Scheduled at 3:00 pm in Mattie Silks on Wednesday, November 13.
#39744Speaker(s)
- Christa Miller, Associate Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Virginia Tech
- Danielle Smith, Assistive Technology Coordinator, Disability Resources, University of Mary Washington
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Interactive/Discussion
- Expertise Level: Intermediate
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
Increasing accessibility by design ebbs and flows. One reason being campus champions come and go. Much like the cap peddler in the children's book "Caps for Sale" sometimes we have a lot of energy, time, and resources to give. Then some days no one seems to want to have an accessibility cap. Later you may have more partners than you can support! Join us for a comparative exploration of approaches to partnerships.
Abstract
Higher education runs on relationships. It's noticeable that as employees come and go university initiatives often changes. This can be a particular challenge for accessibility where there is a wide variety of methods to creating and maintaining institutional support. When support is high it may seem like there are plenty of "caps" for your champions to "buy". Other days it can seem like you number of partners has dried up and even your own "cap" is looking pretty worn.
In this comparative discussion, we'll consider some different methods used by two public universities to maintain accessibility partnerships. As institutions with significant differences in enrollment and initiatives, the goal has been the same and the methods widely different. We'll consider grassroots efforts such as awareness events, thank-an-ally acknowledgements, and leveraging student employees. We'll also consider middle out approaches like lunch-and-learns and communities of practice. Finally, we'll consider top down initiatives such as alignment with strategic plans, enrollment growth, or retention.
This session will be an interactive discussion of lessons learned on how to maintain partners in accessibility regardless of the ebbs and flows of your institution.
Keypoints
- Refesh your accessibility partnerships when students and employees turnover
- Leverage disruptive changes to reevaluate what's essential
- Identify resources outside your office to preserve institutional knowledge
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Faculty Development & Support, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Christa Miller
Christa Miller is currently the Associate Director for Services for Students with Disabilities at Virginia Tech (VT). She has a BS Electrical Engineering (2008) and MS Industrial Systems Engineering (2012) both from VT. She started working in VT's Assistive Technologies group in 2006 as a student employee teaching students how to use assistive and accessible technologies. From 2010 to 2015, she transcribed STEM materials into Braille, and then transitioned into teaching instructors to create accessible educational materials by design.
For the last several years, she's helped VT grow their digital accessibility footprint by helping to establish the centralized captioning fund, building up the campus' Accessibility Network, creating training on PDF accessibility, and leading cohorts of individuals preparing for the IAAP CPACC Certification.
Christa is an active member of regional and national disability and accessibility organizations (AHEAD in VA, AHEAD, ATHEN, and Accessing Higher Ground). When she has the opportunity, her research interests include accessibility in STEM courses and Universal Design for Learning.
Danielle Smith
Danielle Smith is the Assistive Technology Coordinator at the University of Mary Washington. Danielle obtained a BS in Business Administration from Oswego State (2014) and a M.Ed in Cultural Foundations of Education from Syracuse University (2020). She has been working in Disability Services for 9 years mostly concentrated on Assistive Technology and Digital Accessibility.