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Spring 2005

Accomplishments of Objectives

This project commenced successfully in early January 2003. All planned activities for the first two years have been designed and conducted; all of the third year of the project (Jan - Dec 2005) are in progress and on schedule. The first full version of the training program was launched at LBCC in October 2004 as part of the nation-wide Disability Awareness Month.

Following is a summary of the project development highlights

  • Interactive module development: The following disability interactive modules have been scripted and produced: Learning, Hearing, Speech, Visual, Mobility and Psychological. Content development team (faculty Content Experts and Instructional Designer) has followed high level design plans, reviewed and selected Instructional design strategies, wrote the interactive scripts as well as supplemental components for all the above modules. Character distribution grid was created for all scripts to ensure diversity.
  • Production team has completed the production of all the interactive modules mentioned above. The graphic artist created the graphics needed for each of the instructional steps and individual screens. The Educational Technologists assigned for this project completed programming the Web-based modules. CD version is in final development stages and will be completed by Summer 2005.
  • The project's Home page was created and linked to the interactive training program. The project team and the DSPS office determined components to be included on the project Web page so that they complement and interlinked with the features available on the DSPS site. The four main Home page features are: Project Information, Faculty Training Program, ABC's of Disability Accommodations, and Feedback & Questions. Additional link from the main page access legal information. The various informational pages on the project's Website are continuously updated and will be handed to DSPS office at the end of the grant project for future updates.
  • Project evaluation team (Project Analyst, Project Director, Educational Technologist, and Content Experts) released the "post-survey" for LBCC faculty via a link provided upon their completion of the training modules. The disabled students' post-survey will be conducted in Fall 2005 when the bulk of LBCC faculty are expected to complete the training program.
  • First project evaluation was conducted during the first year of the grant on an initial pilot containing three interactive modules. Over 80 faculty members participated in the training and filled out a pilot evaluation questionnaire. Participating faculty who worked on the training program in organized sessions at the Faculty Resource Center were also observed for interface, ease of access and friendly navigation evaluation. (Electronic version of survey is online at dare/survey). Additionally, the project's Evaluation team released the "pre-survey" for both LBCC faculty and disabled students population, and obtained an initial "snapshot", determining the current status (pre-program release) of faculty knowledge and attitude towards this project's subject matter, as well student satisfaction with faculty involvement in their disability accommodation process.
  • Project dissemination and institutionalization team (Director of Staff Diversity, Faculty Professional Development Coordinator, Dean of Student Support Services, Dean of Learning Resources, Teaching and Technologies, DSPS Department Head, Project Analyst Project Outreach Coordinator, and Project Director) discussed project implementation methods as well as designed a specific dissemination plan. Implementation efforts have officially begun with the project launch in October 2004 as part of the nation-wide Disability Awareness Month. In Early Spring 2005, an additional faculty member joined the project's team as an Outreach Coordinator to lead the internal dissemination efforts at LBCC.
  • The project's final name will most likely remain the name we used for the project's official launch - "DARE to Care - Disability Accommodations tRaining Environment.

Following is a detailed description for some of the project milestones:

