TheDeafSTEM 
CommunityAlliance:
WhoWeAreandWhat 
WeÕveLearnedSoFar

Lisa 
B.Elliot,Ph.D.
RochesterInsEtuteofTechnology/NaEonalTechnicalInsEtutefortheDeafNSFRDECommunityofPracEceConferenceCallApril92013


WhoWe 
Are 


¥ 
DeafSTEM 
CommunityAlliance
Ð 
OnlyAlliancetargetedtosingledisability
¥ 
SupportedbytheNaEonalScienceFoundaEon,HRD#1127955
¥ 
3-..5yearproject 
(Sept 
2011-..Aug2016) 
Ð 
Now 
inour 
2ndyear

CampusPartners 




Project 
RaEonale 


¥ 
ParEcipaEongapinSTEM 
forstudentswhoaredeaforhardofhearing(D/ 
HH)
Ð 
NaEonalaveragegraduaEonrateforD/HH 
bachelorÕsdegree:23%(vs.73%at 
RIT/NTID)(allsubjects)
Ð 
Between1997-..2006,420out 
of265,790(~.2%)ofnewSTEM 
PhDswereD/HH 
Ð 
Employment 
differenEalsinSTEM:
¥ 
Hearing17.9%v15.5%D/HH 
¥ 
Hearinginhigher-..earningSTEM 
sectorsthanD/HH 
¥ 
ContribuEngbarriers:
Ð 
Student 
preparaEon(STEM 
basicskills,concepts)
Ð 
SocializaEon(peers,rolemodels)
Ð 
Accessiblemedia 

Project 
RaEonale 


¥ 
SoluEon:DeafSTEM 
CommunityAlliance 
¥ 
Student 
preparaEon
¥ 
Remotetutoring
¥ 
RemotecapEoning
¥ 
RemoteinterpreEng
¥ 
SocializaEon
¥ 
Remotementoring
¥ 
PeerinteracEon
¥ 
Accessiblemedia 
¥ 
CuratedcollecEonofSTEM 
resources

GoalandObjecEves

¥ 
Goal
Ð 
CreatemodelvirtualacademiccommunitytoincreasethegraduaEonratesofpostsecondarySTEM 
majorsinthelongterm
¥ 
MuchsmallerscalethanotherAllianceprojects
¥ 
ObjecEves 
Ð 
Document 
anddisseminatedescripEonofthe
processofcreaEngmodelVACforreplicaEon 
Ð 
IncreasetheGPAsandretenEonratesofD/HH 
studentsinSTEM 
majors
D/HH 





Structure 
of 
the 
DHHVAC 
Student 
Prepara,on 
(Google+ 
Hangouts) 
Socializa,on 
(Google+ 
Private 
Community) 
Accessible 
Media 
& 
Public 
Presence 
(Public 
website) 

Student 
PreparaEon 


¥ 
RemoteCapEoning(Years4-..5) 
¥ 
RemoteInterpreEng(Years4-..5) 
¥ 
RemoteTutoring(Years1-..5)

RemoteTutoring


¥ 
StartedwithtradiEonal,face-..to-..facemodelusedat 
NTID
Ð 
Facultymembersprovideindividualandsmallgroupsessionstosupport 
studentsoutsideofclass(appt.based)
Ð 
2011-..12,RIT/NTIDprovidedmorethan14,000hoursinSTEM 
tutoringtoD/HH 
studentsregisteredincoursesin8STEM-..relatedcollegesat 
RIT(AppliedScience&Technology;CompuEng&InformaEonScience;Engineering;ImagingArts&Sciences;
Science)(~500students)

TutoringModels

¥ 
RITFaculty/RITStudents:(T=6;S=12)
Ð 
(RIT-..RIT)Facultyinoffice,studentsinnearbylearningcenter
Ð 
(RIT-..RIT)Facultyinofficeorotherspaceoncampus,
studentsat 
home
¥ 
RITGradStudent/CamdenStudents(T=1;S=2)
Ð 
Onlyremote! 
¥ 
RITOff-..CampusAdjunct/RITStudents(T=1;S=4)
Ð 
Onlyremote! 
¥ 
CornellStudent 
Tutor/CornellStudent 
(oralstudent)
(T=1;S=1)

Methodology 


¥ 
1:1tutoringsessions
¥ 
Google+ 
Hangoutsasvideoconference/chat 
plakorm
¥ 
1min-..2 
hr 
sessions 
¥ 
Appointment-..basedscheduling
¥ 
Homework-..oriented(vs.basicskills)
¥ 
Macs,PCs,desktops,laptops,Chromebooks 

LessonsLearnedSoFar 


¥ 
Tutoringstrategies
Ð 
Synchronousvasynchronous
¥ 
Scheduling
Ð 
AppointmentsvÒwalk-..inÓ
¥ 
Challenges
Ð 
Network/browserinconsistencies
Ð 
Training&technicalassistance
Ð 
Google+ 
UI 
changes
¥ 
Strategies
Ð 
Ethernet 
connecEon/Chromebrowser 
Ð 
Ongoingfeedback&technicalassistance
Ð 
On-..lineguides 
Ð 
GoogleEducaEonalEnterpriseaccount 

SocializaEon

¥ 
Remotementoring(n=4;pending=2) 
Ð 
D/HH 
STEM 
professionals
Ð 
PersonalizedrecruiEng
Ð 
ApplicaEonincludingbackgroundcheck
Ð 
Google+ 
presence
¥ 
Peer-..to-..peer(community)interacEon 
Ð 
Google+ 
privatecommunity
¥ 
STEM 
arEclesofinterest 
¥ 
Sharestudent 
schedules
(n=35) 



AccessibleMedia 


¥ 
CuratedSTEM 
Resourcelibraryonourpublicwebsite:www.dhhvac.org
Ð 
Project 
publicaEonsandpresentaEons
Ð 
Relevant 
workbyothers
Ð 
STEM 
ASLdicEonaries(e.g.,ASL-..STEM 
Forum) 
Ð 
LinkstoaccessibleSTEM 
resources(e.g.KhanAcademy,MathforCollege)

Discussion 


QuesEons? 
Answers! 



Contact 
InformaEon 


¥ 
Lisa 
B.Elliot,Ph.D.
PI,DeafSTEM 
CommunityAlliancelisa.elliot@rit.eduph:585.475.5229
¥ 
DeafSTEM 
CommunityAlliancewww.dhhvac.org