Engaging faculty in designing inclusive and collaborative classroom strategies with students with disabilities: A guide for faculty developers

Abstract

Classroom disabilities are part of the diversity landscape. Usually, faculty address the needs of students with disabilities in their classrooms by honoring accommodations requests – letters from a disability services office detailing a students’ needs (e.g., presence of ASL/English interpreter in the classroom, extended time on a test, large-print handouts, digital versions of slides, etc.). From there, faculty allow for the accommodation(s), and the course continues as planned – with minimal adaptation on the part of a faculty member or class participants (Schley, 2018). There are small pedagogical changes that faculty can make to increase the inclusion of students with disabilities, and improve interaction between all enrolled students (Cawthon, Jassal & Schley, in press; Cawthon, Schley & Davidson, 2019; Marchetti et al. 2019; Marchetti, Foster, Long & Stinson, 2012). Often, these strategies can also make the job of teaching more efficient and effective.