Call for Accessible Education Fellows (2023-2024)

As part of the Accessible Teaching and Learning Roadmap STEER/R, the Office of the Vice-Provost (Teaching & Learning) is inviting expressions of interest to participate in a new Accessible Education Fellowship.

Background

While students with disabilities are an important equity-deserving group in our community, we are failing to provide them with equitable access and opportunity within their learning environments. McMaster lacks a systemic approach to accessibility in teaching and learning, which results in instructors, staff, and students with disabilities spending a significant amount of time and resources to implement reactive accommodations.

Over 2023-2025, the Accessible Teaching and Learning Roadmap STEER/R project will develop a 5-year plan to better facilitate accessible learning experiences at McMaster through development of organizational systems, structures, and processes which mobilize and sustain an institutional commitment to accessibility through leadership, proper resourcing, and accountability. The Roadmap will be underpinned by the early adoption of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Postsecondary Education (AODA PSE) Standard final recommendations to best serve students with disabilities and foster an accessible teaching and learning experience.

This proactive approach to educational accessibility, led centrally in collaboration with McMaster Faculties and administrative units, aims to reduce time expenditure on individual adjustments to recover energy for universal design. Furthermore, it will aim to improve access to post-secondary education and academic outcomes for McMaster students with disabilities through a holistic, systemic approach.

Please see below for details about this new and exciting program! To express your interest in participating, please complete this brief Expression of Interest survey by September 8th, 2023.

Expandable List

The goals of the Accessible Education Fellowship program are to: 

  • Identify opportunities for connecting scholars’ classroom, disciplinary, and Faculty-based interventions and inquiry into a cross-institution research agenda for realizing the forthcoming AODA PSE standards  
  • Increase the visibility and institutional recognition of scholars and educators across the university who are interested and/or engaged in accessible education 
  • Connect these scholars to foster knowledge exchange, research collaboration, and scaling up of their work  
  • Encourage scholarly projects that experiment with – and develop an evidence-base for – interventions that support the learning experiences of students with disabilities  
  • Support interested scholars in designing projects that intersect with, build from, or complement each other and related campus initiatives, priorities, and funding opportunities  
  • Facilitate dissemination of promising accessibility practices and innovations 
  • Pool resources, share expertise, and develop infrastructure for an Accessible Education Research Cluster at McMaster University  
  • Build capacity for successful internal and external interdisciplinary grant applications specifically related to accessibility in education / teaching and learning 

We are seeking a cohort of fellows (both individuals and teams/groups) who are interested in exploring how they might link their research or scholarly teaching practice to the realization of the AODA PSE standards.  

If this piques your curiosity and you answer YES to any of the following questions, we would love to hear from you! 

  • Do you want to engage in innovative course, curriculum, or program design to enhance the learning experiences of students with disabilities? 
  • Have you changed any of your teaching practices (e.g., use of digital tools, design or delivery of course content, assessment methods) to reduce students’ need to use MSAFs and disability accommodations, or to improve accessibility and Universal Design for Learning?  
  • Do you want to test out a change to your teaching practice and see how it impacts the learning of students with and without disabilities?  
  • Are you interested in pursuing further research, evaluation, quality improvement, or dissemination of an accessible education intervention – either one of your own, or one that is a priority for your faculty? 
  • Have you implemented a pilot accessible education project at a small (i.e., course), medium (i.e., program/department), or large (i.e., school, faculty, inter-institution, discipline, or beyond) scale?  
  • Are you interested in further developing or scaling up your work and aligning it with institutional priorities? 
  • Are you looking for co-investigators, collaborators, and/or coauthors for an accessible education project or publication? 
  • Are you interested in joining a collaborative research or writing group as a team member to explore a topic of shared concern (e.g., the role of department chairs/directors in facilitating accessibility; accessible teaching for instructors with disabilities; revising assessments for accessibility; conducting accessibility audits of laboratory environments)?  
  • Are you puzzled by how we talk about issues of accommodation, accessibility, and/or disability as a university and keen to engage in conceptual work to critically reframe problems and solutions?   
  • Would some structure, support, and collegial companionship help you expand, enhance, evaluate, or share what you’re doing? 

Fellows will be invited to participate in a facilitated community of practice where they can build a network of colleagues on a topic of shared interest, present and seek feedback on their accessible education project, learn from colleagues’ projects, and meet potential project collaborators. 

Fellows will also have access to a range of flexible supports from the project team, such as: 

  • Consultation on research design, implementation, and/or evaluation 
  • Assistance tailoring research to address the AODA PSE standards and institutional priorities, and connecting into other relevant projects on campus
  • A group research ethics protocol with adaptable templates to simplify and shorten the timeline for receiving research ethics review and clearance 
  • Dissemination support and resources, such as example formats/genres for writing up results, writing retreats, feedback on manuscripts, facilitation of a collaborative writing group for fellows interested in coauthoring together  
  • Support with identifying relevant funding opportunities and feedback / guidance on grant proposals   
  • A letter of support from Dr. Kim Dej, Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) 
  • A certificate of completion, signed by the Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning) 

While the program is currently unable to award funding to any Fellows, we are committed to working with Fellows to identify and pursue research funds. Additionally, through a collaboration with the Student Success Centre’s Career Access Professional Services program, we may be able to facilitate the recruitment and compensation of students with disabilities as partners for several Accessible Education Fellowship projects.  

  • Activities will begin in Fall 2023 
  • Fellows are invited to participate in the way that is most beneficial to them  
  • To express your interest in participating, please complete this brief Expression of Interest survey by September 8th, 2023 
  • We will follow up with applicants in early September to better understand how the project team might support your work, within the constraints of our project resources 
  • If you have any questions, please be in touch with Kate Brown, AODA / Accessibility Consultant, brownk33@mcmaster.ca