National Technical Institute for the Deaf awarded grant from US National Science Foundation
Grant
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York has been awarded a grant of over USD 440,000 to provide additional training for faculty who teach classes in which deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students are present.
The aim of the three-year grant is to help develop an “accessibility toolkit” for faculty who are looking for new ways to adapt their teaching methodologies to accommodate the learning needs of students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, EurekAlert reports. The faculty members in question work in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
According to Sara Schley, co-director of the Research Center for Teaching and Learning at the NTID and principal investigator, the project will combine faculty engagement in instructional change, universal design for teaching and learning, and student-centered pedagogy that all aim to promote inclusiveness within the classroom.
The idea is to find new approaches for collaborative learning. “Faculty members who teach deaf and hard-of-hearing students may assume that notetaking services and interpreting services, for example, are tools that sufficiently provide an adequate learning environment,” Schley said. “While these services certainly assist the students with their learning, we’ve found that there are many other ways that instructors can adapt their teaching styles to enhance the learning environment for our students. This project is meant to provide relevant information to our faculty in a supportive way.”
Source: EurekAlert
