# PR Award Number: P333A080039

# Grantee: San Diego State University Research Foundation

**San Diego, CA**

## Director's Name: Bobbie Atkins

**Phone Number: 619-594-1569**

**Email Address: <batkins@mail.sdsu.edu>**

U.S. colleges and universities are becoming increasingly diverse in
terms of gender, age, ethnicity, and disability (National Center for
Education Statistics, 2006). One of the challenges and opportunities
confronting higher education institutions revolves around the design of
programs and curricula that are accessible to all students. The needs of
students with and without disabilities can converge around a Universal
Design for Learning (UDL) model. The relevance and importance of UDL
principles to college curricula and programs are gaining momentum as
institutions: (a) work to meet the accessibility mandates of Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act; (b) deliver more courses via distance and
blended learning; and (c) conceptualize and address student learning
outcomes. The overall *Project* goal is **to enhance the capacity of
faculty and administrators to meet the needs of postsecondary students
with disabilities through a universal model.** To ensure success in
achieving the goal, dynamic objectives will drive the activities for
implementation, evaluation, and outcomes.

**Objective 1:** To increase awareness and knowledge of a minimum 150
faculty and administrators (annually) on issues and strategies relevant
to students with disabilities.

**Objective 2**: To decrease the gap in completion rate between students
with and without disabilities by five percent in courses taught by
*Project Scholars*.

**Objective 3**: To increase the number of faculty and administrators
actively integrating the training concepts and strategies in their
courses and programs by 95 percent.

**Objective 4**: To increase access to and dissemination of universal
model resources and materials through a minimum of 10 venues (annually).

The main components of the *Project* Design include: *workshops,* which
will target specific skill-building, competency-enhancing topics; the
*Scholar Program,* supporting 15 faculty/administrators annually to
modify and enhance their courses/programs through UDL and appropriate
use of technologies; *Focused Technical Assistance (FTA)* to provide
individualized support to *Scholar Mentors, Scholar*s and participants
applying training content; and an integrated and multi-faceted
*Evaluation (internal, external)* which allows for continual refinement
of services and activities based on outcomes, stakeholder feedback, and
needs of faculty/administrators.

*Project* materials, innovations, and results will be disseminated
extensively through *Scholar*

*Spotlight Events*, *Project* Web site, presentations, and publications.
The expected benefits and

results are substantial in both immediate and long-term systemic impact
including: a) minimum

of 450 faculty and administrators with **knowledge and skills** specific
to teaching and supporting

students with disabilities; b) participants incorporating UDL in
courses/programs demonstrating

**varied approaches and** models; c) enhanced opportunities for
**systemic change** through policies and practices that promote UDL and
overall student success; d) **comprehensive training** focused on
disability, curriculum design, program services, teaching strategies,
assistive

technology and accommodations, accessibility and administrative issues;
e) **cross-fertilization**

between participants enhancing the teaching and learning of others; f)
modules available **online**

**and accessible** to faculty and administrators 24/7; f) **Learning
Community(ies)** that will continue to thrive on innovation and advance
the applications of UDL beyond the *Project* period; g) **students**
receiving information through contemporary strategies and technology
that **enhance**

**their learning and educational experience**; and h) a **comprehensive
evaluation system**

infused throughout the *Project's* implementation to ensure efficient
delivery of training and

FTA, and achievement of *Project's* goal and objectives.

## PR Award Number: P333A080060

**Grantee: University of Hawaii**

**Honolulu, HI**

## Director's Name: Kelly Roberts

**Phone Number: 808-956-9502**

**Email Address: <robertsk@hawaii.edu>**

**Problem:** Statistics indicate postsecondary education retention and
completion rates of students with disabilities (SWD) are significantly
lower compared to their non-disabled peers. **Addressing the Problem:**
This project is designed to build on three interrelated concepts,
universal design for learning (UDL), multiculturalism, and mentoring, by
validating and utilizing new and innovative applications of these
concepts to support faculty to better meet the needs of SWD. The project
has been developed with input from a diverse range of stakeholders
including faculty, SWD, and disability support and faculty development
staff within the University of Hawaii (UH) system. Members from each of
these groups will serve in an advisory capacity (partnership
demonstration team) to ensure broad representation and input.

**Goals and Activities:** The primary purpose of the proposed project is
to bring about positive concrete changes for SWD in postsecondary
educational environments through the planning, development, and delivery
of an organized sequence of professional development (PD) activities
aimed at minimizing gaps in faculty and staff members' knowledge,
skills, and attitudes concerning SWD. This will be accomplished by
focusing upon validated and practical strategies associated with UDL,
multiculturalism, and mentoring. The innovative process of this project
will extend previous work in these areas by focusing on the interrelated
nature of the three concepts. Through their continued use, strategies
derived from these concepts will increase faculty members' knowledge and
understanding of the concepts, and become gradually integrated within
their teaching approaches. This will in turn, facilitate sustained use
of the strategies throughout the wider postsecondary education teaching
and learning milieu.

The project goals will be accomplished through the development and
provision of a series of PD training sessions for faculty,
administrators, and staff as a means to improve/increase their
knowledge, skills, and attitudes for instructing and interacting with
SWD. A rigorous evaluation design will test the effectiveness, impact,
and sustainability of these trainings. **Outcomes:** Include a tested
and validated set of PD modules and technical assistance materials
formatted for replication and dissemination to a wide range of
postsecondary institutions. Government Performance and Results Act
indicators of (1) difference between the rate at which students with
documented disabilities complete courses taught by faculty trained in
project activities, and the rate at which other students complete those
courses; (2) percentage of faculty trained in project activities who
incorporate elements of training into their classroom teaching in years
one, two, and three; and, (3) quantified impact of project activities on
faculty knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Project implementation will
reach over 1,390 faculty, administrators, and staff within the UH
system. Approximately 600 more will be trained through face-to-face and
Web-focused dissemination of the PD materials and technical assistance.
The project will be implemented by the Center on Disability Studies
(CDS), Centers on Teaching Excellence and Disability Support Offices
within the UH system.

## PR Award Number: P333A080022 

## Grantee: Georgia Tech Research Corporation

**Atlanta, GA**

**Director's Name: Robert Todd**

**Phone Number: 404-894-9865**

**Email Address: <robert.todd@coa.gatech.edu>**

The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) and
the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) at
Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia's (UGA's) Disability Resource
Center (DRC) propose SciTrain University (STU), a multi-faceted project
to enhance the capacities of science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) faculty and staff in postsecondary education to
educate students with disabilities. Building upon successful research
and programs conducted by project partners, STU will engage stakeholders
in the development and evaluation of online training modules and
resources. STU goal is to create a more effective learning environment
by improving the knowledge of postsecondary teachers, student services
staff, IT personnel and administrators -- stakeholders who can work
together to create lasting improvements in curricula.

STU will use a combination of in-person workshops and web-based training
modules for postsecondary faculty and staff to instruct them in the
creation of effective STEM coursework for students with disabilities.
These resources will demonstrate methods for approaching access problems
and will train teachers to generate their own ideas and solutions for
accommodations. The training materials will provide instruction on the
creation of adapted curricula and labs, online courses and hybrid
courses. Teachers will be able to study individual modules or complete
entire sets for continuing education units (CEUs). The result will be
improved STEM education for students.

STU will also develop technical assistance materials for educators who
are looking for answers to immediate access problems. These resources
will include fact sheets, an online discussion forum and an open Wiki to
promote the sharing of accommodations and best practices.

STU will enlist faculty champions in the partner universities to achieve
initial buy-in from stakeholders. The project will then expand to
include departmental and institute changes. Since all project materials
will be published online, STU will then reach out to a national audience
with training processes and materials that can be copied and easily
replicated.

