A Multidisciplinary experiential-education resource to support the communication needs of students with disabilities and instructors in placement

Description

The purpose of this year AIF is to help students with disabilities (SWD) succeed in placement. Between 2017-2020, students participated in 9000 course-based placements programs! Experiential education provides students with “real life” opportunities to demonstrate professional standards in performing skills and to transition to their new identities as professionals. Thus, placements are critical bridges between school and employment. Yet, there are few SWD led resources that support SWD in experiential placement programs.

We developed a Smartphone Accommodation Resource Toolbox (SmART) in our previous AIF project; SmART teaches users who are teaching and learning skills diverse ways to use smartphones to securely, ethically, and anonymously record, give, and receive feedback.

In this AIF, SmART will be used as a participatory tool to support students and instructors to record stories of challenges and successes when communicating about accommodation needs in placements. These stories will inform the co-design of an interdisciplinary video-based e-learning resource for instructors and SWD enrolled in placements.