Notes
December 8, 2008
On the call:
John Green (KS), Julie Kagy (Consultant, NC), Betty Beale (SERRC), Toyah Robey (SPDG, KY), Jennifer Doolittle (OSEP), Debra Price-Ellingstad (OSEP), Alan Wood (Evaluator, CA), Laura Bozeman (UMASS), and Lisa Wright (SPDG, MD), and Audrey Desjarlais (SIGnetwork).
Jennifer Doolittle gave us a summary of what we’ve talked about so far, then introduced Kathy Huebner, who will talk about preparing Low Incidence doctoral students at the National Center for Leadership in Visual Impairments, at Salus University in Pennsylvania.
Kathy: We’ve been involved in providing certificate and masters distance education in about 20 states, since 1990.
Master’s Degree: Low Incidence personnel prep is difficult, in spite of the tremendous need. The people we tend to get are very interested and have a great retention rate. In the 1990s staff took the program out to states. We ran from 2 to 6 cohorts in each state, in low vision, and orientation and mobility. These are add-on certificates for those who already have a degree. Our method changed based on feedback from students and collaborative faculty in states. The programs we offer require online work (even a majority of it), taught by full time Salus faculty. Some are traditional adjunct faculty, with experience in this field. We require some face to face for all programs, though it is minimal (addressing competencies that are hands-on simulation work with students). Sometimes that is offered at Salus, or at other state sites. We identify vision consultants in the state and from resource centers for the blind, potential adjunct faculty to provide the face to face using our materials. Sometimes we travel to provide the face to face.
We teach visually impaired programs this way too, but in that case we’re talking about state certifications (the state they live in has to recognize the Salus program).
We are about to train to improve our Blackboard capability, so we can have Powerpoints with voiceovers, similar to a class presentation. We also use videos for students to view, and have developed some of our own CD roms to teach specific things, being careful to use modalities accessible to blind/visually impaired students. If we use videos and such, we describe them.
NCLVI: National Center for Leadership in Visual Impairment came about to serve a big need. In response to a Federal proposal, Universities competed against each other, and there were one or two per year receiving grants. Still the need was huge. We came up with an idea and met with Lou Danielson and others to propose the concept to them. They supported the idea verbally, but we had to get all universities in the country who were capable to sign on, otherwise it wouldn’t get funded. (There are 14 universities in the country capable of providing the training.) We wanted to also build an infrastructure to enrich doctoral programs beyond university training and into public school administration, research and public policy. The concept was that students would go to the university of their choice within the consortium and had to be accepted to one of the participating universities before being accepted to NCLVI, which would pay for 4 years full tuition and a large living stipend per year. Most of the universities agreed, and by the time we got the grant written we had letters of commitment from all but one, who wrote a letter of support.
First year was a development year, with much collaboration to determine process and principles. We presented to the Feds a 1+4 to prove to them that it would work. We recruited the first group of students, then modified our initial proposal. We needed 2 cohorts and all students had to finish within the life of the grant.
There is a year-long added value enrichment program for the fellows, in addition to their own curriculum at their own university. First year is public policy, second year is research, third year, higher ed. Fourth year we repeat public policy for newcomers. We started with 21 students, lost 2. We’ve had 4 completers who finished before they had to.
Everything is evaluated for every meeting, training, conference, and is posted on the NCLVI website. Project is very transparent. We’ve had an open door to other students who may not be receiving funding from NCLVI.
The full consortium is: Univ. Consortium (14 members); 15-member public advisory council (American Council of the Blind & National Federation of the Blind); parent consumer groups; all blindness national organizations plus reps of NASDSE and others; fellows; and OSEP. OSEP is truly a collaborative partner in this effort.
When fellows meet in Washington, we meet at OSEP, and we invite OSEP, NIDR, RSA partners to come meet the fellows. We are modeling collaboration. True collaboration and working with diverse groups yields a greater end product, and we demonstrate this to everyone involved.
QUESTIONS
Julie: When the first cohort goes through, what positions do you envision for them?
Kathy: Of the 4 who have thus far finished (ahead of schedule), two took University positions, one a public policy position, the last one is looking. None of them are planning to go back to prior positions.
Jennifer: OSEP sees this as a successful project, and it as gotten us thinking about how to collaborate, as it can be applicable to all students.
Kathy: We are trying to capture in a dollar amount the man-hours that have been volunteered to this effort. All specialists contributing to discussion boards, doing training, have not charged a penny. We haven’t asked, but if they asked we’d pay. This has been a national collaborative effort. It has been countless hundreds of people: parents, teachers, administrators, direct service providers, advocates. Our public advisory council has contributed as well, by having receptions, giving books and materials, devices. We’re in the process of tallying it all up, and it will be incredibly high.
My email is
Julie: I’d like to get this info out to other consultants. Would this be appropriate?
Jennifer: I think that’s a good idea.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENTATION, KATHY.
Jennifer: Our next meeting is February 9, then April 13 (3 – 4pm eastern). Any challenges or ideas we can begin talking about?
NC: Staffing rural areas.
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