Student Disability and Experiential Education
The Journal of Effective Teaching an online journal devoted to teaching excellence Student Disability and Experiential Education Gerald D. Klein1 Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-3099 Abstract As a significant percentage of students in higher education today have one or more dis- abilities, it is important for instructors to be aware of what disabilities, and how disabili- ties, impact student performance. Students with a wide range of disabilities can encoun- ter significant obstacles when experiential instructional methods are implemented assum- ing that learners are disability-free. This article presents a taxonomy of disabilities and il- lustrates how experiential instruction can place students with disabilities in situations where they may not do well. The article also evaluates Universal Design, an approach to course design and management that attempts to address a range of student disabilities and learning styles. Finding that this approach does not fully address the problems of the ex- periential classroom, three strategies are proposed that increase the likelihood that all stu- dents, including those with disabilities, will have satisfying and successful experiences in courses using experiential methods. Keywords: Disability, experiential, Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, ac- commodations, universal design. Faculty in higher education today are increasingly aware of student differences – for ex- ample, differences in learning styles and national origin and culture - and the need to alter their instructional practices to better reach more of their students (see, for example, Kolb & Kolb, 2005; Auster & Wylie, 2006; Evans & Porcano, 2001; Niehoff, Turnley, Yen, & Sheu,, 2001; Ryland, 1992). This article argues that possessing one or more disabilities is another important way in which college students may be different, and that this difference warrants instructor reflection and action.
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