 Grossmont’s Carl Fielden has contributed a chapter to a new
book, Diversity in the College Classrooms: Practices for
Today's Campuses. This collection of essays “guides teachers
to understanding and acknowledging the complexities of
today’s college students and offers real-world solutions.
With the varied approaches and purposes of the chapters,
diversity—true to reality—here is broadly defined and not
neatly categorized. In combining research, theory, and the
work of practitioners, Diversity in the College Classrooms
hopes to inspire educators with ideas for new classroom
strategies to meet the needs of their diverse students. . .
. Contributors tackle such issues as student assessments and
definitions of diversity, cooperative learning in the
classroom, linguistic diversity, students with disabilities,
developing accessible curricula in mathematics and science,
and guidance on out-of-classroom experiences such as
community-based service learning and encouraging students to
become advocates for action in their own communities and
beyond.”
According to Fielden, “As more students with disabilities
graduate from high school, it is likely that more of them
will attend postsecondary educational institutions.
Assistive technology in particular has enabled many more
disabled students than before to attend postsecondary
educational institutions. In addition to assistive
technology, computer-mediated communication and other
distance learning media are being investigated as to their
usefulness in providing instructional access to students
with disabilities.
“Law, technology, and pedagogy have converged to form a
complicated morass concerning the provision of services to
students with disabilities. Students with disabilities often
come to the postsecondary level acquainted with their rights
under the ADA. They expect to receive certain academic
accommodations and access to technology. Faculty and staff
are often unaware of their responsibilities under the law to
provide the accommodations and technology these students
expect. And then there is the matter of pedagogy. Few
faculty have been trained to teach students with
disabilities and to design or modify instructional materials
or procedures when necessary to make them accessible to
students with special needs; hence this chapter on
accommodating the instructional needs of students with
disabilities in postsecondary educational settings.“
Topic headings in Fielden’s chapter include:
- Accommodating students
with various disabilities
- Mobility/orthopedic disabilities
- Cerebral Palsy
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Spinal cord injuries
- Deafness/hearing impairments
- Visual disabilities
- Learning disabilities
- Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
- Legal issues and accommodations for academic institutions
- Pedagogical implications:
assisting students
- Students with mobility/orthopedic disabilities
- Students who are deaf or have hearing impairments
- Students who are blind or visually impaired
- Students who have ADHD
or learning disabilities
- Additional resources: (an annotated list of print,
organizational, and Web resources)
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