Navigating disability accommodations can often feel isolating for students, especially when educators are unaware of the barriers they face. The burden of advocating for support usually falls on the students themselves, who must navigate both institutional policies and individual biases.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
"Communicating my needs to authority figures feels like being between a rock and a hard place." "Anxiety creates a wall of fear when I attempt to test for any subject —the wall is what’s stopping me from being able to delve into the test at hand." "Classroom structures feel like bubbles that must adapt to whoever is there, constantly shifting and moving."
This interactive learning experience, "Will Tara Pass the Class?" was designed to help faculty in higher education institutions understand the nuanced challenges that disabled students face when seeking academic support. By immersing faculty members in the role of an instructor who must make decisions affecting a student named Tara, the experience provides a new perspective with the goal is to foster empathy, improve understanding, and create a more equitable learning environment.
The Approach
Engaging Faculty Through Scenario-Based Learning
Challenge: I presented faculty with realistic scenarios that reflected everyday challenges they might face, prompting them to think critically about how to support students like Tara. This approach humanized the process of navigating accommodations, making the student experience more relatable and emotionally resonant for faculty.
Choice: The interactive narrative offered plausible choices for faculty to address Tara's needs, allowing them to explore and evaluate different options. For example, they could choose between enforcing a strict deadline or offering compassionate flexibility. These choices mirrored real-life dilemmas, such as balancing institutional policies with individual student needs, and encouraged critical thinking about how their actions could support or hinder student success. By simulating these decisions, faculty gained insights into their impact on students' experiences, ultimately fostering a deeper understanding and improving knowledge retention.
Consequence: Every choice led to a consequence, mirroring the real-world impact of faculty decisions on students like Tara. By experiencing the outcomes of their decisions, faculty could understand the effects of their actions without the real-world risks. This helped to deepen their empathy and awareness of how even small decisions can significantly impact a student's well-being.
Understanding Faculty Perspectives
How do faculty balance responsibilities with empathy?
This learning experience was tailored specifically to the context and responsibilities of faculty members:
Initial Biases and Attitudes: Faculty often approach accommodations with preconceived ideas. Through this process, Techniques like self-affirmation and cognitive dissonance were used to prompt deep reflection. For instance, faculty were asked to affirm their commitment to flexibility before being faced with Tara's request, prompting them to reflect when their actions did not align with their affirmed values.
Power Dynamics Awareness: The narrative underscored the inherent power imbalance between faculty and students. Tara's character, a femme-presenting young adult of color, represented those who are more likely to face systemic barriers in accessing accommodations.
Periodically, faculty were given a "behind-the-scenes" view of Tara's thoughts and emotions during key moments, providing faculty with valuable insight into the internal barriers affecting her learning experience.
Anticipated Impact
Creating a meaningful shift
Based on research and feedback from preliminary testing with CMU faculties and teaching assistants, several key insights emerged:
Enhanced Empathy: By allowing faculty to step into the shoes of a student in need of accommodations, they could gain a deeper emotional understanding of the barriers faced by disabled students, leading to more supportive behaviors.
Improved Accommodation Strategies: Experiencing different outcomes based on their decisions would help faculty better evaluate the consequences of their actions, making more informed choices in real scenarios.
Building Awareness of Systemic Barriers: The narrative experience highlighted common institutional and interpersonal barriers, making faculty more aware of how policies and practices can impact students negatively.
Catalyst for Policy Discussions: This experience could encourage discussions within departments and institutions about refining accommodation policies, making them more inclusive and effective.
Reflection
How can this evolve to better serve faculty and students?
Reflecting on this project, I see great potential for future implementation in faculty training. If formally adopted, the learning experience could be integrated into onboarding sessions for new faculty or as a continuing education tool. Potential improvements include:
Playtesting and Feedback: Conducting playtests with faculty and students would provide insights for refining the narrative and scenarios.
Multiple Perspectives: Future versions could allow participants to view the story from different roles, such as the student or support staff, to deepen understanding.
Integration with Resources: Embedding the experience within a university's LMS or disability resources site would enhance accessibility and ongoing engagement.
