Faculty across five Virginia universities will develop an open access Introduction to Special Education Resource Repository (ISERR). An intentional and iterative process for curating existing multi-media resources around three content (legal aspects, exceptionalities, practices) will result in an accessible, relevant, current and sustainable OER reflective of diverse voices and perspectives to prepare future special educators and support their practice. Project team members will collaboratively identify existing resources and develop ancillary resources such as discussion questions, case studies and content-application activities. The ISSER will reduce financial barriers for students (a projected $606,000 savings across five years for students), enhance student engagement within and beyond targeted courses through the use of dynamic and agile OER, and enact pedagogical transformation across institutions. The ISERR will integrate principles of universal design for learning in addition to common accessibility features.
This is a VIVA Open grant project. As soon as it is complete, files and syllabi will be found here. Looking for more information? Check out the website to learn more about awarded grant projects: https://vivalib.org/va/open/grants/awards.