How To Use These Materials

The enclosed videotapes, written materials, and handout templates were developed for those providing professional development to help faculty and administrators in postsecondary institutions become more aware of:

the rights, responsibilities, potential contributions, and needs of students with disabilities;
the rights and responsibilities of postsecondary institutions;
reasonable accommodations and instructional strategies for working with students who have disabilities; and
campus resources that help provide equitable educational opportunities for all students.

These materials are for use in departmental and campus-wide presentations to stimulate discussion and action. Each presentation option can be tailored for meetings of administrators, departmental chairs, advisors, faculty, teaching assistants, and support staff. The presentations are intended for use in public and private, and large and small two-year, four-year, and technical postsecondary institutions. Presentation lengths vary from 20 minutes to several days. The materials were tested nationwide and refined based on faculty and staff evaluations.

Besides the presentations themselves, a synthesis of research, implementation and institutionalization strategies, presentation tips, frequently asked questions, and resources are included. The following paragraphs describe the content of this handbook.

Synthesis of Research

The content and presentation suggestions included in this notebook are based on research in a number of relevant areas. These include experiences of students with disabilities, reported postsecondary faculty training needs, adult learning, learning styles, types of learning, universal design of instruction, and systematic change. Read this section to understand the underlying theory and research that supports the practices suggested in these materials.

Institutionalization Strategies

Setting up one training session for a department is not difficult; however, developing strategies to institutionalize faculty and administrator training requires more thought and planning. This section provides suggestions that can result in long-term improvements on your campus. Implementing institutionalization strategies will help assure that students with disabilities have equal access to your academic programs and resources.

Presentation Tips

This section provides suggestions for making presentations to faculty, administrators, and staff engaging and informative. You will also find case studies to use in your presentations.

Presentations

Several presentation options are outlined in these materials:

a 20-30 minute overview to introduce participants to basic legal issues, accommodation strategies, and resources specific to their campus;
a 1-2 hour presentation with special focus on providing accommodations to students with a variety of disabilities and introducing participants to legal issues and campus resources; and
ten tailored workshops for in-depth training on topics of special interest to faculty and administrators.

For each presentation option, a sample script is included to minimize the work that might otherwise be required to prepare a presentation. The presenter may use a script verbatim or extract ideas to customize a presentation.

The videotapes included in this notebook can be used in specific presentations or broadcast on public television. Handout and overhead projection templates are provided in the Presentation Tools section of this notebook for easy duplication and use.

A Web-based instructional option is also available for faculty and administrators. To access Web-based instruction, visit The Faculty Room at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/. A distance learning course that can be delivered via electronic mail to faculty and administrators on your campus can be found in The Faculty Room at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/Presentations/Distance/Lessons/.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and their answers provide a useful reference for presenters. Reviewed before delivering a presentation, the FAQs can help the speaker prepare responses to questions commonly asked by faculty and administrators.

Resources

A glossary of disability-related terms and a list of resources are included.

Presentation Tools

The presenter will find ready-to-use presentation tools included in this section.

Handout Templates
Reproducible, camera-ready handout templates for the presentations are inserted in the back pocket of the binder.
Overhead Projection Templates
Black and white templates that can be developed into transparencies are included for use in the presentations. There are many templates included to optimize custom presentations. In addition, PowerPoint™ transparency templates are provided at http://www.washington.edu/doit/TeamN/index_ppt.html.
Final Evaluation Tools
One of two evaluations can be selected for use with participants at the end of the session. They are found in the Presentations section of the binder.
Videotapes
Several videotaped presentations are collected on two videotapes. Their titles are:
- Working Together: Faculty and Students with Disabilities. Faculty members share their concerns about and strategies for working with students who have disabilities, and successful students tell about accommodations that contributed to their success. Emphasis is on the importance of the faculty-student relationship (9 minutes).
- Building the Team: Faculty, Staff, and Students Working Together. This presentation emphasizes the importance of positive working relationships between students with disabilities, faculty, and the campus office that supports students with disabilities, and provides an overview of typical academic accommodations and procedures (16 minutes).
- Real Connections: Making Distance Learning Accessible to Everyone. This presentation provides strategies for making the materials and methods used in distance learning courses accessible to individuals with disabilities (12 minutes).
- Computer Access: In Our Own Words. Students with disabilities show and discuss, in their own words, the use of assistive technology and computer applications (10 minutes).
- World Wide Access: Accessible Web Design. This presentation shows how to make Web pages and other electronic resources accessible to people with disabilities (11 minutes).
- Working Together: People with Disabilities and Computer Technology. People with disabilities provide an overview of assistive technology and computer applications (14 minutes).
- Equal Access: Computer Labs. This presentation shows how to make computer labs accessible to students with disabilities (11 minutes).
- Working Together: Science Teachers and Students with Disabilities. Students and teachers suggest ways science activities can be made accessible to students with disabilities (13 minutes).
- Working Together: Computers and People with Learning Disabilities. Students with learning disabilities demonstrate computer-based tools and techniques that can assist learning (10 minutes).
- Working Together: Computers and People with Sensory Impairments. People with visual and hearing impairments demonstrate computer technology useful for school and work (11 minutes).
- Working Together: Computers and People with Mobility Impairments. People with mobility impairments demonstrate computer access technology (14 minutes).
- Opening Doors: Mentoring on the Internet. Demonstration of students developing supportive relationships with adult mentors on the Internet (15 minutes).

Permission is granted to reproduce any of these materials for noncommercial, educational purposes as long as proper credit is given to the source. Much of the content is duplicated in other publications, training materials, and web pages published by DO-IT at the University of Washington; most can be found within the comprehensive website at http://www.washington.edu/doit/. The most current text of these materials can be obtained in electronic format at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/Trainers/.

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