CANCELLED - PC 6: Alternative Format Textbooks and Course Materials: Policy and Production
Rachel Kruzel, AT Consultant
Providing alternative and accessible textbooks and documents is an essential component of the role of a disability resource office. However, those who manage a one-person office, are new to the field, or juggle multiple roles may struggle with executing this accommodation in a thorough and efficient manner. Recent developments in the field as well as the shift to more classes and content being taught online can also lead professionals to scratching their head and asking, “What do I do?” As a result, many students who could benefit from etext and other accessible formats are overlooked or given books and documents formatted in ways that are not effective.
This preconference will give attendees the skills and resources to provide alternative format textbooks and accessible documents and course materials efficiently and effectively, while navigating an ever-changing landscape which impacts this work. Attendees will explore “reading disabilities,” learn which students might benefit from accessible materials, and explore the available resources. We’ll discuss publisher files, sources of accessible textbooks, and scanning and editing files. We will also touch on current issues, such as ePub files, copyright issues, what the landscape of this part of our field looks like as a result of Covid-19, and wider accessibility efforts to ensure accessible documents campus-wide. Practical workflows and systems that that can be implemented quickly along with policies and procedures that are sustainable to adapt to our evolving field will be shared. Attendees will leave with information and guidance to create a streamlined process for securing and producing alternative textbooks and course materials for today and beyond.
PC 7: Policy Incubator: Workshop Your Policy Challenges
L. Scott Lissner, The Ohio State University
Location: 203/204
Are you struggling with developing technical standards, framing attendance/deadline accommodations, drafting policies for supporting students in placements and practica, using documentation consistently, or documenting a dispute resolution plan? In theater and creative writing, it is common to “workshop” a draft with colleagues. In industry, “incubators” provide support for inventors or entrepreneurs to develop an idea. This full-day, working session offers the opportunity to review and refine particularly challenging policy areas for disability resource professionals and ADA/504 Coordinators.
Prior to the preconference, participants will be asked to submit a draft or current that they’d like to address or fine-tune. These will be used as material to form working groups around clusters of related policies. NOTE: there are other preconference sessions covering policies on Attendance Modifications and Assistance Animals those will not be topics for this workshop.
The session will begin with a group discussion that recognizes institutional idiosyncrasies but focuses on the typical policy development cycle: catalyst, assessment, development, promulgation, implementation, and review. An overview of the common elements of an effective policy will provide the working groups with a structure for applying policy principles (scoping, definitions, accountability, interpretation, control vs. operation, life span, etc.) to their chosen policy. Working groups will share observations and discuss each policy element with the larger group before returning to a smaller group to apply it.
The full-group portions of the preconference will provide policy development tools and concepts. In the intimate policy clusters, participants will have the opportunity to compare their institutional policies, identify model language and structures to address common goals and concerns, and get specific feedback on their work. Participants will return to their campuses with a well-designed policy statement in the area of their interest and strategies for its implementation.
PC8: The Tools, Techniques, and Strategies of Assessment in Disability Resource Offices
Tom L. Thompson, TMLS Consulting Inc. / Retired Director of Disability Resources
Location: JW Grand Ballroom 8
Disability resource professionals are expected to participate actively in their institution’s assessment plans, documenting the effectiveness of their office and contributing to the larger goals of their division (Student or Academic Affairs). This one-day preconference session will focus on how you can build ongoing assessments into your annual work along with planning for a comprehensive Program Review. We’ll discuss how to align the work of Disability Resources with larger divisional and institutional goals.
Evaluating any service starts with identifying a well-articulated purpose for the review, understanding & using professional standards, and incorporating thoughtful planning for use of review results. The presenter will take attendees through a process for developing these elements, providing examples and opportunities for application and networking.
Attendees will learn about the use of professional standards to conduct self-assessments. We will focus on the new AHEAD Domains, Standards and Performance Indicators and will reference the CAS Disability Resources Standards, particularly the Mission Standard.
This session will also address how to build data systems for capturing the various elements of our work and how a comprehensive program review benefits from the use of outcome data, how to use data so that it talks for you, and how to understand the difference between a basic program summary that reports numbers and a complete review that is a strategic planning tool. We will also discuss the difference and value of having performance objectives and student learning objectives.
Topics will include:
- The cycle of Strategic Planning, Assessment, Operations data and Evaluation
- Collecting evidence/information/data to tell the story of the department for annual reporting and for a comprehensive review
- Assessing the effectiveness of disability resource offices through assessments and evaluation
- How to present findings to management – Stats and Stories
- Resources from CAS and AHEAD
Attendees will have the opportunity to consider practices that they can use at their own institutions conducting assessments and for conducting a program review.
PC 9: Universal Design Thinking: A Culturally Humble Strategy for Applying Universal Design to Design Processes
Cole Eskridge, University of Arizona
Naty Rico, University of Arizona
Location: 201/202
Universal Design has been heralded as a model for inspiring more equitable course experiences through its three principles: multiple means of "engagement", representation, and "action and expression." However, despite the best of intentions, UD has both theoretical and pragmatic shortcomings. We will explore these limits as we introduce "Universal Design Thinking" (UDT), a UD-inspired process that merges the principles with design thinking and cultural humility.
The social model, and its most powerful tool universal design, is increasingly popular in conversations within the disability services. Despite its recognizability, many find UD difficult to make actionable, perhaps due in part to the fact that the original seven principles were developed by architects, which tends to skew perceptions to the "physical." While UD has been adapted to fit more abstract concepts, e.g., Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Universal Design for Instruction (UDI), these models have been adapted specifically for their context, limiting their applicability. Noticing similar trends in nursing practical models, professors Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-Garcia proposed reframing practice along three commitments: a commitment to life-long, self-critical reflection; a commitment to actively recognize and fix power imbalances; and a commitment to creating mutually beneficial, non-paternalistic partnerships with marginalized communities. Following their lead, the "Universal Design Thinking" process was developed to assist in applying UD principles in ways that honor the expertise and experiences of all stakeholders within a design process, while centering the voices of those most impacted by the current design of the policy, practice, space, etc.
In session workshop, that includes engagement in a simulated full "Universal Design Studio," we will share the UDT process/framework and guide them through planning programs that can be used to instruct campus partners from across campus.
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