Gina Ceylan, University of Missouri
Join us for an interactive session on Inclusive Design for Learning (IDL). IDL is a framework for designing our instruction for more effectively engaging students with diverse abilities. We will focus on how we view challenges related to diversity, basics of the IDL framework, resources for implementation and ideas for applications. Increasing involvement of people with diverse abilities in our fields (STEM and other) is both ethical and essential in moving our disciplines forward, but presents an enormous challenge to us as instructors.
How can we recognize and minimize access barriers in our educational contexts? How can we adapt our teaching approaches to better reach a diversity of students and to benefit all students? Let’s talk about how we can build on local resources, effective existing teaching practices and novel strategies to address these questions.
Gina Ceylan is currently finishing her PhD in science education at the University of Missouri, focusing on implementing Inclusive Design for Learning (IDL) in college geoscience courses. She also teaches a course on IDL for graduate students, and works with all levels of MU’s academic systems to improve inclusion of students with diverse abilities. She earned her BS in geology from the College of Charleston and an MS in marine geophysics (undersea volcanos) from University of Missouri in 2010. Although Gina considered pursuing a PhD in geology because she is passionate about our planet, she is even more passionate about improving inclusion and contributing to teaching and learning in the STEM fields and beyond. She has been progressing towards blindness since birth, and been effectively totally blind for over four years.
Gina’s work on inclusive design began through leading various campus groups and events. It has since developed into sustained and growing student mentoring and outreach activities and a course in Inclusive Design for Learning (IDL) for future faculty. Through the NSF-funded CIRTL network (Center for Integrating Research, Teaching & Learning), she also offers the IDL course to current and future faculty. Gina leads a very active IDL group of faculty, staff and graduate students who work together to explore innovative ways of improving their inclusive teaching. Also, she offers a large variety of TA training and workshops on the MU campus, at local community colleges, and at international geoscience conferences. A NSF proposal to further develop the IDL course and community, to make these available at other colleges and universities, and to create a website for sharing resources is currently pending. Gina finds improving inclusion on her own campus extremely rewarding, and is excited to inspire similar change at other schools – she looks forward to expanding these efforts.