STU will work closely with instructors, student services offices, and
administrators at Georgia Tech and UGA to ensure focused research and
evaluation of its project results. Courses and online resources will be
tested with these teachers and faculty prior to release to a national
audience. These instructors will also participate in ongoing evaluation
of project results, serving as a test-bed for the STU model in action,
as well as models for replication. The project will monitor the
percentage of faculty trained who incorporate elements of the training
in their teaching, as well as the changes in student success in courses
by faculty trained through the project.

The proposed program is vital in providing education for teachers in an
area often neglected in their educations. Through improved educational
practices, it will enhance accessibility of STEM education for students
with disabilities, as well as improving participation in STEM education
and careers for these students. Improved STEM education will broaden the
participation of students with disabilities -- currently an
underrepresented group in STEM education. SciTrain U. will also enhance
the infrastructure for research and education by providing extensive
online resources that can be used by anyone, anywhere to address
accessible STEM education.

## PR Award Number: P333A080032

**Grantee: Texas A&M University**

**College Station, TX**

**Director's Name: Dan Zhang**

**Phone Number: 979-862-6514**

**Email Address: <dalun@tamu.edu>**

The number of students with disabilities enrolled in postsecondary
education has been increasing steadily since the early 1980s (National
Center for Education Statistics, 2006). Similarly, the number of
students with disabilities enrolled in the 11 institutions in the Texas
A&M University System has reached approximately 2,000, an increase of 70
percent from 1997. However, many students with disabilities fail to
successfully complete academically or simply leave campus prior

to completing their planned programs of study (Quick, Lehman, &
Deniston, 2003). In searching for solutions to this problem, an
important area that has yet to be fully addressed is the faculty's and
administrator's lack of understanding of disability issues and lack of
knowledge of instructional strategies pertaining to students with
disabilities.

The proposed project, "***Disability Training Network: Training,
Innovation, Research (DTNTIR)***," will address this gap by implementing
a project design that involves three dimensions of activities aiming to
achieve the following goals:

**Goal 1** is to provide four-levels of training and technical
assistance to faculty and staff at 11 institutions within the TAMU
System. **Goal 2** is to develop teaching innovations pertaining to
students with disabilities through mini-grants and through Faculty
Learning Communities (FLCs). **Goal 3** is to empirically examine the
effectiveness of faculty training and the effectiveness of applying
instructional strategies on student outcomes through quasi-experimental
research.

Dimension 1 Activities: provide four levels of training and technical
assistance. The four levels include: (a) providing a brief introductory
training to new faculty at new faculty orientations; (b) disseminating
quarterly updates on policies, practices, and issues; (c) providing
instructor-led seminars and self-paced online seminars on topics of
importance; and (d) offering train-the-trainer modules to faculty,
staff, and administrators during Summer Institutes.

Dimension 2 Activities: develop teaching innovations through Faculty
Learning Communities (FLCs) and mini-grant awards to faculty. The FLC is
an effective mechanism for faculty to develop discipline-specific
teaching innovations. Faculty in the FLCs will participate in
professional development, work with each other and with students to
identify innovative strategies, field-test these strategies, and assist
the proposed project in disseminating their innovations. Another
mechanism will be mini-grant awards to faculty from different
disciplines

for developing, testing, and disseminating new or applied instructional
strategies.

Dimension 3 Activities: conduct quasi-experimental research to
empirically examine the effectiveness of training on faculty
competencies in teaching students with disabilities and to examine the
effectiveness of implementing certain instructional strategies on
student outcomes.

Each year, 30 faculty members will be selected from FLCs and from
mini-grant recipients to

serve as an experimental group. Thirty equivalent faculty members who
are not involved in these

activities will be selected to serve as a control group. To make these
research activities realistic

and manageable, only three campuses will be involved in each of the
three years. Research findings and other project information and
materials will be widely disseminated by multiple means, including
traditional and online media. A strong evaluation component is built

in the project, with evaluation activities to be conducted by an
independent evaluator.

## PR Award Number: P333A080071

**Grantee: The Board of Regents of the**

**University of Wisconsin System**

> **Milwaukee, WI**

**Director's Name: Roger O. Smith**

**Phone Number: 414-229-5625**

**Email Address: <smithro@uwm.edu>**

The use of technology in higher education is rapidly expanding parallel
to society's adoptions of innovations in our daily lives. Unfortunately,
while technology has improved, educational methods, materials, and
technology pose new barriers for many students. It is also clear that
our student populations with disabilities extend far beyond the 5-7
percent typically reported who declare their disabilities and seek
services from disability student service offices. Our recent

statistics reveal that nearly 12 percent of postsecondary students
describe specific intrinsic impairments that stage educational risk and
demand intervention. An additional eight percent of students are not
native English speakers. Combined, this 20 percent, or one out of five
students, have the potential to benefit from Universal Design (UD)
approaches. Successful UD implementation, however, demands that faculty
and staff throughout campuses "buy in" to the methodology. They require
resources that they believe will benefit them and students without
taxing their time. Campuses also need accessibility assessment tools.
Few instruments are available to comprehensively identify access
barriers and thus identify where interventions are needed. Likewise,
campuses must vigilantly watch emerging instructional technologies (such
as Second Life, Facebook, classroom response clickers, podcasting) to
predict accessibility problems. Without this analysis, campuses will
fail to assure equal educational access.

This project proposes to implement and measure Universal Design in
Higher Education across a system of 26 campuses and develop UD resources
to help administrators, faculty, staff, and students better incorporate
technology into their day-to-day educational activities. Key approaches
to maximize success include creating UD resources that are user-friendly
and quick to implement, then disseminating training and materials on
location through an infusion network,

an annotated Web site and Webinars. Five key project objectives have
been designed to enhance the recruitment, retention and success of
students with disabilities in postsecondary education: (1) Create a
comprehensive Web-based instrument that over 300 students will complete
as a pilot study to document accessibility barriers and diagnose
institutional needs; (2) Identify the accessibility and usability issues
in existing and emerging educational technologies and develop technical
reports; (3) Implement and institutionalize campus-wide UD
interventions; (4) Disseminate project materials and training; and (5)
Conduct monthly formative and annual summative evaluations, overseen by
an independent evaluator with the assistance of an expert national
advisory panel, to assess the impact of the project.

This UD infusion project is based on a solid foundation of experience
and an actively involved interdisciplinary team with technological,
pedagogical, and disability expertise that represents consumer,
academic, administrative and service perspectives. The project is based
in the University of Wisconsin System, led by the urban-based Milwaukee
campus, but with a minimum of four partnerships from suburban and rural
campuses, and both two- and four-year institutions. Additional
replication will be encouraged outside of Wisconsin with new support

features on our ACCESS-ed website, and through national presentations.
Additionally, the project will showcase its work and invite
presentations from other UD innovators by hosting a UD in Higher
Education Symposium in the second year.

## PR Award Number: P333A080018

**Grantee: Temple University Of the Commonwealth**

> **System of Higher Education**
>
> **Philadelphia, PA**

**Director's Name: David Mitchell**

**Phone Number: 215-204-1356**

**Email Address: <david.mitchell@temple.edu>**

The Institute on Disabilities, Pennsylvania's University Center for
Excellence at

Temple University, is submitting this proposal in response to CFDA
84.333A:

"Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a
Quality

Higher Education Program. The overall goal of *Enhancing Higher
Educational*

*Opportunities for All* is to improve the higher education outcomes for
students with

disabilities through the provision of effective training, professional
development, and

technical assistance to key faculty and relevant staff at Temple
University with

replication in other universities throughout the United States.

