Mission
In the interest of creating usable, inclusive, and sustainable environments, the Mission of the UA Little Rock Disability Resource Center (DRC) encompasses two primary functions:
- To consult and collaborate with faculty, students, other campus stakeholders, and outside entities regarding Universal Design and reframing disability.
- To facilitate access via accommodations, including those related to communication, the physical environment, print materials, and technology.
Summary Narrative
Improve student recruitment and yield processes
- Participated in transition fairs at the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas School for the Blind, Conway High School, Central High School, Benton High School
Increase access to student wellness and inclusion services
- Utilized DRC Database allowing students to register with the office online.
- Student appointments were either in the office, on the phone, or via video.
- Referrals to Counseling Services, Health Services, Rainbow Alliance, and MultiCultural Center.
- Proactive calls and emails to check up on students registered with the DRC.
- Partnered with Counseling Services and Health Services.
Enhance the recruitment, service, and engagement of and for UA Little Rock’s diverse student population
Through the DRC, $3,882.16 in scholarships was awarded to two individuals by the Threm Scholarship and the Stacy Willis Memorial Scholarship.
The Threm Scholarship is provided by David and Joanna Threm. David worked in the Disability Resource Center over 20 years ago and is continuing the help he was once provided as a student.
The Stacy Willis Memorial Scholarship honors Stacy Willis, a dedicated student at UA Little Rock who graduated with honors, then moved to Florida State University where she obtained her Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. UA Little Rock saw her potential and hired her to work in Disability Support Services. Willis’ highest calling was counseling, supporting, and working with students with disabilities to achieve their educational goals. This scholarship honors her to follow through with that calling.
Prioritize compensation, professional development, and work environment necessary to recruit and retain a diverse student affairs staff that is prepared to support a diverse student population.
- Participated in the Arkansas Student Affairs Association Spring Conference.
- Participated in the Arkansas Association of Higher Education and Disability Spring Conference.
- Participated in the Association of Higher Education and Disability National conference in Cleveland, OH.
- Participated in the Arkansas Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf conference.
- Participated in on-campus training on LGBTQ-Inclusive Health Care and Counseling, presented by Gwen Herzig and Kirsten Sowell.
- Provided two Text Help workshops to faculty and students and two in-class presentations on Text Help to First Year Experience students.
- Presented to the Academy of Teaching and Learning Excellence about the DRC and the services we provide.
- Proactive outreach to students registered with the DRC.
Other
- Partnered with Academic Affairs Retention Office (The CARE Team), and TRIO (Student Support Services and Education Opportunity Center).
At A Glance
Number of students registered with the Disability Resource Center | Fall 2022
647 students or 8.88% of student population registered with the Disability Resource Center
321 students or 4.41% of student population requested classroom accommodations
Number of students registered with the Disability Resource Center | Spring 2023
595 Students or 8.9% of student population registered with the Disability Resource Center
285 students or 4.13% of student population requested classroom accommodations
*Information provided by AIM database and enrollment figures from the University Census day reporting.
The percentages noted above are consistent with numbers from Spring and Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. However, the percentages over the last several years indicate a slight increase in the percentage of students seeking services. Additionally, these numbers are in line with other institutions in the region.
The Accessible Information Management (AIM) database, used by the DRC since 2020, provides accurate data on students registered with our office.
The DRC had 585 scheduled student appointments, a 36.68% increase compared to 428 student appointments in FY22. This is an increase in appointments despite a decrease in overall student enrollment.
354 books in alternative formats were sent to students during the fall and Spring semesters. This number is a 28% increase from FY22 with 276 books in alternative formats sent to students.
The DRC provided 1783 hours of interpreting for Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing students, faculty, and staff for classroom and other UA Little Rock programming and events. This is a 16.23% increase from FY22, with 1584 hours of interpreting.
The DRC spent 20 hours captioning videos in FY23, which was a significant decrease from 182 hours in FY22.
Assessment 1
Alignment with UA Little Rock Goal
#1 Access | Increase student access to transformative educational experiences that are affordable, versatile, and relevant.
Alignment with Student Affairs Goal
#8 Prioritize compensation, professional development, and work environment necessary to recruit and retain a diverse student affairs staff that is prepared to support a diverse student population.
Goal
Effectively cross-train all DRC staff on standard operations in the office.