  • Planned Activity : Evaluation - Measuring current faculty's degree of comfort with disabled students.
    • Progress : Faculty "pre-survey" was sent to over a 1000 LBCC full and part time faculty. 237 faculty members responded to the survey. Survey's findings were extremely useful for the final design of the interactive training scripts. By and large the findings support most of the assumptions used when developing the scripts and their overall approach. Highlights from faculty pre-survey analysis: (1) Over all faculty's attitude toward using and learning about the services was very high. (2) Training material should be presented as a means of helping and informing the faculty; give faculty the information and skills to improve upon their past experiences. (3) The ease of using DSPS services ranked medium and the level of comfort providing services could be improved. (4) There was a large amount of positive responses regarding working with the DSPS staff. (5) Training program need to be sensitive to faculty needs, taking into consideration their current knowledge and ability to handle disabled students issues in their courses. The full faculty pre-survey analysis file is available upon request.
    • Student survey data was sent to over 1000 DSPS students at LBCC and 102 students responded to the survey. By and large , the findings support many of the assumptions used when developing the scripts and their overall approach. Specifically, two of the highlighted findings were:
    • (1) Students ranked the faculty ability to identify disability related issues and properly handles issues relatively low (58% and 52%). Of course , that is the reason for this project and these figures support the need for such a program. (2) As part of the training program, students recommend to point out that they are aware of their duties in the accommodations process, so the intention of the training modules should not be to shift responsibility but to help improve the way faculty handle their part. The full analysis file is available upon request.
  • Planned Activity: Development of interactive training modules
    • Progress : Six interactive disability accommodations training modules have been fully designed and produced for both the Web and CD delivery formats. Each interactive module follows the same instructional design principles and creative strategies as set in the beginning of the projects. All modules were changed to reflect faculty needs as was determined after the initial pilot evaluation conducted using the first three modules. Each module consists of four steps (which is different from the original three steps initially planned): Identify the disability related issue, Consider common thoughts, Respond to the disability related issue, and Accommodation guide. The fourth step, Accommodation Guide, was added in response to the need observed for a summary, as well as for addressing additional issues related to the same disability type, which were not included as the simulated issue. The main objective of the Accommodation Guide step in each training module is to provide faculty with clear and concise information on to handle typical issues related to each disability type when occurring in their class.
      Throughout the training, faculty may access pre-identified (1) hyperlinks to DSPS related terms, and (2) "Did You Know" Web links with additional information, most frequently legal information, about the topic they work on.
    • The last training module, DSPS challenges in Distance Learning courses, is in progress and its first version will be ready for the project launch in October 2004. This module requires a different instructional treatment and it is important to not discourage faculty by including in it overwhelming technical information. The module is designed so that faculty will (1) understand the needs of students with disabilities on the Web (mainly visually and hearing impaired), and (2) will explore what it takes to accommodate these students' needs online. LBCC Faculty Resource Center offers specific workshops with hands-on detailed instruction on this topic, and DARE to Care will direct faculty to participate in these follow up workshops.
    • One significant change was the addition of an Overview module to the training environment following some faculty's pre-survey input. This feedback indicated that some faculty are not familiar with the DSPS office, its role and the process of accommodating students with disabilities at LBCC. The overview modules consists of five sub topics and provides faculty users with an engaging interface to learn about typical accommodations, students and faculty role in the accommodation process, the role of a DSPS Professional, the verification of disability process, and some DSPS myths and realities.
  • Planned Activity: Development of an informational Web page.
    • Progress: The project Home page is available at http://dare.lbcc.edu
      A training log on screen has been designed to distinguish between LBCC faculty and external users. A dedicated Web server is likely to be needed to allow for nation-wide access. It is also likely that non-LBCC users will be directed to a parellel interface. Development for external dissemination will be finalized by early Fall 2005. In addition to the training link, the DARE to Care Home page includes informational features that will help faculty visitors to get familiar with accommodation related issues without taking the actual training. These features include links to a summary of the hyperlink terms and Did you Know Web links (in alphabetical order), as well as other information links such as Project Information, ITDC Web accessibility page, visitors guest book, and DSPS Web site. The project team works closely with the DSPS office to ensure appropriate distribution and cross-links of content and information features between the DARE to Care site and the DSPS Web site.
  • Planned Activity: Evaluation - Piloting and evaluating the project upon launching - formative evaluation.
    • Progress : a. Training modules evaluation: Over 80 faculty members have piloted the training program and completed survey. (Electronic version of survey is online at dare/survey). Main survey findings include the following: On Average 92% of the participants who completed the survey completed the 3 pilot modules. The brake down was 92% completed the first module (Learning disability), 87% completed the second Module (Hearing), and 92% completed the third Module (Mobility disability). All but one of the survey participants at least started every module. 2% started but did not complete the first modality, 12% started but did not complete the second modality, and 7% started but did not complete the third modality. Many of the participants (52%) were already willing providers of services but almost half (48%) feel the training has made them more willing to provide accommodations. Most (68%) agreed that the training has improved their comfort with the process and (82%) felt that providing accommodations will now be easier, which will improve their (93%) future experiences. The training will change the way many (77%) provide accommodations. Many (82%) were exposed to information they were not previously aware of regarding both classroom accommodations and specific services provide by DSPS. Many (55%) said they already feel comfortable contacting the DSPS office but there are others (34%) who now feel more comfortable then they did in the past. And the majority (71%) felt that they would contact the DSPS office for support more than they have previously. Almost all (92%) felt that they are now more knowledgeable on the rights of students with disabilities and the law. The participants used the free form responses regarding the programs strengths to emphasize how much they loved the format. They found it entertaining and informative. The audio and interactivity were by far the highlight. Many loved all of the details and additional information. A repeated comment was that the participants felt the situations seemed very real. The majority of the free form responses regarding the programs weaknesses were about the layout. There were times when they felt the directions were not clear. Both these comments were taken into consideration and changed before producing the remaining modules (see b. below)
    • b. Interface and access evaluation: The project's educational technologists composed a list of all areas reported or observed with bugs, interface challenges, or other types user reported problems / suggestions. DARE to Care instructional design team met to discuss the need for the changes, the nature of addressing the changes in the revised version. The team created a list of all items to be modified or added in light of the findings. All modified items have been incorporated in the new modules developed during Spring 2004.
    • c. Communication with the DSPS office - the original communication form which was designed to track data in all phone calls made to the DSPS offices on both LBCC campuses has not been feasible for the DSPS staff to accommodate. Instead, since the program was launched in October 2004, a new database has been implemented - the Dare Communication Database. This database tracks faculty access and usage of all features available through this project, including completion of training modules, communication with a DSPS counselor through the training program, communication via the project's email and survey data. This database will be instrumental for data gathering and analysis during the summative evaluation expected in late Fall 2005.
  • Planned Activity: Evaluation - Evaluating the effectiveness of the project - summative evaluation.
    • Progress : Data collection for the Summative evaluation of the project occurs as faculty access the training program. Official project launch commenced in October 2004 as part of the nation-wide Disability Awareness Month. Towards the end of year 3, data from all faculty will be analyzed and included in the project summative evaluation. The measurements used for the evaluation will consist of a faculty survey which they will take individually after they complete the training sessions, and analysis of faculty access and participation in the various training modules as tracked by the program. Communication with the DSPS office, as well as disabled students post-survey will also be included in this evaluation.