Specific goals include: 1) Human Resources at Temple University will
present

disability as part of diversity when orienting all new faculty and
staff; 2) Faculty

teaching the required two-semester course, Mosaic: The Humanities
Seminar, will

include disability as part of the larger framework of diversity; 3)
Faculty and staff at

Temple University will infuse information, including accessibility and
Universal

Design for Learning, in their teaching and student support, in order to
facilitate

learning opportunities of all students, including diverse learners with
disabilities; 4)

Other universities throughout the United States will replicate
*Enhancing Higher*

*Education Opportunities for All* for students with disabilities; 5)
There will be

increased national recognition of the ways in which accessibility and
universal

design for learning, including the provision of assistive technologies,
coupled with the

infusion of Disability Studies-based curriculum can reduce attrition
among disabled

students who often critique their education as being irrelevant to their
experiences

as a member of a devalued social constituency; and (6) evaluate the
overall project

outcomes using required performance measures as described in Section
VI.4 of the

grant announcement.

The Institute on Disabilities, in collaboration with Disability
Resources and

Services, Human Resources, and undergraduate faculty and staff at Temple

University, are uniquely qualified to demonstrate what is needed to
improve

outcomes for students with disabilities at Temple University and at
other universities

throughout the United States.

## 

## PR Award Number: P333A080016

**Grantee: University of Iowa**

**Iowa City, IA**

**Director's Name: Dennis Maki**

**Phone Number: 319-335-5284**

**Email Address: <dennis-maki@uiowa.edu>**

*Universal Access: Creating Accessible Higher Education Opportunities*
is a new three-year

initiative by the Iowa Center for Assistive Technology Education and
Research (ICATER)

at The University of Iowa that directly addresses the critical national
need for students with

disabilities attending postsecondary institutions to receive a quality
education. The goal of the

project is to improve postsecondary educational experiences and outcomes
for students with

disabilities. The project goal will be achieved through the development
of comprehensive

training materials and professional development opportunities designed
specifically for

postsecondary administrators and educators. All materials and training
programs will be easily

replicable, available free online, and disseminated nationally.

*Universal Access* has five objectives: **1**) create a resource bank of
comprehensive

material related to teaching and working with students with disabilities
at the postsecondary

level; **2**) develop and conduct a needs assessment of **a**)
administrator, faculty, staff, and student

attitudes toward, and practices of, providing accommodations to
students, and **b**) perceptions of

students with disabilities of accommodations made in the postsecondary
classroom; **3**) develop

and disseminate a campus-wide policy for achieving universal access in
the postsecondary

classroom; **4**) develop training and professional development
materials to facilitate the

implementation of universal access and policy in the classroom, and
**5**) nationally disseminate

information and training materials to faculty members, administrators,
staff, and students who work with students with disabilities at
postsecondary institutions. To attain the objectives, project staff will
develop effective mechanisms and strategies to establish universal
access in the classroom for students with disabilities; develop an
online interactive comprehensive Web site; collaborate with
administrators, faculty, students, and appropriate partners to create
Web-based training resources for the ongoing administrator and faculty
training; conduct summer workshops and hands-on training at national
meetings; and develop print materials with information on

universal access policies, barriers to students with disabilities, and
strategies for providing

accommodations.

*Universal Access* will begin with a comprehensive needs assessment to
gather baseline

information to develop appropriate training materials and workshops for
postsecondary

administrators and faculty who work with students with disabilities.
This will lead to the

development of high-quality and fully accessible instructional materials
prepared in a variety of

formats for diverse learners. Multiple approaches to distribution will
ensure materials are offered equally or equivalently to all learners.
*Universal Access* materials will be presented in a variety of audio and
visual formats and allow access for different screen readers and other
assistive technology.

The essential elements for the *Universal Access* project are already in
place. ICATER

will develop, design and produce training materials and professional
development opportunities.

The College of Education will provide technological support to the
project. ICATER staff will

conduct the seminars. A rigorous evaluation design is an integral
component of this project. It

will provide information about the project's efficacy and contribute to
our understanding of how

to deepen students' with disabilities educational experience in
postsecondary institutions. The

combination of expertise, commitment and resources of the *Universal
Access* project will have a

significant impact on educational opportunities for students with
disabilities.

**PR Award Number: P333A080027**

**Grantee: Sonoma State University**

**Rohnert Park, CA**

**Director's Name: Emiliano Ayala**

## Phone Number: 707-664-3490

**Email Address: <emiliano.ayala@sonoma.edu>**

EnACT:PTD (Ensuring Access Through Collaboration & Technology:
Partnerships, Technology and Dissemination) will offer students with
disabilities within the California State University

(CSU) support toward attaining their postsecondary educational goals.
Specifically,

EnACT:PTD will provide faculty within the CSU system the support and
training necessary

to ensure that students with disabilities are provided a high quality
education. To this end,

EnACT:PTD will achieve three distinct yet interconnected goals.

**Goal 1: *Partnerships* to Ensure Access to a Quality Postsecondary
Education**

EnACT:PTD will formally establish Research Partnerships (Tier 1) and
Implementation

Partnerships (Tier 2) across multiple California State University
campuses to ensure a high

quality education for students with disabilities. Research Partners will
have the support of their

respective faculty, students with disabilities, student support
services, assistive technology

services and faculty development programs in implementing all research
and faculty

development efforts. Implementation Partners will also have campus-wide
collaborative

endorsements and focus primarily on implementing faculty development
activities in support of

postsecondary students with disabilities. Toward this end, the two
central components of the

EnACT:PTD faculty development model include the implementation of
Universal Design for

Learning (UDL) in Higher Education workshops and the establishment of
Faculty Learning

Communities (FLC) on each Research and Implementation campus. This
innovative model of

faculty development will address key areas such as effective instruction
in higher education and

development of accessible instructional materials to support students
with disabilities.

**Goal 2: *Technology* to Ensure Access to a Quality Postsecondary
Education**

Since 2000, over 5,000 new tenure-track faculty have been hired at the
23 campuses that

comprise the CSU system. Given this growth, EnACT:PTD seeks to
strengthen faculty

development programs in support of CSU students with disabilities. To
this end, EnACT:PTD

will develop Accessible Instructional Media (AIM) resources to address
specific instructional

issues through the use of current and emerging technologies. In
addition, faculty will learn about

emerging technology-based teaching and assessment approaches to support
all students including students with disabilities. Finally, EnACT:PTD
will develop Coll@borATe, an online assistive technology forum. Thus,
EnACT:PTD will examine the connection between technology and
accessibility-related instructional design across all participating
campuses.

**Goal 3: *Dissemination* of EnACT:PTD Content and Processes**

EnACT:PTD will partner with the CSU Center for Distributed Learning and
the CSU Accessible Technology Initiative to disseminate online
professional development resources to numerous Dissemination Partners
(Tier 3) across the CSU system. In addition, EnACT:PTD will disseminate
resources to other institutions of higher education (IHEs) nationally
via existing academic databases such as MERLOT, an international online
community of over 60,000 members. EnACT:PTD will also capitalize on
regional meetings in conjunction with selected CSU Centers for Faculty
Development to disseminate AIM resources developed in Goal 2 to other
IHEs at the state and national levels. Finally, dissemination of the
research and implementation activities will be achieved through
professional presentations at prominent state and national conferences.

