RDE-FRI: Improving Access to STEM for Community College Students with Disabilities in Universally Designed Learning Communities

RDE-FRI项目：改善社区大学残疾学生在通用设计的学习社区中获得STEM的机会是一个为期36个月，由残疾教育研究（RDE）计划的重点研究计划（FRI）资助的30万美元的奖项。该项目的主要目标是为社区学院在科学、技术、工程和数学方面有残疾的学生创建一个学生学习社区模型，并测试其有效性。 基于NSF资助的早期工作（HRD-0004326，DRL-0618182）和美国教育部（P333 A020021）这个经验丰富的项目团队正在将残疾学生安置在斯普林菲尔德技术社区学院、格林菲尔德社区学院和昆西加蒙德社区学院的通用设计的STEM学习社区（UDLC）中，为了研究UDLC对学生学习成绩，保留和信心的影响，以在STEM中取得成功。 UDLC包括一组参加STEM特定大学成功课程和STEM学术课程的学生。 在该项目的三（3）年中，将有大约65名残疾学生和510名非残疾学生分为两个对照组，并将对照组受试者与大约50名残疾学生和65名非残疾学生进行比较，这些学生将接受UDLC干预作为其实验组状态的一部分。 该项目解决了一（1）的FRI跟踪目标：调查有效的教学方法和实践，为残疾人在干。 该项目包括由马萨诸塞大学多纳休研究所的一个团队进行的形成性和总结性项目评估过程，以及创建和出版“最佳实践电子STEM研究和学习指南”和“UDL STEM学院成功课程开发指南”的计划。“项目团队正在利用其他项目的资源，包括NSF资助的国家电信技术中心，（DUE-0302548）和RDE资助的东地区联盟在南缅因州大学（HRD-0333316），提供Web-将通用设计学习应用于社区大学STEM课程，以便残疾学生能够充分参与STEM教育

The project RDE-FRI: Improving Access to STEM for Community College Students with Disabilities in Universally Designed Learning Communities is a 36-month, $300,000 dollar award funded by the Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program''s Focused Research Initiatives (FRI) track. The primary goal of this project is to create and test the effectiveness of a student learning community model for community college students with disabilities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Building on earlier work funded by NSF (HRD-0004326, DRL-0618182) and the U.S. Education Department (P333A020021) this experienced project team is placing students with disabilities in a universally designed STEM learning community (UDLC) at Springfield Technical Community College, Greenfield Community College and Quinsigamond Community College, in order to study the impact of the UDLC on student academic performance, retention and confidence to be successful in STEM. The UDLCs include a group of students who are enrolled in a STEM-specific college success course and a STEM academic course. Over the three (3) years of this project there will be approximately 65 students with disabilities and 510 students without disabilities in two control groups, and a comparison will be made between the control group subjects and approximately 50 students with disabilities and 65 students without disabilities who will receive the UDLC intervention as part of their experimental group status. The project addresses one (1) of the FRI track goals: To investigate effective instructional methods and practices for people with disabilities in STEM. The project includes a formative and summative project evaluation process conducted by a team from the University of Massachusetts''s Donahue Institute, as well as plans to create and publish the "Best Practices Electronic STEM Study and Learning Guidebook" and the "Guide for Developing a UDL STEM College Success Course." The project team is leveraging resources with other projects, including the NSF-funded National Center for Telecommunications Technologies (DUE-0302548) and the RDE-funded EAST Regional Alliance at the University of Southern Maine (HRD-0333316), to provide web-based resources for applying universal design learning to community college STEM courses so that students with disabilities can fully participate in STEM education.