Dissemination and Institutionalization

A dissemination and institutionalization plan has been created. Implementation has began upon launching the training in October 2004. Leading to this launch date was information and demonstration sessions during new faculty orientation, Fall 2004 FLEX Day and at the Faculty Resource Center. A new member was added to the project team - Faculty Outreach Coordinator. This member coordinates all internal dissemination efforts with faculty and all project-related college areas. The following steps have been identified to ensure faculty participation and sustainability of this project after the end of the grant period:

  • Designing a DSPS brochure which would be distributed to all faculty (Full and Part Time) before the beginning of each semester.
  • Designing material for new FT faculty orientation session and packets
  • Designing material and presentation at PT faculty orientation and information packet
  • Adding a DARE to Care Training item on Human Resources Part Time Faculty Checklist
  • Meeting with Deans and Dept Heads and have them send PT faculty to the Faculty Resource Center as part of their assignment (for both DARE to care training information and setting their E-MAIL)
  • Obtaining support of faculty union president and his cooperation in encouraging all FT faculty to participate in DARE training
  • Launching official DARE to Care training as part of a Disability Awareness Month
  • Design dissemination material for FT and PT faculty who attend Faculty Resource Center professional development activities
  • Human Resources director is exploring and beginning the process of mandating the DARE to Care training for PT faculty
  • Human Resources director is exploring and beginning the process of mandating the DARE to Care training for FT faculty

As this project has great potential to be implemented in academic institutions other than LBCC, external dissemination efforts will begin in late Spring 2005. The necessary features needed for that purposes are being added to the training interface by the production team(e.g. a separate log on screen for non-LBCC faculty). During 2005, the project will be presented in a number of conferences including ADEC (San Francisco,March 2005, TechEd (Pasadena, April 2005), CAPED (Rancho Mirage, 2005) and FIPSE (New Orleans, 2005).