Disability Service Outreach & Recruitment Plan 2010 - 2013

Aim of this project:

• Increase the numbers of students with sensory, physical and multiple disabilities in higher education as stated in the College Access Plan and the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2008 -2013.
• Promote Trinity College as a first choice option for students with disabilities.
• Engage students and their families, expert bodies, community agencies and representative groups to promote clear routes of progression to College for students with a disability.
• Identify barriers that may prevent some people with disabilities applying to study at College, including mature applicants and students applying with FETAC qualifications.
• The plan is delivered over 3 phases:  Transition into college, Retention within college and progression out of college into the work place.

College and Disability Service Strategic Objective:

Show how this project is linked to the College strategic plan :

The initiatives and actions in this project set out to challenge the view of TCD as elite and inaccessible. By communicating directly to potential students, demonstrating that College is accessible and that other students with disabilities have come to and succeeded the project seeks to increase the number of students from under represented disability groups.

Tasks 2012 - 2013:

• 1. Facilitation of the Pathways Workshops September 2012 to April 2013 as directed by project lead.
• 2. Promote Service at Higher Options, Better Options, College Open Day, DARE clinics and community initiatives, disseminate prepared information sheets.  Respond to direct enquiries.
• 3. Review the application process for disabled applicants, including forms, disclosure and arrangements for accommodations including aptitude test and interviews; review DARE process and monitor statistics, collate data on all admissions.
• 4. Supervise national screening of DARE SLD applications and provide management to the scheme via the DARE Executive Board.
• 5. Maintain and continue to develop content for Pathways website.
• 6. Design, develop and publish paper and electronic versions of the toolkit for use by students, parents, practitioners.
• 7. Develop and monitor scaffolding of academic skills development.
• 8. Continue to monitor usage of Skills4Study Campus and embed this resource into academic departments.
• 9. Provide screening and assessment for SLDs for registered TCD students.
• 10. Survey and interview students at the completion of their first year in College. Complete an annual report and identify promoters and barriers to successful transition.

Task 1: Facilitation of the Pathways Workshops September 2012 to April 2013 as directed by project lead.

Progress: The Pathways Outreach Project began in October 2011 as a pilot programme with 11 students, the second cycle began in September 2012 with 17 students with disabilities in their Leaving Certificate year attending the workshops.Students and parents have expressed improved confidence and engagement with the transition process. All workshop content is provided publicly via the Pathways blog.

Goals: To promote the workshops to schools linked to the Trinity Access Programme, and to provide an opportunity for current TCD students to engage in volunteering opportunities.

Task 2: Promote Service at Higher Options, Better Options, College Open Day, DARE clinics and community initiatives, disseminate prepared information sheets.

Progress:

Task 3: Review the application process for disabled applicants, including forms,disclosure and arrangements for accommodations including aptitude test and interviews; review DARE process and monitor statistics, collate data on all admissions.

Progress: Admissions and DARE statistics are available in DS annual reports.The DS registration prioritises DARE eligible students.Students are provided with the opportunity to disclose a disability and request support from DS, via the new Student Information System.

Task 4:Supervise national screening of DARE SLD applications and provide management to the scheme via the DARE Executive Board.

Progress: A TCD representative sits on the DARE Executive Committee, which develops strategy and directs DARE Operations.

Goals: Facilitate a move towards a national DARE assessment centre, which will remove the workload from individual HEIs.Continue to work closely with the CAO towards integration.

Task 5: Maintain and continue to develop content for Pathways website.

Progress: http://blogs.tcd.ie/pathways-to-trinity/.Data from the three longitudinal surveys has been collated and analysed, results will be published in a forthcoming edition of Trinity Education Papers.

Goals: DS will further develop the Pathways site with an entry page for Students and a second entry page for Parents/Schools.This structure will be reflected in the Parent and Student handbooks, which will be made available as eBooks.

Task 6. Design, develop and publish paper and electronic versions of the toolkit for use by students, parents, practitioners.

