Faculty Perception of Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Educational advances over the years has enabled students with disabilities to access educational opportunities in higher educational institutions, creating a diversification of the student population in higher education. This has necessitated faculty to increase their knowledge about providing appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, as well as devise new pedagogical methods that cater to the different learning needs of students in their classrooms. This study was conducted to investigate faculty willingness to utilize inclusive instructional accommodations for students with disabilities in their classrooms, through an anonymous survey that was distributed to full time and part time faculty from a Midwestern University. Quantitative analysis of the data through SPSS showed that 79.1% of the participants reported a willingness to provide instructional accommodations in their classrooms. Qualitative analysis of the data reported that participants expressed a need for improved knowledge and training on how to provide certain instructional accommodations, citing increased collaboration and enhanced communication with the office of services for students with disabilities as avenues that would aid in fulfilling the gaps. This type of research study adds to the previous and increasing literature in the field, which focuses on how pedagogical methods can be enriched to cater for the currently diversified learning needs of the students at high institutions of learning. Key Words: Students with disabilities, higher education, instructional accommodation, faculty perception, faculty knowledgehttp://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2017/1027/thumbnail.jp