Culturally Responsive Communities of Practice
AAAS Annual Meeting, Washington DC,
February 17, 2019

Deaf STEM Community Alliance
& the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Virtual Academic Community (DHHVAC)
Lisa B. Elliot, Rochester Institute of Technology

DHHVAC - Introduction
Sponsored by NSF
 - HRD-1127955,
 - HRD-1834978
Students, Faculty & Mentors
 - RIT
 - Camden County College
 - Cornell University
 - Closed Membership
  - 20 (2011-12) – 64 (2017-18)
  - 82 (2016-17)
Student Preparation - Remote Tutoring, Remote Mentoring, Using G+ Hangouts, Zoom
Accessible Media - Accessible STEM information, using website, G+ Private Community, and G+ Public Page
Socialization - Remote mentoring, Peer-to-Peer Interaction, Using G+ private community, Facebook secret group

DHHVAC - Cultural Responsiveness
For participants who are D/deaf or hard of hearing
Varied communication preferences need to be represented: audio, sign, text, video
Variety of STEM topics need to be covered
Multigenerational and multiple roles (students, faculty, professionals)

DHHVAC Lessons Learned: patience (picture of egg timer) and flexibility (picture of Gumby)

DHHVAC - What's On My Mind?
How do we best define member engagement?