Project Access:

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Project Access

• Preparing Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students for
  STEM Careers
• Theresa Johnson, M.Ed.
• Texas Transition Conference, 2015

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Introductions

• Who are we?
• Who are you?

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What is DeafTEC?

• DeafTEC Technological Education Center for Deaf
  and Hard-of-Hearing Students
• A National Science Foundation Advanced
  Technological Education National Center of
  Excellence
• A resource for
• High schools and colleges that educated deaf and
  hard-of-hearing students.
• Employers who hire deaf and hard-of-hearing
  individuals.

www.deaftec.org
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DeafTEC

• Goal Increase the number of deaf and
  hard-of-hearing students pursuing a
  post-secondary education and future employment in
  a technical (STEM) field.
• Outreach
• Training programs
• Online resources

FREE
www.deaftec.org
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Regional Partners
California Texas Florida
Ohlone College,Fremont California School for the Deaf, Riverside Cisco Systems, San Jose Solar Turbines, San Diego Qualcomm, San Diego Educational Resource Center on Deafness at Texas School for the Deaf, Austin Austin Community College, Austin The Dow Chemical Company, Houston IBM Florida School for the Deaf the Blind, St. Augustine St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg ConMed Linvatec Corporation, Largo
www.deaftec.org
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Strategies Implemented

• Mainstream teacher training
• Deaf Education teacher training
• After school student activities
• Summer STEM camp
• Discovery Retreats
• Student work experience

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Teacher/Professional Training

• Project Access
• Writing in the Disciplines
• Strategies for the Math Classroom
• STEM Dictionary
• Class Act

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AGENDA Project AccessTeacher Workshop

• Universal Design for Learning An Educational
  Environment for Everyone
• Perils of Lecturing What Students See
• Support in the Classroom Youre Not Alone
• Student Panel What Students Need
• Resources The ClassAct Website
• Plan for Change What Can You Do?
• Wrap-Up

www.deaftec.org
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Universal Design for Learning
Definition
Universal Design is an approach to designing
course instruction, materials, content, and
delivery to benefit people of all learning styles.
Simply stated, Universal Design is good teaching!
Taken from Fast Facts for Faculty on the
Partnership Grant webpage, the Ohio State
University. Used by permission.

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Universal Design for Improving Student Learning
Not Just for Deaf Students

• Students with disabilities
• Students who use English as a second language
• International students
• Older students
• The students on the margins.
• The students in the middle.

Benefits ALL Students!

www.deaftec.org
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The Perils of Lecturing

• What Students See

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Perils of Lecturing
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Debrief Questions

1. What happened during the lecture that made it
   difficult to understand the content being taught
   and/or to answer or ask questions?
2. How did these access-blocking behaviors make
   you feel?
3. How can these access-blocking behaviors be
   avoided?

www.deaftec.org
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Support Services

• You Are Not Alone!

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Each Deaf Student is Unique

• They may
• Use sign language interpreters.
• Use oral interpreters.
• Use real time captionists.
• Speak for themselves.
• Be skilled lipreaders.

If youre uncertain how best to accommodate, ask
the student!
www.deaftec.org
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Your Experiences

• Who has experience working with interpreters or
  captionists in the classroom?

www.deaftec.org
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Interpreters Captionists

• Highly skilled professionals who follow a strict
  code of conduct, including
• Confidentiality
• Neutrality
• Respect for consumers and colleagues
• Professionalism
• Ongoing skill development

www.deaftec.org
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Role

• To facilitate communication between deaf people
  and hearing people. They cannot
• Answer personal questions about the student.
• Interject personal opinions.
• Participate in discussions.
• Take notes.
• Assist the student with school work.
• Hand out papers.
• Attend class when the student is absent.

www.deaftec.org
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Tips for Working with an Interpreter

• Classroom positioning/arrangements-line of sight
• Processing time of 5-10 seconds or more
• Recognize speaker for the student and the
  interpreter by name
• Be patient when interpreter is voicing. Ask
  student to repeat question if needed
• Share handouts, emails, notes with interpreter
  that are specific to class
• Speak directly to the student
• Student is your responsibility and not the
  interpreter

