RDE-DEI: Access By Design: A Faculty Development Model of STEM Education for Undergraduate Students with Disabilities

Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park CA

Investigators

Abstract

The project RDE-DEI: Access by Design: A Faculty Development Model of STEM Education for Undergraduate Students with Disabilities is a $100,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program's Demonstration, Enrichment and Information Dissemination (DEI) track. The primary goal of this project is to positively impact the success of undergraduate students with disabilities taking STEM courses by providing faculty the skills, support and training necessary to ensure student learning and academic success. This goal is being addressed with a three (3) pronged faculty professional development (FPD) approach that is being implemented at Sonoma State University (SSU), San Francisco State University (SFSU) and California State Polytechnic University-Pomona (CPP). The first FPD component emphasizes training STEM faculty at the three (3) partner institutions about the principles and practices of universal design learning (UDL), with extensive FPD for 15 STEM faculty and additional training for the 23 representatives of the California State University (CSU) system's faculty development council. The second FPD element focuses on the development of STEM faculty learning communities (FLC) at each of the partner campuses resulting in faculty modifying targeted STEM courses to make them pedagogically accessible with enhanced learning experiences for students with and without disabilities. The third FPD component is implemented following faculty assimilation of UDL in their STEM courses when each partner campus's FLC creates case studies for campus and state level dissemination to faculty via the CSU "Accessibility" website and for national dissemination to faculty via the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching repository (MERLOT). This project builds on the team's already successful work, funded by the US Education Department (P333A050066; P116B060223), to ensure the academic success of students with disabilities at CSU campuses and to enhance FPD. This team from SSU, which is lead by a faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Special Education, includes an expert in instructional technology, a team member with expertise in post-secondary disability services, and faculty who specialize in post-secondary FPD. Faculty will be surveyed to evaluate the FPD activities and regarding the link between FPD and the implementation of UDL to modified STEM courses. The proposal includes measuring approximately 450 students' completion of STEM courses, as well as those students' perceptions and satisfaction with faculty use of UDL. The project directly addresses the DEI track goals by attempting to enrich the academic experiences of undergraduate students with disabilities in STEM courses and to demonstrate the effectiveness of FPD in the area of universal design instruction as an intervention at public state institutions of higher education. The project team is benefiting from formative feedback provided by a team of advisors who include Saeid Rahimi from SSU, Barbara Hacker from SFSU and Tomas Morales from CPP. There is a dissemination plan which includes sharing web-based resources and information throughout the CSU system and with faculty across the country via MERLOT. Additional dissemination activities include presentations at the Educause National Conference and the annual RDE PI meeting.