(Using Multiple Formats)
• Review sheets keyed to textbooks
• Online or alternative formats for maps,
charts, graphs or lecture outlines
• Handouts – Online or distribute previously
• Electronic – Web sites, white board, chat
rooms, and e-mail
Implementing UID
in the Classroom:
Assessment of Knowledge
(Using Multiple Formats)
• Mixed composition of exams and sets
of exam items in different formats
• Essay questions announced in advance
• Unlimited time or generous time limits
• Interactive activities; oral presentations
• Short writing assignments
• Self assessments; peer assessments
Pedagogy and Student Services for
Institutional Transformation
(PASS IT)
• Current U.S. Department of Education
grant, 2005-2008, # P333A050023 ACT #1
• http://www.gen.umn.edu/research/passit
• Online applications now being accepted for
PASS IT Summer Institute, 8/2-4/06, for
faculty, administrators, & student services
• Web site will be updated as new materials
are developed
Curriculum Transformation and
Disability (CTAD)
• U.S. Department of Education grant, 19992002, #P333A990015
• http://www.gen.umn.edu/research/ctad
• Source for Workshop Facilitator’s Guide:
Helping Postsecondary Faculty Make Their
Classes More Accessible to All Students
• Source for Uncertain Welcome video
Center for Research on
Developmental Education and Urban
Literacy (CRDEUL)
• Affiliate for both CTAD and PASS IT
• http://www.gen.umn.edu/research/crdeul
• Resource for Curriculum Transformation
and Disability: Implementing Universal
Design in Higher Education, 300+ page
book downloadable in pdf format: Click on
Publications, then Books
Additional Handouts:
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Bibliography
Legal Resources
Web Sites
Assistive Technologies
“Enhancing the Inclusiveness of First-Year
Courses Through Universal Instructional
Design” (Higbee, Chung, & Hsu, 2004)
• PASS IT Summer Institute Information
• PASS IT Evaluation--Thank you!