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CATEA Receives Grant to Promote Science and Math Access for Post-Secondary Students

SciTrain U logo

Georgia Tech’s Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), a research unit of the College of Architecture, recently received a grant from the Office of Post-Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education for a demonstration project to enhance access for students enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) coursework. The project, called SciTrain U., is slated for three years at a total budget of $946,000.

“The exciting thing about this project is that we are not simply going to adapt a few courses on one campus. Our goal is to provide training and technical assistance that can improve STEM education practices nationwide,” says Robert Todd, Senior Research Scientist and Principal Investigator for the grant.

Todd and his team will collaborate with two other centers at Georgia Tech: the Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Georgia Tech’s ADAPTS, Access Disabled Assistance Program for Tech Students, will provide critical connections to students with disabilities on campus. In addition, SciTrain U. will work closely with the University of Georgia’s Disability Resource Center (DRC) to implement SciTrain U. training at UGA.

All students should have equal access to and benefit from postsecondary education in STEM fields. However, professors and faculty advisors are frequently unable to recognize the problems that students with disabilities face, and are unaware of strategies or technologies that may be used to perform common STEM tasks and accommodate student needs. In addition, students with disabilities, including learning disabilities, sometimes encounter negative attitudes and perceptions from both faculty and other students. They may be discouraged from majoring in STEM fields, and when they take these classes, are often not fully included in rigorous coursework.

Faculty, teaching assistants and tutors will receive training on accessible course design, classroom and laboratory accommodations and guidance on universal design principles as they apply to the learning environment. Training will be two-fold: in-person workshops at Georgia Tech and UGA, and extensive online training that can be utilized worldwide.

Teacher teaching students math

“While Georgia Tech and UGA will be used as examples of best practices in accessible STEM education, this information will be disseminated to other universities worldwide, giving them the tools they need to create their own course accommodations,” says Todd.

The grant will also fund ongoing technical assistance to stakeholders throughout the country. A major feature of SciTrain is a multi-tiered evaluation plan that will compare student success rates in STEM classes across a number of factors, including the effects of the project training initiatives.

Additionally, the project will work with the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) to promote assessment and feedback from STEM instructors nationwide, and to include project resources in the MERLOT database of online courses. MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students in higher education.

SciTrain U. follows in the footsteps of Todd’s related research on accessible education. These include the current National Science Foundation SciTrain project www.catea.gatech.edu/scitrain/, which works to eliminate STEM barriers for high school students, and the Office of Post-Secondary Education GRADE (Georgia Tech Research on Accessible Distance Education) project www.catea.gatech.edu/grade/. GRADE was the recipient of a Georgia Tech Best Practices Award for 2005, as well as a MERLOT Award for Exemplary Online Resources for 2007.

For more information on this project, contact Robert L. Todd at robert.todd@coa.gatech.edu