Research You Can Use

Training and Outreach to the Campus Community: Selected Findings from AHEAD’s National Survey of Disability Resource Office Structures and Programs

Submitted by Sally Scott, AHEAD & NCCSD

Providing campus outreach and training is an important part of the work of disability resource offices. With a growing recognition of the many barriers students face across campus, more and more disability resources offices are making campus outreach and training a priority in their work to improve campus access. How much training should you be providing? Who are some of the key campus partners you may want to collaborate with? A few national trends identified in the most recent AHEAD Biennial Survey may be of interest.

About AHEAD’s Biennial Surveys: AHEAD conducts a biennial survey of the membership to collect national data about disability resource offices and professionals. The 2018 survey focused on disability resource office programs, including such areas as administrative structures, staff, budgets, and constituents served by the office. Respondents to the 2018 survey were directors of the disability resource office from 399 different campuses across the country.

Selected Findings Related to Outreach and Training

 Overall numbers: Respondents were asked how many training and outreach events the disability resource office had conducted in the preceding year (2017-2018). While very few respondents indicated they had not conducted any training, the remaining responses were evenly distributed, ranging from 1-2 events to over 10 in the previous year.

The Number of Trainings or Outreach Events Provided by the Disability Resource Office for the Camus Community (Fall 2017-Summer 2018)

 Number of Training or Events 
 Percentage of Respondents   Number of Respondents 
0 5.8% 20
1-2 20.9% 72
3-5 27.6% 95
6-10 20.1% 69
More than 10 25.6% 88


But we know that disability resource offices are not one-size-fits all. Does the type of college make a difference in how many training events are typically offered? For example, would you expect disability resource offices at Doctoral degree-granting universities to offer more outreach and training events than disability resource offices at Baccalaureate or Associate’s degree granting colleges?  What about the size of the campus? Do larger campuses, i.e., those with greater total student enrollment, offer more training to the campus community than smaller campuses? There are many factors that will influence your own campus training and outreach practices, but here are a few national trends for your comparison.

Does type of college matter? Looking at responses sorted by the type of college or university provides some additional insights into training practices of disability resource offices. Respondents from disability resource offices at Doctoral Universities most frequently reported they had conducted 10 or more training events in the previous year. In contrast professionals reporting on practices at Master’s Colleges and Universities most frequently indicated 3-5 events; respondents from Baccalaureate Colleges most commonly reported 1-2 training events; and disability resource offices at Associate’s Colleges most frequently reported 3-5 events in the preceding year. 

Does size of campus make a difference? The size of the campus based on total student enrollment also adds to our understanding of campus training and outreach. Campuses with total student enrollments of 10,000 or greater most often reported providing more than 10 training events in 2017-2018; one third of campuses with a student population of 1,501-9,999 reported 3-5 events; and campuses with less than 1,500 students most often reported 1-2 training events in 2017-2018. 

Who are frequent campus partners? Respondents reported a variety of offices and departments with whom they had collaborated for training and outreach across campus.  The top five most frequently identified campus partnerships included collaboration with new student orientation, the faculty teaching and learning office, academic departments, residence life, and counseling and psychological services.

Collaborative Partners for Training and Outreach

 Offices and Departments 
 Percentage of Respondents   Number of Respondents 
The faculty teaching and
learning office
70.3% 242
Instructional technology
office
42.4% 146
ADA compliance office 21.2% 73
New student orientation 75.3% 259
Admissions office 49.1% 169
Academic departments 61.6% 212
Residence life office 54.4% 187
Counseling and psychological
services
50.6% 174
Diversity and equity office 32.8% 113
Multicultural office 17.2% 59
Study abroad office 20.9% 72

Implications for Your Work

Whether you have completed a strategic planning process over the summer or are just starting to think about priorities for your office in the year ahead, these national trends can give you a benchmark for planning outreach and training across your campus this year.  How did you compare to your peers at similar types or sizes of campus? Do you offer many more events, or far fewer than the numbers reported here?  If you are curious about making some additional comparisons, the full report is available on the AHEAD website by following the link below.

How did the list of frequent campus partners compare with your previous campus training and outreach activities? Are you collaborating with similar offices on your campus? Are there new offices that you may want to reach out to in the months ahead? Or perhaps you have a strong relationship with one of the offices that is not listed frequently by your peers. For example, you may conduct regular training and outreach with your study abroad office to promote international travel and inform students about accommodations that may be available. Collaborative training with study abroad offices was reported by only 21% of respondents in the AHEAD survey. You may have expertise in an area that would be beneficial to share with your peers by giving a professional presentation at an upcoming conference or perhaps writing up your work for publication. 

Want to know more about the findings of the 2018 AHEAD Biennial Survey?

An article in the April issue of the Hub included an overview of the research, methods, and limitations of the 2018 survey. You can read more about it here: https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/hub/hub-april-2019/hub-jan-2019-research

Or, log into the AHEAD website, and you will find this report and other benchmark data in the Information Service Portal:  https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/information-services-portal/benchmark-data.

Citation for the data reported here: Scott, S.  (2019, March). The AHEAD Biennial Survey of Disability Resource Office Structures and Programs.  Huntersville, NC: The Association on Higher Education and Disability. Available at https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/information-services-portal/benchmark-data   

Have you published a research article or read a research study that informed your work?  E-mail Sally Scott (sally@ahead.org ) with suggestions for future research summaries in the Hub!