About CAMP + U Postsecondary Faculty Training Program
Funded by the University of Hawaii Foundation, CAMP +U is a collaborative project that seeks to empower students with learning differences in higher education. These differences span from specific learning disabilities to conditions such as attention deficits, sensory processing disorders, and executive function challenges. Camp +U aims to support students with learning differences, and students with learning differences who are from indigenous backgrounds and from underrepresented communities, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, to succeed in higher education.
This will be achieved through an innovative, 10-hour self-directed online training that was designed to equip and enhance faculty, staff, and administrator interactions to proactively design higher education spaces with diversity in mind to better engage these students. Topics in the 5 modules include disability awareness, Universal Design for Learning, educational technology to support learner agency, strategies to strengthen classroom belonging and community, and sensory integration. By fostering self-awareness, shifting attitudes, and increasing familiarity with inclusive practices, the project aims to cultivate belonging on our college campuses and ensure student success.
The purpose of this project is to unlock a deeper understanding of how the principles of inclusion, diversity, and equity enrich the fabric of higher education and society as a whole. In particular, the project aims to:
- Shift the perceptions of higher education faculty and administrators, encouraging them to embrace students with disabilities and indigenous students with learning differences in their classes while valuing diversity in attitudes and behaviors.
- Increase faculty and administrators’ proficiency by fostering an understanding of how to design with diversity in mind.
- Enhance faculty and administrator capabilities to support students from diverse cultural backgrounds with learning differences by creating inclusive classrooms, applying Universal Design for Learning principles, integrating technology, and ensuring equitable opportunities for all students.
This mixed-method study is guided by the following research questions:
- What impact has the Camp +U training had on the faculty and administrators’ inclusive practices, including their attitudes, knowledge, and skills, to support students with learning differences?
- What impact has the Camp +U project had on students with learning disabilities, and students with learning disabilities who are indigenous?
CAMP + U is seeking university partners! Here is how your campus can participate:
- Coordinate offering the CAMP +U online faculty and staff training course (free)
- Share the registration flier with your campus faculty and academic staff
- Co-facilitate a community of practice on inclusive practices at your campus (optional zoom COP)
With a minimum of 15 registered participants CAMP +U will supply their mobile sensory space kit to your campus for an immersive learning experience with guidelines on how to set up and operate this 15 item sensory experience for your campus.
Sensory items include the following:
- Pleshy Spacebuddy // Nebula
- Rocker Chair // Rocket Chair
- Liquid Floor 6 pack // Cosmic Current
- Hurricane Bubble Tube (Sensory Tool House) // Hurricane
- Lightahead LED Jellyfish Aqua // Underwater World
- Fiber Optic Curtain Light Kit // Starlight Strands
- Hexagon Modular Wall Touch Lights // Honeycomb
- Sunset lamp // Sun Rise/Set
- Bean Bag Chair with Vibration (Sensory Tool House) // Cosmic Cocoon
- Tent // Space Tent
- Fidget Strings
- Timers // Stardust hourglass
- Gum drops // Asteroid Gummies
- Video & headphones // Symphony of Nature
- Aurora Lights // Aurora
For more information, contact:
Dr. Holly Manaseri, Director, CAMP +U
hmanaser@hawaii.edu
315-521-3910
