European LINK Network and Skill's Annual Higher Education Conference

1. SKILL European LINK Network and Skill's Annual Higher Education Conference Monday 30 NovemberRadisson SAS Manchester Airport

2. Bringing about change through a strategic approach to inclusive learning and teaching Dr Val Chapman (NTF) November 30th 2009

3. Higher Education Academy Project (Sep 2007- Dec 2008) • Title: • Developing Inclusive Curricula in Higher Education • Research focus • How can we engage the interest and commitment of academic staff to further develop their inclusive learning and teaching practice?

4. Process • Methodology: Appreciative Inquiry • University project team – included a disabled student • Student researchers from a single Institute • n=7 • range of impairments • range of courses • Time frame for student involvement: Jan 04 – Mar 31 2008

5. Inclusive Learning and Teaching ‘By inclusive learning we mean the greatest degree of match or fit between the individual learners’ requirements and the provision that is made for them’ Tomlinson J. (1996)

6. Appreciative Inquiry • Based on David Cooperider’s (1999) doctoral work at Case Western Reserve University • Eschews former Organization Development (OD) deficit models • Espouses a positive approach to change that builds a vision for the future based upon what already works well within an existing system • self-empowering philosophy • ‘4-D’ process (Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny) • Focus on collaborative working of all stakeholders • Engages all stakeholders in systematic participation in a jointly constructed vision of an organization’s future

7. DISCOVERY What gives life here? Appreciating DESTINY How to empower, learn and improvise Sustaining DREAM What might be? Envisioning results Appreciative Inquiry DESIGN What should be - the ideal? Co-constructing

8. Deficit model: • identify problem • analyse the root cause • brainstorm solutions and analyse • develop an action plan • implement action plan • review and revise

9. AI can be used to: • Consult with people • Learn from past experience • Involve a whole organisation or community in change • Motivate and create active interest • Build a vision for the future that everyone can share and help put into practice

10. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) process at UW START DISCOVERY Briefing on inclusion and AI Pre-workshop activity Student’s interviews (VI) Generation of adjectives AI workshop (students) Roll out model to additional departments Students’ Post-it activity Student presentation Focus group with disabled student researchers Generation of propositional statements Focus group interview Questions Staff development Further planning & embedding Inaugural ISES staff/student research summit Inclusion survey Prioritisation meeting Staff response DESTINY DESIGN DREAM

11. Discovery phase (Jan/Feb 08) • Selection of student researchers • Pre-workshop activity • AI workshop • Data collection by student researchers • Post it exercise • Disabled student’s interviews with disabled peers • Focus group interview (conducted by student member of project team) • Answers to reflective questions (pre-workshop activity) • Development of propositional statements

12. Data sets • Pre AI workshop reflective accounts from disabled student researchers • Transcript of focus group interview with disabled student researchers conducted by disabled student project team member • Transcripts of disabled student’s interviews with disabled peers • List of positive adjectives from large sample of all ISES students

13. Dream phase (Mar 08) • Inaugural Institute of Sport and Exercise Science (ISES) staff/student research summit • Student researchers’ presentation • Audience: • Vice Chancellor • Guest speaker – Chief Executive, British Paralympic Association • ISES staff • Departmental Learning and Teaching (L&T) representatives

14. Post-it data from sample of ISES students • Top four adjectives (n=265): • Enjoyable • Interesting • Challenging • Fun

15. Post-it data: staff perceptions • Top four responses: • Challenging • Rewarding • Practical / applied • Interesting

16. Propositional statements • All students make a positive contribution to the learning of their peers. • Students value the School’s strong sense of community and being made to feel part of it. • Students love it when staff support and celebrate their achievements. • Staff inspire students through being role models. • Students really enjoy learning through doing.

17. Propositional statement 6. The School of Sports and Exercise Science offers students a ‘ticket to their future’; it gives them the opportunity to ‘do things for themselves’, to ‘become more independent’, to ‘reinvent themselves’ and ‘be their own person’. It offers a ‘liberating’ and transformative experience.

18. Design phase (Apr 08) • Prioritisation meeting with ISES team to determine: • Individual priorities • Draft priorities for referral to departmental Learning and Teaching Committee • Staff survey – ISES staff confidence ratings in inclusive practice (via survey monkey, 78% response rate) • Analysed to determine staff development priorities

19. Departmental priorities agreed at ISES meeting • Share innovative practice; champion good practice; act as advocates for recruitment of disabled ISES staff and students • Use peer observation to focus on inclusion • Ensure effective screening to identify disabled/dyslexic students and/or issues • Monitor retention & achievement in order to identify issues

20. Aspirational goal… Within the next two years the ISES team will have an international reputation as leaders in the field of inclusive practice in sport and exercise science.

21. Destiny phase (Ongoing) • Supplemental resources • SCIPS (Strategies for Creating Inclusive Programmes of Study) www.scips.worc.ac.uk (used 24/7, page ranked by Google 5/10) • Implementation of innovative staff development package • Embedding inclusive policy and practice in existing departmental structures and systems e.g. peer observation

22. http://www.scips.worc.ac.uk/

24. http://uk.qatrain2.eu/

26. Additional projects in progress • National teaching Fellowship Scheme project: Employability and Disability • Usemyability (http://www.usemyability.org/) • Two Minute Tips • Multi formats • e.g. ‘how to guide a blind person’ video • Qatrain4 students • Web resource for disabled students (VET)