**PR Award Number: P333A080023**

**Grantee: Longwood University**

**Farmville, VA**

**Director's Name: Sally Scott**

**Phone Number: 434-395-2391**

**Email Address: <scottss@longwood.edu>**

The 2007 release of a report by the Modern Language Association,
"Foreign Languages

and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World," has focused
renewed attention on

foreign language instruction at the introductory level. Frequently, the
report finds, these

beginning courses are taught by part-time and untenured instructors,
many of whom remain on

the fringes of the department, with little access to ongoing support,
pedagogical training, or

faculty development. When students with sensory, cognitive or physical
disabilities are

introduced to this environment, the results can be frustrating for both
the student (who may

benefit from specific instructional strategies or accommodations) and
the instructor (who may be

ill-equipped to provide inclusive instruction).

To address this problem, Project LINC will develop a portable and
sustainable training

curriculum to support new, part-time, and temporary foreign language
instructors in inclusive

classroom techniques. A Leadership and Development Team (LDT) of
experienced foreign

language faculty will identify, develop, and evaluate instructional
strategies that reflect effective

application of Communicative Foreign Language Learning (CFLL) and
Universal Design for

Instruction (UDI). Faculty training based on CFLL, UDI, and data-based
instruction will be

developed, piloted, revised, and packaged for broad dissemination. The
resulting curriculum,

consisting of: (1) a Foundation Workshop, (2) six Topical Training
sessions, (3) Support

Materials, and (4) Evaluation and Feedback Tools will be produced in
hard copy, electronic, and

on-line formats. Regional training and free curricula will be provided
to foreign language

instructors in area colleges, community colleges, and high schools.
National dissemination of

the curriculum will be achieved through extensive outreach through
professional organizations,

conferences, publications, and a project LINC Web site.

**PR Award Number: P333A080036**

**Grantee: National Louis University**

**Skokie, IL**

**Director\'s Name: Susan Gabel**

**Phone Number: 224-233-2842**

**Email Address: Sgabel@nl.edu**

National-Louis University (NLU) is an independent not-for-profit
university composed of

three colleges: National College of Education, College of Arts and
Sciences, and the College of

Management and Business. Its eleven campuses are located in Illinois,
Wisconsin, Florida,

Virginia, and Poland. NLU serves 14,166 students. The National College
of Education is the

largest college with over 50 percent of the total student population.
Since inception, NLU has provided opportunity for students who have
historically encountered barriers to higher education. The vast majority
of NLU students are working adults. NLU's mission is to provide access
to quality higher education and nurture opportunity for students through
innovative teaching and

scholarship, community engagement, and service excellence. The NLU
community has created

an educational environment with high regard for the culture, background,
experience, and dignity

of everyone. Our faculty and staff understand that education has the
power to transform lives,

organizations, and communities. To this end, NLU links tested theory and
practice with the

experiences of its students, is sensitive to the changing needs of
society, and is responsive to the

students and publics it serves.

This grant project is built around three themes (3-C's) that run
throughout each project

goal and activity. ***Content*** refers to three types of content
knowledge needed to provide students

with a quality education: technological content, practical content, and
theoretical content.

***Context*** refers to three contexts of teaching and learning:
contexts internal and external to the

university, contexts that are both face-to-face and virtual, and
contexts that are local and

national. ***Culture*** refers to a culture of inclusion for which all
community members are

responsible. This entails creating visibility, accessibility, and
possibility.

NLU's 3-C project has two goals for providing students with disabilities
a quality

postsecondary education. **Goal #1** is the development of an
innovative, effective, sustainable,

and efficient model for providing quality education to students with
disabilities. **Goal #1**

objectives include: **(a)** increase institutional capacity for
providing quality education for students

with disabilities; **(b)** provide ongoing faculty and staff development
and support to improve

instruction and other learning opportunities for students with
disabilities**;** and **(c)** recruit and retain

students with disabilities. Activities include: capacity building
institute, assessment of campus

climate, assessment of accessibility and redesign of NLU's Web site and
Web-based systems,

identification of students with disabilities, training of Institutional
Technology staff in accessible

Web design, faculty and staff professional development, ongoing
face-to-face and virtual support

for faculty and field-based placement providers, marketing and
recruitment strategies designed to

increase the number of students with disabilities attending NLU,
extensive data collection, analysis, and documentation, and development
of the 3-C Model.

**Goal #2** is the production and dissemination of resources useful for
supporting students

with disabilities in postsecondary education and dissemination of
results of the project. **Goal #2**

objectives include: **(a)** establish a virtual resource center; **(b)**
hold an annual virtual conference;

**(c)** produce useful resources based on the results of this project
(e.g., podcasts, written materials,

syllabi); and **(d)** disseminate results of project (including
synthesis of research). Activities include:

national networking between NLU's virtual resource center and others
(e.g., CAST-Center for Applied Special Technology, AHEAD-Association on
Higher Education and Disability,

NFB-National Federation for the Blind; Webinars, live chats, threaded
discussions; podcasts and other materials; development and dissemination
of synthesis of research on postsecondary education for students with
disabilities, extensive data collection, analysis, and documentation.

**PR Award Number**: **P333A080068**

**Grantee: University of Texas-Pan American**

**Edinburg, TX**

**Director\'s Name: Glorimar Colon**

**Phone Number: 956-318-5379**

**Email Address: <gcolon@utpa.edu>**

The Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) at the University of
Texas - Pan American (UTPA) is proposing to develop a demonstration
project to enhance quality instruction for students with disabilities in
institutions of higher education through an innovative and effective
model of inclusive service provision. The proposed project will provide
faculty, administrators and "first points of contact" staff for student
services, the skills, strategies, customized training and individualized
on-site technical assistance necessary to implement inclusive teaching
techniques/methods, and services to students with disabilities.

Project participants will be exposed to and have hands-on training in:
disability legislation and awareness; common kinds of disabilities
(physical, cognitive, psychiatric, and learning); students with
disabilities adjustment to college life; behavioral and attitudinal
stereotypes; knowledge and use of assistive technology/accommodation;
universal design, universal design for learning, successful inclusive
strategies for teaching, learning, evaluating and servicing students
with disabilities. Activities will include the synthesizing of research
and information related to postsecondary educational services to
students with disabilities and best practices. The project will be
replicated and customized, using a case management model, to other
institutions of higher education. The proposed promising practices and
activities will be widely disseminated.

The [goa]{.underline}l of the project is to: **Provide Institutions of
Higher Education (IHEs) technical assistance and professional
development activities for faculty, professional staff and
administrators to offer them the skills and support that they need to
effectively teach students with disabilities.** The following
[objectives]{.underline} are designed to accomplish the project goal:

[***(1) UTPA PILOT PROJECT - FACULTY***:]{.underline} Provide
professional development activities and training in disability
awareness, sensitivity, innovative inclusive teaching methods, and use
of assistive technology to 37 out of the 41 (90 percent) academic
faculty chairs.

**[(2) *UTPA PILOT PROJECT -- FIRST POINT OF CONTACT STAFF:
*]{.underline}**Provide professional development and training in
disability awareness and inclusive service provision to 47 out of the 52
(90 percent) of the "first points of contact" staff that work with
students with disabilities.

**[(3) *UTPA PILOT PROJECT - ADMINISTRATORS*]{.underline}***:* Provide
professional development and training in disability awareness, legal
aspects to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and inclusive
service provision to 34 out of 38 (90 percent) of the key academic and
student services administrators.

**[(4) *NATIONAL OUTREACH TO IHEs*]{.underline}***:* To provide national
outreach about project services and recruitment efforts to all IHEs
including 100 percent of the Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

**[(5) *CUSTOMIZED & INDIVIDUALIZED SERVICES TO IHEs*:]{.underline}**
Based upon the UTPA pilot project and a case management model, provide
training, professional development and on-site technical assistance to
36 other IHEs, with an emphasis on MSIs, during the 3 year project
period.

**[(6) *DISSEMINATION*:]{.underline}** To disseminate outcomes of best
practices and successful case studies via trainings, journal articles,
Web site, and national conference presentations to 100 percent of the
IHEs.

