Graduate student and postdoctoral instructors provide important face to face support and instruction to a diverse population of students in large lectures as well as smaller seminars. Therefore, it is key that they understand how to cultivate a learning environment that is inclusive and effective for all types of learners, especially neurodivergent learners. Students with ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, and mental health challenges are entering into higher education in greater numbers and they can face unique obstacles when they arrive. Participants in this workshop will come away with an expanded understanding of neurodivergent students, and start to develop strategies that create an effective and inclusive learning environment for neurodivergeng learners. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe the current understanding of neurodiversity and the impact of several common types of neurodiversity on undergraduate student learning
• Distinguish between extraneous and intrinsic cognitive load in the context of classroom activities and assessments
• Analyze classroom activities and assessments for possible negative impacts on neurodivergent learners, as well as strategies for mitigating such impacts

Instructors

Melissa Tamas, Stanford University
Michelle Ming-Hsuan Pang, Stanford University

Workshop Schedule

This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Thursday, October 24 at 10-11:30pm Gulf / 3-4:30pm Atlantic / 2-3:30pm Eastern / 1-2:30pm Central / 12-1:30pm Mountain / 11am-12:30pm Pacific.

Audience

This workshop is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who want to learn more about neurodivergent learners and strategies to support them in the college classroom.

Registration and Enrollment

REGISTRATION OPENS Monday, October 7 at 11am Central Time
Cap: 80. Registration opens on Monday, October 7th. Once open, it will remain open until capacity is reached. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority. Once registration closes, all registrants will be notified of their enrollment status.

Accessibility

If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Kate Diamond (kdiamond3@wisc.edu), who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

• Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
• Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
• Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
• Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

Learning Outcomes

All CIRTL Network programming is designed to help participants achieve familiarity with our Core Ideas. This workshop is designed around the following learning outcomes.

Evidence-based Teaching

Learning-through-diversity

• Describe and recognize the value of drawing on diversity in the development of teaching plans (including content, teaching practices and assessments) to foster learning.
• Describe how an instructor’s beliefs and biases can influence student learning.
• Describe several learning-through-diversity (LtD) techniques and strategies.
• Describe the impact of diversity on student learning, in particular how diversity can enhance learning, and how inequities can negatively impact learning if not addressed. Describe the scope of diversity in learning environments, of both students and instructor.