Cutting the Curb for Students with Disabilities Transitioning to Higher Education

Seth Vuletich; Brianna B Buljung; Jamie Marie Regan

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Conference: 2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Publication Date: February 25, 2024
Start Date: February 25, 2024
End Date: February 27, 2024
Conference Session: Track 1: Technical Session 8: Cutting the Curb for Students with Disabilities Transitioning to Higher Education
Tagged Topics: Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions
Page Count: 19
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45441
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45441
Download Count: 20

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Paper Authors

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Seth Vuletich Colorado School of Mines orcid.org/0000-0002-7086-8687

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Seth Vuletich is the Scholarly Communications Librarian the Colorado School of Mines. Seth provides specialized support to graduate students through all stages of the research lifecycle. Prior to entering the field of librarianship, Seth was a professional woodworker and earned a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Seth earned his Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Denver in 2021.

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Brianna B Buljung Colorado School of Mines orcid.org/0000-0002-3376-0757

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Brianna is the Teaching and Learning librarian at the Colorado School of Mines. She collaborates with faculty to design and implement information literacy throughout the curriculum. Prior to her work at the School of Mines, she was the Engineering and Computer Science Librarian at the US Naval Academy and a contract Reference Librarian assigned to the National Defense University. She earned her MLIS at the University of Denver in 2011.

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Jamie Marie Regan Colorado School of Mines

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Jamie Regan is an undergraduate student in Electrical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Her academic journey is intertwined with a personal and passionate dedication to advancing accessibility within STEM fields. Inspired by her own experiences after acquiring disabilities during college, Jamie delved into research on the challenges faced by students with disabilities entering higher education.

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Abstract

Leading our campus’ open education initiatives, we realized there was insufficient guidance enabling instructors to create resources accessible to students with disabilities. To address this problem, we began developing an open course for educators to promote creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) that meet requirements specified by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our research into best practices highlighted poor understanding of the needs of students with disabilities entering STEM disciplines in higher education.

One significant hurdle is that regulatory support decreases from what students may be accustomed to in primary and secondary education. Specifically, once in higher education, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ceases to guarantee certain educational accommodations for students with disabilities. The nature of higher education and accreditation necessitates a change in what accommodations can be offered, but these changes sometimes make the transition to higher education seem insurmountable to students. Another challenge associated with the transition to higher education is a poor sense of community. Higher education allows and necessitates student independence, this can result in students with disabilities feeling particularly alone. This aloneness can be worse in STEM disciplines where disabilities are poorly represented. Finally, STEM disciplines carry particular challenges in providing accommodations. For example, scientific data collection frequently relies on observations that may be impossible for visually impaired students.

To better understand these gaps and what might be done to address them, with the help of an undergraduate researcher, we are surveying students and educators. We have created two surveys for distribution to local high school educators and students who self-identify as having disabilities at our mid-sized STEM institution. We will then utilize gathered insights to improve the content of the open accessibility course. This presentation will describe the research methodology and initial data gathering efforts as well as lessons learned in a thorough review of the literature.

Citation
Format

Vuletich, S., & Buljung, B. B., & Regan, J. M. (2024, February), Cutting the Curb for Students with Disabilities Transitioning to Higher Education Paper presented at 2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45441

TY - CPAPER
AB - Leading our campus’ open education initiatives, we realized there was insufficient guidance enabling instructors to create resources accessible to students with disabilities. To address this problem, we began developing an open course for educators to promote creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) that meet requirements specified by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our research into best practices highlighted poor understanding of the needs of students with disabilities entering STEM disciplines in higher education.

One significant hurdle is that regulatory support decreases from what students may be accustomed to in primary and secondary education. Specifically, once in higher education, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ceases to guarantee certain educational accommodations for students with disabilities. The nature of higher education and accreditation necessitates a change in what accommodations can be offered, but these changes sometimes make the transition to higher education seem insurmountable to students. Another challenge associated with the transition to higher education is a poor sense of community. Higher education allows and necessitates student independence, this can result in students with disabilities feeling particularly alone. This aloneness can be worse in STEM disciplines where disabilities are poorly represented. Finally, STEM disciplines carry particular challenges in providing accommodations. For example, scientific data collection frequently relies on observations that may be impossible for visually impaired students.

To better understand these gaps and what might be done to address them, with the help of an undergraduate researcher, we are surveying students and educators. We have created two surveys for distribution to local high school educators and students who self-identify as having disabilities at our mid-sized STEM institution. We will then utilize gathered insights to improve the content of the open accessibility course. This presentation will describe the research methodology and initial data gathering efforts as well as lessons learned in a thorough review of the literature.

AU - Seth Vuletich
AU - Brianna B Buljung
AU - Jamie Marie Regan
CY - Arlington, Virginia
DA - 2024/02/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Cutting the Curb for Students with Disabilities Transitioning to Higher Education
UR - https://peer.asee.org/45441
DO - 10.18260/1-2--45441
ER -