**PR Award Number:** **P333A080050**

**Grantee: Northampton County Area Community College**

**Bethlehem, PA**

**Director\'s Name: Laraine Demshock**

**Phone Number: 610-861-5342**

**Email Address: <ldemshock@northampton.edu>**

Northampton Community College (NCC) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will
create the Achieving College Success Now! (ACS Now!) project with the
goal to impact postsecondary academic success of students with
disabilities by enhancing their classroom experience through faculty
adoption of and infusion of transition support information and Universal
Instructional Design (UID) strategies. The three-year project develops
knowledge, skills, and changed instructional practice by targeting no
fewer than 12 faculty members, 80 community college students with
documented disabilities and 320 of their student peers with no
documented disabilities.

This project advocates a marriage of new skills, knowledge and behaviors
developed by: 1) creating and delivering two critical faculty
professional development seminars, 2) creating a highly collaborative
faculty and Office of Disabilities partnership team which serves as a
Faculty Learning Circle, 3) utilizing the Faculty Learning Circle as a
mechanism to encourage instructional practice change, guarantee
assessment and foster support for utilization of classroom technology
innovations, and 4) creating and disseminating a set of "tech-rich",
portable materials designed for replication. These new faculty classroom
practices will be informed by the transition experience of students with
disabilities and the systematic infusion of the principles of UID into
the curriculum.

The project will evaluate the impact of the professional development
seminars, changed curriculum and practice, and the supportive Faculty
Learning Circle to improve community college student persistence
outcomes. Persistence is defined by improvement in course completion
rates with a grade of C or better for NCC students with documented
disabilities as compared to a control group from a class section of
similar students in a 2008 baseline semester.

**PR Award Number**: **P333A080021**

**Grantee: Ball State University**

**Muncie, IN**

**Director\'s Name: Larry Markle**

**Phone Number: 765-285-5293**

**Email Address: <lmarkle@bsu.edu>**

Ball State University has a distinguished history of providing access
and opportunity for

students with disabilities. While the Office of Disabled Student
Development (DSD) is at the

center of an integrated campus approach that facilitates access for
students with disabilities, Ball

State's success in serving students with disabilities is the result of a
campus-wide commitment

by faculty, staff, and administrators to academic and personal
achievement for students with

disabilities.

The proposal, Ensuring a Quality Education for Indiana's Students with
Disabilities,

outlines our strategy to create professional development opportunities
for faculty, staff, and

administrators in order to provide them with the skills and support they
need to better teach and

serve students with disabilities. The project consists of four
components.

1\. A Faculty and Administrator Training Series that will provide
faculty members with

contemporary information and resources on best practices for teaching
students with

disabilities.

2\. The Faculty Mentorship Program that connects new students with
disabilities with a faculty

member in the student's major or career interest.

3\. Outreach to secondary education educators on the transition to
college for students with

disabilities.

4\. Dissemination of learning opportunities to all high schools in
Indiana by a DVD, as well as

campus-wide dissemination through the World Wide Web, serving as a
resource to other

states and institutions.

While this project would be implemented in Indiana, it will serve as a
national model for

providing a quality education for students with disabilities and could
be replicated in other states.

**PR Award Number: P333A080013**

**Grantee: University of Vermont and State Agricultural College**

**Burlington, VT**

**Director\'s Name: Sylvie Butel**

**Phone Number: 802-656-3360**

**Email Address: <sbutel@uvm.edu>**

Diversity among college and university students across the nation
increases each year.

Among those are students with disabilities, some of whom until recently
might never have

considered pursuing higher education, and some for whom successful
completion of courses or

programs has been difficult. Universal Design (UD), a concept that
emerged from the field of

architecture, keeps with the wisdom that, rather than provide an
accommodation or adaptation to

an individual who has specific needs as an afterthought, it is more
efficient and effective to

design from the start in such a way that everyone and anyone can have
access, regardless of

personal characteristics. The **overall goal** of this project is to
develop a system of campus-wide

supports and resources for the creation of learning environments and
experiences that serve the

diverse learning needs of University of Vermont (UVM) students based
upon principles of Universal Design (UD), and to increase the use of UD
principles and practices by faculty members campus-wide.

The project's goal will be achieved by addressing the following specific
objectives:

1\) To develop a comprehensive **Resource Map** of UVM's current
resources for faculty, staff and

students with respect to UD;

2\) To measure **faculty attitudes, knowledge and experiences of
disability and of accommodations** as baselines for this project, as
well as for future studies of

change over time;

3\) To develop a model of **collaborative technical assistance and
training** using **Universal Design Consulting Teams** to **assist
faculty** teaching students with disabilities by providing semester-long
assistance with problem-solving, creative applications, and technology
support for implementing UD;

4\) To **infuse into orientation** activities for all new faculty and
Graduate Teaching Fellows (GTFs) basic knowledge and information about
tools and resources to support **the use of UDL and accommodations** for
students with diverse learning needs and identified disabilities; and,

5\) To develop a **comprehensive system of resources** on UD for UVM
faculty, staff and students that is readily accessible, user-friendly,
and builds upon the work of the New England Consortium for Equity and
Excellence in Higher Education (E&E), and regional and national leaders
in UD, extending it to include contributions of UVM faculty, staff and
students developed through this project.

The proposed project addresses the need to increase use of principles of
UD and to

improve the quality of UVM academic offerings to students with
disabilities. Project staff will

work collaboratively with ACCESS services, student groups and the Center
for Teaching and

Learning personnel to develop, implement, and evaluate the technical
assistance model and all

training and dissemination activities. Anticipated outcomes of the
project include: increased

knowledge of UD among first-year faculty and GTF's; increased
demonstration of effective UD

practices by faculty who use the consulting services; increased
satisfaction of students with

course instruction and learning experiences with target faculty;
improved course completion and

retention rates for students with disabilities in target courses;
increased awareness across the

campus community of disability as a dimension of diversity; and
widespread awareness of UD

and supporting resources available. This project will contribute to
better integration of UD

practices and knowledge of accommodation pedagogy to the benefit of all
students.

**PR Award Number:** **P333A080056**

**Grantee: Eastern Washington University**

**Cheney, WA**

**Director\'s Name: Romel Mackelprang**

**Phone Number: 509-358-6484**

**Email Address: <romel.mackelprang@ewu.edu>**

Persons with documented disabilities continue to experience significant
difficulty at institutions of higher education and as they subsequently
transition to the workplace. Eastern Washington University (EWU) has
developed strategies to provide Universal Education Access that
integrates best practices in teaching, technology, access, and student
services to promote quality education to students with disabilities. The
recently created Center for Disability Studies and Universal Access
(Center) at EWU has taken a lead in these efforts.

This grant application describes EWU's plans to develop a higher
education climate that promotes the success for students with
disabilities. We will develop programs and activities that welcome and
support these students as they transition to college, in the classroom
and in community-based learning, in student life and as they transition
to post-college life. We will partner with campus student services and
academic programs and with state and local organizations and agencies
such as Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Independent Living Councils
(ILC) to accomplish our goals. We will provide formal support to bolster
the association for students with disabilities and build a peer
mentoring program. In addition, we will provide training, collaboration,
and technical assistance for community organizations involved in
community-based learning with students to build bridges to employment.
All these activities will integrate students with disabilities as valued
members of a vibrant university community.

Our project will create greater physical, electronic, knowledge and
social access for our students with disabilities. We will expand our
Universal Education Access (UEA) faculty, staff and administrator
training to include continued online workshops, individual consultations
and tailored departmental and group trainings. We will then export UEA
curriculum to regional college partners and then to other institutions
of higher educations to modify and adopt as their own.