Progress:

Goals: The Pathways Toolkit has been moved from the external pilot site to the main Pathways pages at http://www.tcd.ie/pathways-to-trinity/tap/ DS will continue to investigate development of either a web-based or CD version for dissemination to parents and schools.

Task 7: Develop and monitor scaffolding of academic skills development.

Progress:

Goals: There are now increased resources and emphasis on online resources for students with reading, spelling and writing difficulties, including Skills4Study Campus.The goal of these scaffolded learning sessions is to encourage students in their development as independent learners, providing them skills which are transferable to the post-college environment.

Task 8: Continue to monitor usage of Skills4Study Campus and embed this resource into academic departments.

Progress: Skills4studycampus is a fully interactive e-learning resource, which helps students to develop the study skills they need to be successful and is suitable for students on all courses and in any year of study.A pilot scheme began in September 2011 and details are available from Disability website.The second phase began in September 2012, and rolled out this resource to all TCD students via orientation materials and the orientation website.

Goals:
A report on the second year pilot of this resource will be presented to the Student Services Committee and the Undergraduate Committee.

Task 9: Provide screening and assessment for SLDs for registered TCD students

Progress:

DS provides a screening service for specific learning difficulties, for all undergraduate and postgraduate students.Applicants must download a screening questionnaire from the website and submit this to DS, prior to booking an appointment.The Disability Officer responsible for screenings reviews the questionnaire and summarizes noted difficulties, before contacting the student with an appointment time. Screenings are conducted by a psychologist.>

This year screening encompassed 82 hours of test administration, 41 hours of report writing, and 41hours of student feedback.The majority of screening requests are from students in FAHSS (57%), and Mature students account for 54% of screening requests.The number of TAP students requesting screenings has risen from 2% to 12%.Whilst there was a broad representation of courses across the academic year 2011 - 2012, Nursing and Midwifery accounted for 12.2% of all screenings.The majority of students who requested screenings in 2011 - 2012 were undergraduate students (83%), which is an 11% increase compared to the previous academic year. 17% were undertaking postgraduate study courses, either at Masters level or a PhD.

Goals: A defined date needs to be identified for the end of screenings particularly with respect to proximity to the annual exam period.There is a significant cost attached to each screening (euro;186 per person) which is accounted for by the cost of test materials and 5 hours of test administration and feedback.It has been agreed that from the next academic year a charge of euro 40 will be required to cover some of this cost, and which must be submitted with the screening request form.This sum will be reimbursed to students who are in receipt of support from the Student Assistance Fund and / or a Student Grant.

Task 10:Survey and interview students at the completion of their first year in College. Complete an annual report and identify promoters and barriers to successful transition.

Progress: TCD entrants who accepted a place via the DARE scheme and who were approaching the conclusion of their first year in college (n = 74) were surveyed to capture quantitative data about ease of transition from school to college, registration and orientation process, quality of human support provided pre and post-transition, access to disability supports, and experience of the DARE process.Students were also invited to interview on the themes of knowledge of College structure and organization, pre-registration/ pre-entry initiatives, registration and orientation, connecting with other students, provision of advice and support, campus ethos and environment, level of academic readiness and skills, assistance with the transition process, diversity and inclusiveness of college population, and the overall First Year Experience.Response rates were as follows: survey n = 30 (40.5%), interviews n = 40 (54%).

A full report ican be downloadedhere.

Goals:

Findings from the survey that was administered to DARE students indicate a positive experience of the transition process.As 20% of students found the practicalities of beginning college life difficult, this indicates the need to pre-identify students who may find those tasks challenging, and to implement a mentoring or peer partnership scheme. The majority of students stated appropriate course choices as a reason for ease of transition, and this was also a major feature of their advice to future DARE students.Future pre-entry work must focus on providing accurate and in-depth knowledge about the way college operates as a system, and an interface for providing students with course specific information that meets the needs of a technologically savvy generation, who require a higher level of accessibility than is currently provided.