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In order to participate fully in the educational process, individuals with disabilities require innovative methods and technologies that are designed with a comprehensive understanding of learning with disability. However, few faculty have the interdisciplinary competencies to design and deliver pedagogically sound and accessible technology. The intellectual merit of this Integrative… more »

In order to participate fully in the educational process, individuals with disabilities require innovative methods and technologies that are designed with a comprehensive understanding of learning with disability. However, few faculty have the interdisciplinary competencies to design and deliver pedagogically sound and accessible technology. The intellectual merit of this Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship project is the establishment of an interdisciplinary concentration in technology-based learning with disability (research, curriculum, practicum) that spans multiple doctoral programs, including biomedical sciences, human factors/industrial organizational psychology, engineering, and computer science and engineering.

The team will collaborate to train a new hybrid cohort of doctoral students who can bridge the gap between disability, assistive technologies and pedagogy of individualized learning. Interdisciplinary research projects available to IGERT trainees are grouped into three general areas: the basic nature of human performance (abilities and disabilities), the study of human-machine interactions (assistive technologies) and pedagogy (training systems development and access to learning). The concentration will also require a core of classes (such as science of learning, physiology of disability, legal and ethical aspects of disability), and a practicum that will be accomplished through service learning in the disabled community. Trainees will also be immersed in the culture of disability through program level activities. Additionally, to build community and a sense of purpose among the trainees, their concentration will be enhanced with the technological building blocks of a Universal Access Design Studio. The broader impact of this proposal is that it will improve learning for individuals with disabilities and will translate to increasing participation of individuals with disabilities in science and engineering.

IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. « less