We will develop an online interdisciplinary 16 credit hour Disability
Studies program to students who are currently unable to enroll in
disability studies. We will build a joint Disability Studies program
with our neighbor, Washington State University, and provide Disability
Studies to students nationwide.

Our project design offers ongoing, intensive evaluation that includes
both formative and summative assessments. We plan to utilize an outside
evaluator to help us keep in constant focus on our progress towards
objectives and goals. We have built in formative assessments to inform
progress throughout the project. The summative assessments will provide
empirically-based, replicable knowledge and techniques for supporting
the academic success of students with disabilities in postsecondary
education. We will share and celebrate our lessons learned at a Regional
Training Conference targeting institutions of higher education in four
states at the end of year three.

**PR Award Number**: **P333A080082**

**Grantee: Lane Community College**

**Eugene, OR**

# Director\'s Name: Aaron Shonk

**Phone Number: 541-463-5312**

**Email Address: <shonka@lanecc.edu>**

Project ShIFT, Shaping Inclusion through Foundational Transformation,
will build on the excellent resources created by previously funded
grants to demonstrate a model that offers sustainability in
institutional change by addressing underlying systems and campus-wide
conceptualizations of disability. Curricular change and faculty
development activities will be implemented through a systemic analysis
and retraining of the campus disability service (DS) staff. This initial
emphasis on creating progressive philosophical constructs of disability
within the DS office, uncovering and correcting negative messages that
are transferred to faculty, and assuring skills in faculty development
will provide the basis for a profound campus shift. Once DS offices have
begun to incorporate social model thinking and universal design (UD)
into their own operations, project activities will guide them in
transferring this knowledge and skill to faculty. They will serve as
leaders for faculty in the redesign of curriculum, the use of UD
instructional strategies, and the infusion of disability into course
content.

Project ShIFT consists of a three-part Summer Institute that will
provide resources and professional development activities for two groups
of higher education professionals: DS staff and faculty. In year one, DS
staff will examine the policies and practices of their offices and
create an action plan to infuse a social construction of disability and
UD into their operations. In year two, the DS staff will invite one
faculty member to accompany them back to the Institute and guide that
faculty in creating curriculum and teaching strategies that infuse new
conceptualizations of disability and UD into their classes. In year
three, emphasis will be on summarizing, documenting, and sustaining
successful changes and in increasing capacity. Project participants will
be supported in their activities through curriculum materials and
guides, monthly technical assistance conference calls, and a project Web
site.

The ultimate objective of Project ShIFT is to improve the quality of
higher education for students with disabilities, measured through:

\(1\) The difference between the rate at which students with documented
disabilities complete courses taught by faculty trained in project
activities and the rate at which other students complete those courses,
and

\(2\) The percentage of faculty trained in project activities that
incorporate elements of training into their classroom teaching,

Additionally, the project will create and disseminate training
curriculum for DS staff to analyze and enhance their own policies and
practices and guide faculty in the development of more inclusive
courses, the template for a DS action plan, implementation plans for
faculty, and a replication manual. Campus-wide dissemination will be
through trained DS staff and faculty with the goal of increasing
institutional capacity; national dissemination will be through
publication, presentation, and a Project Web site.

Recognizing the importance of a strong evaluation plan, the project
includes a full-time evaluator who will track long-term data on student
outcomes and develop assessment measure for all project activities
throughout the project duration. All objectives are presented in
measurable terms.

**PR Award Number: P333A080020**

**Grantee: West Virginia University Research Corporation**

**Morgantown, WV**

**Director\'s Name: Jeanne Grimm**

**Phone Number: 304-293-7692**

**Email Address: <jgrimm@hsc.wvu.edu>**

Higher Education Access: A Universal Design Demonstration", will be
established at the Center for Excellence in Disabilities (CED) at West
Virginia University (WVU), the largest institution of higher education
in West Virginia with an enrollment of 30,413 students, including its
Potomac State and WVU Tech campuses. The CED would administer the grant.
The CED is federally certified as a Center for Excellence in
Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD).

Higher Education Access will focus on providing professional
development, technical assistance and accessibility advice to faculty
and administration at West Virginia University and its two satellite
campuses at Potomac State College and WVU Tech. It is expected that
through the activities of the proposed demonstration project, students
with disabilities will receive a quality higher education at West
Virginia University comparable to that of students without disabilities.
The CED proposes to accomplish this goal with a multifaceted approach
that addresses weaknesses in current services, infrastructure and
opportunities for WVU students with disabilities. Higher Education
Access will:

1)  Use West Virginia University's Extended Learning Program to provide
    an online professional development course that will be made
    available free to all WVU administrators and faculty. This
    professional development program will provide information on
    universal design in instruction and assistive technology
    accommodations. Faculty and administrators who complete the course
    will be asked to provide data on the effectiveness and use of the
    professional development course in their classrooms. The course will
    also be offered on-site through the WVU Human Resources Department's
    Professional Development Workshops series on each campus in one-day
    trainings.

2)  Develop a Web Accessibility Board. The Board will consist of
    representatives from the Offices of Extended Learning and
    Information Technology, and other key figures who do Web design at
    WVU. The Board will explore the projected difficulty, time and cost
    to repair WVU online content that is currently inaccessible and
    select applicants who apply for grant funding to repair their
    inaccessible sites.

3)  Provide technical assistance to WVU faculty, administrators, and
    students through a toll-free hotline. The toll-free number will
    provide assistance to individuals who have questions about issues
    that affect students with disabilities in higher education. The CED
    will also provide technical assistance through a form e-mail on the
    Higher Education Access web page on the CED web site.

4\) Foster a relationship between the CED Assistive Technology
Assessment Clinic and WVU Disability Services to provide quality
assistive technology assessments to WVU students with disabilities
referred to the clinic by the Office of Disability Services.

Periodic evaluations will be conducted to assess the value of Higher
Education Access on a) The percentage of faculty trained through project
activities who incorporate elements of their training into classroom
teaching b) The difference between the rate at which students with
documented disabilities complete courses by faculty trained through
project activities and the rate at which other students complete the
same courses taught by faculty that did not participate in project
activities.

# PR Award Number: P333A080065

**Grantee: University of Massachusetts**

**Boston, MA**

**Director\'s Name: Debra Hart**

**Phone Number: 617-590-8082**

**Email Address: <Debra.Hart@umb.edu>**

Community college retention and completion rates are extremely low for
students with disabilities (SWD), who often place into
developmental/remedial courses upon entering college. Further, a high
rate of students who take developmental courses drop out either during
or directly after taking a developmental course. **The project intends
to address this problem by training faculty who teach developmental
courses on how to integrate Universal Course Design (UCD) strategies
into their courses. The project will then measure the impact of UCD
strategies on retention and completion rates of SWD in developmental
courses using a randomized control research design.** This project will
have a tremendous impact on the lives of SWD, the disability field, and
higher education by identifying practices that support SWD in completing
developmental classes and entering a certificate or degree track.

UCD provides instructors in higher education with approaches and tools
for creating highly accessible courses by assisting faculty in the
creation of course materials, instruction and assessments for students
with diverse learning styles. One strong UCD strategy that promotes
fully accessible courses encompasses putting materials, instruction and
assessments online. This strategy is especially effective if the course
design is scaffolded within the Learning Management System (LMS)
environment in which the instructor is creating the course. To address
the need for universally designed online courses and/or hybrid courses
that use both face-to-face and online delivery of instruction, this
project will create three easy-to-use online UCD tools that will
facilitate the adoption of strategies by faculty in the development of
high quality, highly accessible syllabi, instruction and assessments.

