It has been quite the tumultuous year, with ever-changing policies and educational settings. Virtual learning and finding new accommodations for new situations have been challenging for students, families, faculty, and disability services staff. Now more than ever, starting a new school year can be exciting, yet also uncertain for your deaf students.
You can help reassure your students with proactive planning, which helps create more opportunities for deaf students to succeed. Planning should include advocacy, reasonable accommodations, effective communication, and equal opportunity to participate in school programs, events and activities.
This time of transition is the perfect time to get back to the basics and focus on your own professional development and opportunities for growth, for you and for those you serve, as you face new challenges. The National Deaf Center for Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC) offers NDC | learn, a complete library of online resources and classes — all on your timeline, at no cost.
We believe professional development shouldn’t have to be complicated or expensive and should keep deaf people’s experience at the forefront. You’ll learn directly from the experiences of deaf people, with insights and strategies based on research findings and real-world examples. When you take classes with NDC | learn, you will also be able to discuss concerns and challenges with others and learn from national experts.
Here are just a few of our courses to help you get ready for the Fall semester!
Attitudes and Biases as Barriers for Deaf People
Research shows that significant barriers in postsecondary settings marginalize deaf people, particularly deaf people with intersecting and multiple identities. In fact, social constructs rooted in attitudes and bias can prevent many deaf people from achieving their full potential.
Professionals working with deaf people must do the work to acknowledge and examine how one contributes to the system. Yet, awareness is only the first step. To make real change, action is necessary!
Foundations of Effective Accommodations
This course is designed to provide participants with the fundamentals of communication and accommodations as it relates to deaf people’s experiences in postsecondary settings.
Understanding the diversity among deaf people in language usage, identity, race, ethnicity, and disabilities means also understanding that communication preferences may change in any given setting, circumstance, and interaction — and this course outlines what factors to take into consideration to get started with accommodation conversations and helps increase knowledge and capacity in this area.
Foundations of Test Equity
Tests are a common part of our educational landscape and are often gatekeepers for access to advanced training or job placement. Deaf people often face obstacles to fair and equitable testing. Register for this course to increase your knowledge and understanding of test equity basics and test taking experiences of deaf people.
Teaching Deaf Students Online
Nearly 46% of deaf college students have experience with online courses. These experiences are not equitable to their hearing peers. The shift to online learning calls for a shift in instructional design. Accommodations that students are accustomed to in-person may not be effective online. This course will help faculty, instructors and teachers make the shift towards accessible online instruction.
Improving Campus Access
Improving Campus Access is a short course that provides basic knowledge and the tools necessary to understand the complexities of providing access to deaf students pursuing postsecondary education. Research shows there are significant barriers that prevent deaf students from thriving at college and career-readiness programs.
NDC is Here to Help!
This is just the beginning of what we offer at NDC | learn! Information on all our current courses is available on our Canvas Catalog. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed about new online professional development opportunities!
