Academic Accommodation Procedure for Students with Disabilities

The purpose of this procedure is to assist in implementing Sheridan’s Academic Accommodation Policy. Academic accommodations considered in this procedure will be guided by the following principles: Inclusion and full participation Respect for dignity Individualization These principles will enable Sheridan’s commitment to ensure all students realize their full potential

Engaging with childhood: student placements and the employability agenda.

Employability is a particular organising narrative within the global, neoliberal economic discourse, with increasing relevance across different educational contexts. For universities in the UK, student employability, that is the readiness of students to gain and maintain employment and contribute to the economy, is a significant feature of accountability with employability outcomes increasingly used by students in making their decision of which university to attend. Yet little attention is paid to the organizing power of the employability agenda and to university students’ participation in that agenda apart from focussing on knowledge and skills relevant to gain employment. This is particularly concerning in university programmes that develop professionals who work with children. Placement, gaining knowledge, skills and experience in the places where children and young people are found, is a common aspect of employability being embedded within programme curricula. This article explores the organising power of the employability agenda for children and young people in a context of university placements. Focused on student experiences on placement in primary school settings in the north of England analysis considers students’ engagement with their own learning and the children who are essential to that learning

Towards an evidence‐base for student wellbeing and mental health : definitions, developmental transitions and data sets

Against a background of huge changes in the world of university and college students since the turn of the millennium, together with a multitude of reports on student mental health/wellbeing, this article argues that the field of student mental health is hampered by the imprecise use of terms, a rush to action by universities in the absence of a robust evidence‐base, and a lack of overall coordination and collaboration in the collection and use of data. In response, we argue for clearer and more consistent use of definitions of, as well as differentiations between, student wellbeing and mental health, for a longitudinal approach to the student body that captures their developmental transitions to and through university, and a strategic and systematic approach to the use of bona fide measures in the collection of data on wellbeing and on the process of outcomes in embedded university counselling services. Such a coordinated approach will provide the necessary evidence‐base upon which to develop and deliver appropriate support and interventions to underpin and enhance the quality of students’ lives and learning while at university or college

Mental health in distance learning: a taxonomy of barriers and enablers to student mental wellbeing

Student mental health is a critical issue in higher education. It is understood that higher education can act to trigger or exacerbate mental health difficulties, but research in this area has focused primarily on campus environments, identifying stressors such as halls of residence. Since distance learning students disclose mental health issues at a higher rate than campus students, and completion and progression gaps are on a par with the sector, it is critical that the barriers and enablers to mental wellbeing in distance learning are understood. This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated barriers and enablers to mental wellbeing and study success that students experienced in distance learning. 15 distance learning students and 5 tutors were interviewed using narrative enquiry; students told their own stories and tutors told stories of students they had supported. Barriers and enablers were identified across different aspects of study, skills-development and the distance learning environment, and are presented in a taxonomy of barriers and enablers that suggest a range of implications for distance learning educators and policy developers

Comparing and learning from English and American higher education access and completion policies

England and the United States provide a very interesting pairing as countries with many similarities, but also instructive dissimilarities, with respect to their policies for higher education access and success. We focus on five key policy strands: student information provision; outreach from higher education institutions; student financial aid; affirmative action or contextualisation in higher education admissions; and programmes to improve higher education retention and completion. At the end, we draw conclusions on what England and the US can learn from each other. The US would benefit from following England in using Access and Participation Plans to govern university outreach efforts, making more use of income-contingent loans, and expanding the range of information provided to prospective higher education students. Meanwhile, England would benefit from following the US in making greater use of grant aid to students, devoting more policy attention to educational decisions students are making in early secondary school, and expanding its use of contextualised admissions. While we focus on England and the US, we think that the policy recommendations we make carry wider applicability. Many other countries with somewhat similar educational structures, experiences, and challenges could learn useful lessons from the policy experiences of these two countries

Lunch and Conversation: Food for Thought: Religious Minorities at LMU

Students, faculty and staff from religious minorities on LMU’s campus were invited to lunch together, in an effort to gather people and facilitate conversation. In addition, an open invitation with an RSVP was be given to the whole LMU community, with the hope of also reaching people of any or no religious tradition who want to participate in this important conversation.Lunch began with a staff member representing a religious minority offering a blessing of our gathering and our food. As lunch was served, a religious minority student will give a brief presentation on her/his experience of being religiously active on LMU’s predominantly Christian, Catholic campus.Table conversations offered a comfortable environment for people of differing religious traditions to share their experiences of how their religious activity both affects and is affected by the LMU community. Theme of the day: students.talk. convivencia . If we truly share life with others, does that mean that “we” have to become like “them”? Or are there things which we simply cannot give up if we are to remain ourselves? At LMU, how do we balance our Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount identities with openness to people of other faiths or no faith at all? In Los Angeles, how do we respect different kinds of diversity – religious, ethnic, sexual, economic – without deteriorating into separation from each other? In this new century, is religion destined to divide us? Or can it unite this broken world