The UCD online tools will be created using an open source approach,
ensuring that the tools are compatible with any Learning Management
System. The project will work with engineers from Blackboard, Inc., (BB)
the largest LMS provider in the country, who will facilitate the first
integration of UCD strategies into its LMS. Additionally, the project
will work with BB to identify inaccessible components currently in its
LMS and assist Blackboards' software engineers to make these features
fully accessible to students with disabilities.

At the end of this project, 80 faculty (including controls) will have
universally designed 240 developmental courses. As a result,
approximately 3,200 students will be enrolled in universally designed
courses, including 1,660 SWD. The partnership with BB and their
commitment to disseminate UCD to any other LMS free of charge
illustrates the ability of this project to impact faculty nationally.
Project goals include the following:

1\. Implement a management structure, including UCD Advisory Council
(UCDAC), comprised of key stakeholders from Institutes of Higher
Education, SWD and UD experts;

2\. Create UCD training and technical assistance materials including
plug-ins for use with LMSs to ensure that online/distance education and
face-to-face instruction are accessible to SWD

3\. Train 40-implmentation site faculty on UCD, including use of online
tools, over the course of a semester, using group, face-to-face,
virtual, and one-on-one technical assistance. Train 40 control site
faculty through the same methods in the third year of the project;

4\. Conduct a randomized controlled design to determine the efficacy of
the integration of UCD strategies into developmental courses compared to
40 faculty not using UCD strategies; and

5\. Nationally disseminate information on UCD via Web site,
clearinghouses, BB, other LMSs, journal articles, and presentations at
local and national conferences.

# PR Award Number: P333A080026

**Grantee: Colorado State University**

**Fort Collins, CO**

**Director\'s Name: Vincent Boganski**

**Phone Number: 970-491-5574**

**Email Address: <Vincent.Boganski@ColoState.edu>**

The ACCESS II project at Colorado State University (CSU) will build on
preliminary, successful implementation and dissemination of Universal
Design for Learning (UDL) principles and strategies that create
inclusive classroom instruction and accessible course materials, along
with Self-Advocacy (SA) strategies that empower students to take an
active role in their postsecondary education. ACCESS II will also
provide compelling new evidence about the effectiveness of UDL and SA as
methodologies for improving the learning experience, persistence, and
retention of college students with disabilities. Focus areas and
activities include:

1\. Far-reaching expansion of UDL dissemination and implementation:

UDL principles and strategies will be implemented in multiple
undergraduate courses in a variety of historically difficult content
areas at CSU, addressing the issue of poor persistence on the part of
students with disabilities in 'gateway' courses. As a component of a
bold initiative to institutionalize and expand UDL implementation, a
university-wide award will be instituted at CSU in recognition of
innovative instruction involving UDL practices. UDL dissemination and
program replication will also occur at the 33 institutions of higher
education belonging to the Colorado/Wyoming (CO/WYO) Consortium of
Support Programs for Students with Disabilities.

2\. Comprehensive integration of Self-Advocacy principles and
strategies:

Because educational success occurs at the intersection of good teaching
and students' ownership of and responsibility for their learning, ACCESS
II features an expanded role for Self-Advocacy (SA) education. As a
complement to UDL implementation activities, the project will
disseminate student SA guidelines and resources at multiple venues at
CSU, across each of the 33 CO/WYO Consortium campuses, and at the 337
high schools across Colorado, to assist students with disabilities in
their transition to college. With the incorporation of SA training and
mentoring into ACCESS II, students with disabilities will improve their
learning trajectories by purposefully identifying and requesting
necessary accommodations and instructional modalities that match their
learning styles and needs.

3\. Measurement of faculty commitment and student outcomes:

The percentage of faculty trained in project activities that incorporate
UDL strategies into their classroom teaching will be measured. In
addition, student outcomes will be measured during the semester and at
semester end to track students' learning experiences and performance.
The effect of UDL and SA on student persistence will be determined by
tracking individual student success in completing the courses that
implement UDL, as well as the students who receive SA instruction and
guidance. Comparisons, including student course completion, student
persistence, and student performance, will be drawn between students
with documented disabilities and those without documented disabilities
who have participated in the targeted courses where UDL and SA are
incorporated.

Predicted short-term outcomes include regional dissemination of UDL and
SA, improved UDL research instruments, and compilation and analysis of
data collected from students and instructors who participate in UDL and
SA implementation. Anticipated intermediate and long-term outcomes
include the publication of groundbreaking data about the effectiveness
of UDL as a model for best teaching practices in higher education, along
with a research model that can be replicated and expanded at other
institutions. Further long-term outcomes will include the
institutionalization of UDL and student SA in multiple university
systems to ensure that students with disabilities receive a quality
higher education for years to come.

## PR Award Number: P333A080053

**Grantee: University of Connecticut**

**Storrs, CT**

# Director\'s Name: Joseph Madaus

**Phone Number: 860-486-2785**

**Email Address: <Joseph.Madaus@uconn.edu>**

***Project Background***: Enrollment in online and technology-blended
courses in institutions of higher education is growing at a dramatic
rate across the United States. According to an investigation of over
2,500 institutions by Allen and Seaman (2007), nearly 3.5 million
college students were enrolled in at least one online course in 2006.
This represented a 10 percent increase from the prior year, and 83
percent of the institutions surveyed anticipated offering additional
courses. Despite this rapid growth, there is limited evidence related to
effective teaching practices for diverse learners, particularly those
with mild cognitive disabilities. Through previous Office of
Postsecondary Education demonstration grant projects, the Center on
Postsecondary Education and Disability (CPED) at the University of
Connecticut (UConn) developed the nine Principles of Universal Design
for Instruction© (UDI) \[Scott, McGuire, & Shaw, 2001\]. These
Principles comprise a framework for inclusive practices relating to
planning and delivering instruction and assessing learning outcomes.

***Project Goals***: This project will extend prior work in UDI into the
online and technology-blended learning environment. The project will
focus on "**faculty as designer**" in implementing innovative
instructional practices in online and blended courses. This will be
accomplished initially through collaboration with faculty and course
designers across the UConn system to infuse UDI principles related to
course planning, delivery and assessment in online and blended courses.
Using a cycle of developing, piloting, and revising, the project will
then extend its reach to faculty nationwide by creating and posting the
**UDI Course Toolbox** of instructional modules and e-tools that support
the implementation of the principles of UDI in online learning. Project
outcomes will be disseminated via Facultyware
(www.facultyware.uconn.edu), and through a UDI e-tools National webinar.

***Project Objectives***: Specific activities can be found in the
narrative and in Table 1:

**Objective 1**: Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of faculty and
students at local institutional and national levels related to
instruction and learning in online and blended courses.

**Objective 2:** Identify effective, efficient, and peer-reviewed
e-tools (i.e., teaching modules, materials, and strategies) for digital
pedagogy to create a **UDI Course Toolbox** for use in online and
blended courses.

**Objective 3:** Train faculty at UConn based on the concept of "**User
as Designer**" to use the **UDI Course Toolbox** for the three
components of instruction in online and blended courses: **course
planning, course delivery**, and **assessment of learning outcomes.**

**Objective 4:** Assemble an online **UDI Course Toolbox** to support a
**core** and **expanding** repository of e-tools for use in the
planning, delivery, and assessment phases of online and blended courses.

**Objective 5:** Disseminate the UDI Course Toolbox of e-tools and
faculty training activities for online and blended courses via
Facultyware and other print, conference, and electronic methods.

