Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation: Inclusion for All First-Year Students

1. 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

2. Presenters: • Jeanne L. Higbee, higbe002@umn.edu • Mary Ellen Shaw, shawx001@umn.edu • Dana B. Lundell, lunde010@umn.edu • David Ghere, ghere001@umn.edu General College, University of Minnesota, Appleby Hall, 128 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

3. 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 first-year experience courses • Implementing UID in a history course • Information about PASS IT summer institute on implementing UID

4. Universal Design Architectural concept that refers to designing a space to take into consideration the needs of all potential users of that space

5. Curb-Cuts

6. Universal Design Continuum Americans with Disabilities Act Accommodating individuals one at a time Universal Design: Barrier-free, fewer individual accommodations needed

7. Universal Instructional Design(North Carolina State University, 1997; based on Chickering & Gamson, 1987) • 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Benefits of UID for Faculty and Staff • 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

11. Challenges for Faculty and Staff • 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)

12. Why Universal Instructional Design? Video clip from Uncertain Welcome (available streamed from CTAD Web site)

13. 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.

14. Viewing Disability Within the Frameworks of Diversity and Multiculturalism

15. Defining Diversity “Diversity signifies the simple recognition of the existence of different social group identities.” (Miksch et al., 2003, p. 5)

16. race ethnicity socioeconomic class home language disability age gender religion sexual orientation recognition of multiple social identities Inclusive Definition of Diversity

17. Defining Multiculturalism “If diversity is an empirical condition . . ., multiculturalism names a particular posture towards this reality.” (Miksch et al., 2003, p. 6)

18. Defining Multiculturalism “an idea, an educational reform movement, and a process” (Banks, 2001, p. 2)

19. James Banks’ 5 Dimensions of Multicultural Education • content integration • knowledge construction • prejudice reduction • equity pedagogy • empowering school culture

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. Implementing UID in the Classroom: WhatAre Essential Components? • 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. Curriculum Transformation and Disability (CTAD) • U.S. Department of Education grant, 1999-2002, #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

33. 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

34. Additional Handouts: • 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!