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Faculty Outreach - Spreading the Gospel of Alternate Format to the Faculty Front Lines

Proposal No: 2630

Bios & Handouts

Speaker(s)

  • Susan Kelmer, Alternate Format Production Program Manager, University of Colorado Boulder

Disability Area:          


Topic Area:                  


Length of Session (in hours): 1-hrFormat: Lecture Expertise Level: All Levels Type of session: Not provided

Summary of Session

How the University of Colorado Boulder has been getting the word out to faculty when they have students with alternate format accommodations registered for their courses.

Abstract

Turning faculty into believers when it comes to alternate format can be a daunting task. Between denials that they need to provide the accommodation, to worry that they don't have the tools to provide the accommodation, faculty often take the Ostrich approach to dealing with the need for alternate format for a student. Through directed outreach to affected faculty, and casual but structured information sessions with lots of room for questions and answers and sharing of experiences, we are getting the word out. For every new believer, we rejoice! Presentation will share some statistics on our outreach, and will also cover many of the more common responses to the followup survey we send to participants in our information sessions.

Keypoints

  1. What is faculty resistence to providing alternate format?
  2. How do we reach out to faculty who are resistent?
  3. What is faculty's reaction once they understand the issue and the solution?

Speaker Bio(s)

Susan Kelmer

Ms. Kelmer has been working with alternate format and accessible technology for more than 20 years in a higher education environment. Currently she works at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Alternate Format Production and Access Center, where alternate format materials for students with print disabilities are produced. She also consults with other departments on campus and other campuses about alternate format and how to produce materials effectively. She has presented at multiple AHG conferences in the last 20 years.

Handout(s)

Faculty Outreach - Spreading the Gospel of Alternate Format to the Faculty Front Lines