­

**PR Award Number: P333A080059**

# Grantee: South Carolina State University 

**Orangeburg, SC**

**Director\'s Name: Michelle Maultsby**

**Phone Number: 803-536-8909**

**Email Address: <mmaultsb@scsu.edu>**

> Since its beginning in 1972 as the first rehabilitation counseling
> program in a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), the
> South Carolina State University rehabilitation counseling program has
> dedicated itself to producing high quality professionals for the
> rehabilitation field. In keeping with this mission, the proposed
> project is in direct response to two identified needs related to
> rehabilitation issues and ensuring the accessibility, affordability,
> and accountability of higher education, and better preparing students
> and adults for employment and future learning: 1) Increase the
> percentage of faculty trained in project activities that incorporate
> elements of training into their classroom teaching; 2) Assess the
> difference between the rate at which students with documented
> disabilities complete courses taught by faculty trained in project
> activities, and the rate at which other students complete those
> courses.
>
> This proposal has been developed in cooperation with the input from
> the Student Disability Services (SDS), and other programs in the
> rehabilitation community in South Carolina. The state agencies have
> committed to providing any needed release time, financial support, and
> assistance in helping their counselors to participate and be
> successful in the program. This proposal will strengthen the program
> in several ways if it is funded, including recruitment, preparing and
> training students with disabilities and individuals from
> linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds on the rights to
> services and accommodations for students with disabilities.
>
> The project will address the following objectives: 1) increase the
> percentage of faculty trained in project activities that incorporate
> elements of training into their classroom teaching; 2) to improve the
> quality of higher education for students with disabilities; 3) improve
> communications among students; and between students and faculty
> regarding disabilities; 4) increase the availability of assistive
> technology to ensure access and accommodations to higher education for
> students with disabilities; and 5) maintain and enhance cooperative
> relationships with Student Disability Services, state-federal VR
> programs and other cooperating non-profit rehabilitation agencies and
> facilities, and advocacy groups.
>
> The primary benefit of this proposed project will be an improved
> opportunity for the quality of higher education for students with
> disabilities. Improving the quality of education is the first step to
> addressing the paucity of available services on most college and
> university campuses. If availability of services and awareness of
> disabilities are simultaneously increased, it may positively affect
> the outcome of students with disabilities seeking services and thus
> improving their overall educational experience.

# PR Award Number: P333A080037

**Grantee: University of Oregon**

**Eugene, OR**

**Director\'s Name: Christopher J. Murray**

**Phone Number: 541-346-1445**

**Email Address: <CJMURRAY@UOREGON.EDU>**

Recent evidence suggests that attendance and graduation rates of
students with disabilities in postsecondary institutions are far below
that of their non-disabled peers (NCES, 2007; U. S. Department of Health
and Human Services, 2003). These low rates of attendance and graduation
are related to a number of factors, one of which is the availability of
supports within university environments for students with disabilities
(Allsopp, Minskoff, & Bolt, 2005; Lawler-Finn, 1998; Trammell, 2003).

Expanding Cultural Awareness of Exceptional Learners at the University
of Oregon: A Culture Change Model of Faculty Development (Project
ExCEL-UO) will improve the performance of students with disabilities at
a large, public, research university by providing all faculty members at
the university with additional information and training related to
understanding and teaching students with disabilities. This model will
be implemented collaboratively by faculty in Special Education and the
Director of Disability Services (DS). The model includes three
interrelated training components that together are designed to impact
the overall culture of the university in ways that make it more
responsive to the needs of students with disabilities.

Component 1 is a train-the-trainer model of faculty development that
will be implemented to maximize the impact of the project. Over the
course of the grant, we will strategically select and train 120 faculty
members from throughout the university. These individuals will
participate in a paid four-day summer institute focused on awareness,
understanding, and skills pertaining to teaching students with
disabilities in postsecondary settings. These faculty members will then
take these skills and the project training materials, and will provide
training to other faculty within their own departments. By recruiting
existing faculty from the institution to provide disability-focused
training to other faculty we anticipate that this project will impact
over 1,600 faculty members.

Component 2 will include the wide distribution of educational
newsletters focused on issues pertaining to students with disabilities.
As our training activities are being implemented by our faculty
trainers, we will concurrently distribute print resources in the form of
a bi-monthly "Disability Perspectives" newsletter. These newsletters
will reinforce concepts being presented by our trainers, and will also
provide opportunities to supplement our training activities with
additional information.

To further enhance and reinforce the concepts being discussed by our
trainers and in our newsletters, we will also redesign and expand the DS
Web site (Component 3). This activity will encompass three major
activities including (a) an expansion of the site to include information
included in our training; (b) the addition of current research and
streaming video materials that provide evidence and examples of
instructional planning and delivery models, and (c) a pull-down menu of
common problems and issues faced by faculty and staff with accompanying
suggestions for addressing each issue. Specific outcomes of the project
include (a) a reduction in the difference between the rates at which
students with documented disabilities and students without disabilities
successfully complete courses taught by faculty trained by the project,
(b) an increase in the percentage of faculty that incorporate project
strategies into their classroom teaching, and (c) positive changes in
the attitudes, beliefs and practices of faculty regarding the
characteristics, rights, and needs of students with disabilities across
the university.

# PR Award Number: P333A080070

### Grantee: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

###  Lincoln, NE 

**Director\'s Name: Julie Poykkopost**

**Phone Number: 402-472-6174**

**Email Address: <jpoykkopost2@unl.edu>**

The overall goal of the Building Accepting Campus Communities (BACC)
project is to design, develop, and refine an interactive, Web-based
professional development program to provide postsecondary faculty and
administrators with just-in-time online technical support in
accommodating students with disabilities in postsecondary education.
Specific objectives of the BACC Project are to:

-   Develop and refine the ***Accommodation Solutions Online***
    ***(***ASO***)*** tool to provide faculty and students the
    opportunity to work collaboratively in finding tailored solutions to
    specific accommodation issues. Often, accommodation training for
    faculty is focused on general categories of disability rather than
    on a given learner's individual needs in a specific learning
    environment. ASO will provide a personalized menu of accommodations
    that match a student's cognitive and physical characteristics to the
    essential activities or requirements posed by a particular course
    resulting in customized "accommodation fingerprints" and leads to
    better understanding and provision of accommodations.

-   Develop and refine the ***Faculty Accommodation Coach (***FAC***)***
    tool to provide technical assistance in the form of video case
    studies showing outstanding faculty demonstrating best practices for
    classroom accommodation of students with disabilities. Used in
    conjunction with ASO or as a stand-alone tool, these online video
    case studies will be supplemented with coaching, interactive
    questions, and expert feedback that elaborate on the video. Faculty
    will be able to see how their peers implement accommodations and
    work with students with disabilities. The video case studies will be
    scripted by and feature outstanding faculty from a variety of
    postsecondary institutions nominated by service providers and
    students for their ability to work with students with disabilities.

-   Implement a comprehensive iterative design and evaluation process
    for ASO and FAC drawing on the expertise of service providers,
    administrators, faculty, disability experts, and students with
    disabilities. The process will culminate in the use of ASO and FAC
    by faculty in their courses and data-gathering on the impact these
    tools have on the performance of students with disabilities as
    compared to their non-disabled peers.

The outcome of these efforts will be a set of customized accommodation
solutions available online that will provide models of exemplary
faculty-student interactions. These solutions will be disseminated to
other institutions of higher education for the purpose of supporting and
sustaining the incorporation of accommodations in postsecondary
education across the United States. The comprehensiveness of these
activities will fulfill a national need to take full advantage of the
technology available to move beyond today's generalized accommodation
advice, which often creates more questions than it answers, to a future
of individually-focused demonstrations and selection of best
accommodation practices. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is a
unique environment because of its long history of service to individuals
with disabilities and research into best practices for accommodating
students with disabilities.