Type of assessment
Operational
Activity or experience being assessed
Cross-training on tasks such as acquiring and remediating books in alt format, captioning, understanding assistive technology, AIM and scheduling.
Assessment artifact
Post-test
Time period assessment was done
June 2023
Results
The assessment questions, prior to training, were simply indirect self-evaluations based on a 1 to 5 scale, with five expressing the most knowledge of a task and one the least knowledge related to Processing books in alternative formats, Scheduling, AIM Database system, captioning videos, and assistive technology
Post-training, staff members answered the same self-evaluation. Understandably the answers are subjective, but it indicated a 40% increase in the knowledge of office standard operating programs. The Survey highlighted that the office should continue cross-training, so that in the event that the office is short staffed, services can continue with minimal interruptions
Continuous improvement process
To gain experience, staff members will occasionally crossover working with others to be better prepared should a staff member be absent.
WHEN: June 2023
Continuous improvement process
The DRC will provide cross-training moving forward so that staff can maintain knowledge in order to step in if an employee is out of the office.
Additionally, a Standard Operating Manual is being created that will be housed in Google drive for staff review and new hire training
WHEN: July 2023
Assessment 2
Alignment with UA Little Rock Goal
#1 Access | Increase student access to transformative educational experiences that are affordable, versatile, and relevant.
Alignment with Student Affairs Goal
#5 Develop a responsive student experience and engagement program
Goal
To determine if following up with first-time DRC Registered Students would be beneficial as students continue with school.
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Both
Activity or experience being assessed
Scheduled follow-up with newly registered students to the DRC to help them better understand DRC processes (Faculty notification letters, books in alt format) and to be better aware of UA Little Rock processes
Assessment artifact
Survey
A time period assessment was done
January through May 2023
Results
A survey was sent to new students who registered with the DRC during the spring 2023 semester. The survey was essentially a satisfaction survey, which helped us make determinations for follow-up phone calls to help with processes such as sending out faculty notification letters, requesting books in an alternative format, and help to navigate other DRC processes.
Students who responded to the survey received follow-up calls related to DRC processes and gave us generally positive feedback. Some noted the extra steps to request books could be off-putting, however, 80% reported the help provided by the DRC made them more confident in their future as a UA Little Rock student. In some follow-up calls, some students reported confusion with sending out faculty notification letters, but then when walked through the system, found the process easy and became confident sending out the letters themselves in the future.
As noted by a student respondent about accommodations that were the most helpful:
“…Read&Write and just having someone to talk to at school. Even though it was for disabilities, it seemed more effective than any sessions I’ve paid for with a therapist.”
Continuous improvement process
The DRC will continue to follow up with new students that have registered with our office to ensure that they understand the processes of requesting books in alternative formats, requesting faculty notification letters, and to address any other issues should they arise.
WHEN: August 2023
Assessment 3
Alignment with UA Little Rock Goal
#1 Access | Increase student access to transformative educational experiences that are affordable, versatile, and relevant.
Alignment with Student Affairs Goal
#4 Increase access to student wellness and inclusion services
Goal
Increase intradepartmental communication & collaboration (attend faculty meetings, give presentations to faculty)
Type of assessment
Learning outcome | Knowledge acquisition/construction/integration and application
Activity or experience being assessed
Faculty training was conducted over video/Zoom with 39 people signing up with 29 in attendance covering read&write and orbitnote assistive technology from Text Help.
Text Help is an assistive technology that offers speech to text, text to speech, dictionary, highlight and collect and many other tools to help with academic study and organization, which is available to all university students, faculty and staff.
Assessment artifact
Notes from observation
Time period assessment was done
January – May 2023
Results
Feedback from faculty after the presentation was positive.
Information has been shared via email, mainly to students registered with the DRC and faculty who have students in class registered with the DRC.
Most faculty participating in the training were not aware that Text Help was available, or had only heard about it and wanted more information.
Since Text Help is available and faculty are now aware it was noted by several instructors that they will be sharing the assistive technology to their students. Others noted that the technology will be beneficial with their class planning.
Additional training for faculty has been requested. Plans have been made with the Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence, with Nursing and plans to schedule with other departments throughout the fall semester.
Continuous improvement process
Promote Text Help via Communications and to provide additional training on Text Help technology
WHEN: August 2023
