Teresa Swan (faculty, Employment and Community Studies) and Gillian Sudlow (Educational Consultant, ePortfolio Advancement) received a $75,000.00 grant over 3 years from the Irving K. Barber Endowment for Educational Opportunities to fund the the Reducing Barriers for Student with Diverse Learning Needs project.
Project Goals
The primary goal of this project is to expand and support the newly revised Employment and Community Studies (EACS) Program (formerly Access Programs) by creating an inclusive Digital Student Learning Community (DSLC) for all KPU students, but led by Adult Special Education learners in the EACS program. In partnership with the Teaching and Learning Commons and Learning Centres, the EACS will develop, implement, and evaluate a DSLC with a specific focus on KPU’s enterprise ePortfolio platform PebblePad over the next 3 years. The DSLC will offer an educational environment (face-to-face and online) embedded in principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) which can help all KPU students use learning technology to learn and collaborate on projects, increase access to campuses, connect with like-minded students and faculty, and develop personal skills and interests.
Outcomes and Metrics
Desired Outcomes:
- Design, implement and evaluate DSCL
- Assess and identify systemic inequities (attitudinal, physical, social, educational, policy) that act as barriers to the DSCL for diverse and under-represented students
- Students accessing DSCL and other KPU supports and services (e.g., Learning Centres)
- Develop planning toolkit guide – guidance, implementation, and evaluation of practice for eportfolio development and implementation
- Mobilize knowledge
Measurement of Success
- Literature review on UDL and digital student learning communities
- Process evaluation to determine if learning activities have been implemented as intended
- Student learning showcase (e.g., T&L eportfolio webpage)
- Digital badging / micro-credentials framework (summarize findings & provide recommendations)
- Open education resource toolkit guide for student community of practice for developing eportfolios (licensed under Creative Commons) using the PebblePad platform. Toolkit will include identified systemic barriers, successful practices, recommendations, and resources.
- Student conference, Faculty PD opportunities (e.g., BC Disability Resource Network Conference)
Progress and access to deliverables from this project will be shared as they are available.