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Disability Services

Intro by Jeff Cox

• Intro on teaching and reaching visioning
• Laying out of fall work
• Role of Committee and Report

Q: How are you getting students involved in these discussions?

A: We have two students on our committee.  Our undergraduate representative has suggested we use social media to reach out to other students, and we are still figuring out how best to do that.  We will potentially also reach out with surveys.

Comment: Data from other surveys is out there - we should share data between the various processes and do a gap analysis on what other data needs to be gathered.

Q. Are there any conversations about exams (should there be fewer, can they be online, timed vs. not timed)? As the volume of programs and students increases, we are running into space issues for holding exams.

A. We have not specifically talked about testing. We have had many conversations about how to organize undergraduate and graduate education, including online courses.  Exams should certainly be considered as part of those discussions.

Comment: We need to consider offering more courses and programs outside of traditional times (evenings and weekends).

Comment: When recruiting faculty, we tend to only focus on recruiting from other R1&2 research universities, but faculty and graduate students of color are under-represented at those universities.  If we are serious about diversity, we need to target faculty and graduate students outside of the R1&2 boundaries.

Comment: We need to figure out how we market the value of our curriculum to students and parents given the rising cost of education and student debt.

Q. What have the discussions about online education included so far?

A. We need to find a balance between online and traditional teaching that takes into account quality of education & assessment, tuition costs, and meeting market needs. Our mindset used to be “students will come regardless”. That is not the case anymore.  We need to have more focus on service delivery.

Comment: Online education breaks down many of the barriers for a diverse student population.  We can make online education a personal and collaborative experience, just like on campus.  �鶹��Ժ from all over the world can participate, leading to a diverse, global view for our students.  It also provides opportunity for those who are fully employed, single mothers, etc.

Comment: Many changes have occurred in K-12 education and our incoming student population.  We need more pedagogical training for our faculty, who are experts in the content of their field, but not necessarily experts in how to teach.  This includes more pedagogical training for our graduate students about instruction, curriculum, and classroom management.  We need to provide this as a service for faculty development and improvement. 

Comment: We are hearing about more MOOCs coming online.  The institution that “owns” the MOOC (regardless of the service provider - Coursera, etc.) also owns the responsibility for paying for accommodations for disability services.  This could become a significant budget issue for CU.