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Speech to Text

• CAN-Computer assisted notetaking-person uses
  laptop and software to take notes on what is
  being said in class
• C-Print-Uses laptop and monitor and captionist
  captures close to what is being said but not
  verbatim
• CART-Computer aided realtime translation-trained
  stenographer provides verbatim everything spoken
  in the classroom

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Use of Notetakers

• Determine who will be taking notes-paid notetaker
  or peer
• Provide access to all handouts,overheads, etc for
  notetaker
• Write important concepts and key vocabulary on
  the board

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FM Systems/amplification

• Used by many hard of hearing students
• May require a mic for teacher
• Many different options but may see an FM system
  most often unless classroom is looped
• Amplification does not guarantee student hears
  everything
• Consider a visual reminder to face students

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Communication strategies for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Students

• Class seating arrangement
• Lighting
• Meeting with the student
• Pace, Pause, Prepare
• Visual aids/cues
• Checking with interpreter/captionist
• Providing materials to student/interpreter/caption
  ist
• Getting students attention
• Point of reference

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Tips for Successful Teamwork

• Communication
• Speak directly to the deaf person, not the
  interpreter or captionist.
• Sight Lines
• Allow student seating at or near the front of the
  room.
• Maintain clear sight lines between students and
  the interpreter or visual aids.
• Turntaking
• Facilitate classroom discussions so that only one
  person is speaking at a time.
• Repeat student comments and questions before
  answering.

www.deaftec.org
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Tips for Successful Teamwork

• Materials
• Provide copies of handouts to students and their
  interpreters or captionists, in advance if
  possible.
• Allow time for students and interpreter to view
  referenced material (e.g. slides).
• Make sure any movies, YouTube clips, podcasts,
  audio recordings and other materials are
  accurately transcribed and captioned.

www.deaftec.org
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The 3 Ps of Communication

• Pacing
• Pausing
• Physical demands

www.deaftec.org
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Support

• Know your support network!
• Deaf Ed program
• ESC D/HH Contact
• Educational Resource Center on Deafness

www.deaftec.org
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Student Panel

• What Students Need

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Student Panel

• You can learn a lot from students about
• Daily challenges in the classroom.
• Effective teaching strategies.
• Diverse communication choices.
• The use of technology in the classroom.
• Working in groups.

www.deaftec.org
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What are some things instructors do on the first
day of class that make you uncomfortable or
unwelcome in class?
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What are some of the things that instructors can
do in the classroom to improve communication with
you?
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Are there ways that instructors use technology in
their teaching that help you have equal access to
the information? Or the opposite?
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Describe communication in groups with hearing
students (e.g., labs, discussion groups, etc.).
What are some of the challenging experiences you
have had with group communications?
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Writing in the Disciplines
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Math Strategies in the Classroom
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Plan for Change

• Putting Ideas to Work!

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STEM/ASL Dictionary
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After School Activities

• Science club
• TechGirlz
• Science Fair
• Robotics
• Coding

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STEM Summer Camp

• Designed for academically strong students
• Grades 9-12
• One week in length-24/7
• Cover many STEM topics
• Emphasis on what jobs are out there in broad
  fields
• Try to generate interest/love of STEM areas

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STEM Camp video
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Discovery Retreats

• Fall/Spring Weekends
• Designed for mainstream HS students across the
  state who are D/HH
• Emphasis on using role models-Deaf/HH
  Professionals in the Field
• Has a STEM theme, such as medicine, robotics,
  astrology, marine biology

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Discovery Retreat
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Student Work Experience

• Partnership with UT-Polymer Research Lab
• Strong academics
• Work with graduate students and professors
• Learn how to conduct research, lab protocol
• Must present research at the end of summer
• Integrate work habits, employer expectations, etc

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ClassAct
http//deaftec.org/classact

• A Free Resource for Best Practices

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ERCOD Website

• www.texasdhhresources.org

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Evaluation/Wrap Up

• Please complete the DeafTEC evaluation
• Contact me theresa.johnson_at_tsd.state.tx.us
• THANKYOU!