Title:
Experiences of Engineering Students with Disabilities Using Accommodations
Abstract:
Students with invisible or non-apparent disabilities, including learning disabilities and mental health challenges, can be reluctant to ask for accommodations or disclose to instructors their disability. Engineering students in particular may be less likely to seek help or self-identify as having a disability because of culture within engineering. Situated in Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Model of Disability frameworks, this work uses the word “disability” broadly to account for medically diagnosed disabilities and disablement by social and environmental factors. In this model, disabilities exist due to institutional structures in place and not because of the individual themselves. The following work investigates how language and attitudes presented by the instructor on the first day of class influences a student’s attitude towards accommodations and their utilization. Using a convergent mixed methods approach, surveys containing the Attitudes Towards Requesting Accommodations (ATRA) scale and free response items were distributed to approximately 7,600 undergraduate engineering students at a large, public, research-intensive institution in the Midwest after the first week of class to assess their experiences. Video lectures and syllabi were collected from faculty members who taught an engineering course at the same institution in the same semester. Lectures and syllabi will be analyzed using discourse and conventional content analysis. We plan to identify specific language and actions used by instructors that makes students feel comfortable asking for accommodations and provide our recommendations for how instructors can effectively introduce topics surrounding accommodations and disabilities in class. Data from this work provides valuable insight into the experiences of engineering students with invisible disabilities, the adequacy of disability resource centers on campus, and the current language faculty use when speaking about accommodations and its perception by students. We hope this work can be utilized by faculty and administration to help improve student retention, success, and wellness in engineering.
Biography:
Isabel Miller is a PhD student in Engineering Education Research at the University of Michigan. She has a B.S. and M.S. in Bioengineering with a minor in Criminology, Law, and Society from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been a teaching assistant, a tutor, and a Peer Led Teams facilitator for various engineering courses. Isabel’s research focuses on supporting engineering students facing educational impediments.
Time: Nov. 9th from 2-3 pm CT
Place: https://unl.zoom.us/j/212107342
No reservation is required and all are welcome.