Freeze Trevi B, Lutfiyya Zana Marie, Freeze Rick, Magana Janjo, Cauthers Nick, Mukai Michael, Antonio Jacintha, Batta Anusha
The University of Manitoba Winnipeg Canada.
Br J Learn Disabil. 2022 Oct 17. doi: 10.1111/bld.12507.
For almost two decades, students with intellectual, developmental and multiple disabilities have attended undergraduate classes at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada as part-time auditing students. They are supported by the Campus Life program. Campus Life employs graduate and undergraduate university students as academic tutors and social role models because they too are immersed in university life.
We chose collaborative autoethnography as a research method because we believe in researching and writing individuals with disabilities, rather than them. Three student tutor dyads elected to participate in this study. In the context of the pandemic and the switch from on-campus in-person learning to off-campus online learning, we were interested in learning about the changes, challenges or unanticipated benefits they experienced. Each dyad engaged in tutor-led conversations, guided by open-ended questions, and wrote their story.
The stories from the three dyads were received and analysed. We found three emergent themes. The first was centred on worries about the health risks of COVID-19, the difficulties they experienced in adapting to online learning and their development of better skills in listening and communicating. The second theme was about the dramatic reduction in their opportunities for social engagement. With respect to the third emergent theme, they recounted some advantages of online learning, noting that it was more accessible, more convenient and safer during a pandemic.
For the study participants the shift to online classes and tutoring sessions was surprisingly successful. They became more independent and improved their online communication, time-management and organisational skills. Social engagement was sorely missed, especially studying and socializing with classmates at university and participating in extracurricular activities. The students also noted some advantages to online learning such as accessibility, convenience, feeling comfortable at home, avoiding transportation to the university and learning to use new tech tools. The tutors began sharing and learning from each other. This was facilitated by online tutoring roundtables. Our first insight from this study is the realisation that we now have a new medium for tutoring Campus Life students. A second is the need to better understand student social engagement in the online world.
近二十年来，患有智力、发育和多重残疾的学生一直在加拿大温尼伯的曼尼托巴大学作为非全日制旁听生参加本科课程。他们得到校园生活项目的支持。校园生活项目雇佣研究生和本科生作为学术导师和社会榜样，因为他们也融入了大学生活。
我们选择协作自我民族志作为研究方法，因为我们相信要研究和书写残疾人，而不是研究他们。三个学生-导师二元组选择参与这项研究。在疫情期间以及从校内面对面学习转向校外在线学习的背景下，我们有兴趣了解他们所经历的变化、挑战或意外收获。每个二元组在开放式问题的引导下，进行导师主导的对话，并撰写他们的故事。
收到并分析了来自这三个二元组的故事。我们发现了三个新出现的主题。第一个主题集中在对新冠疫情健康风险的担忧、他们在适应在线学习方面遇到的困难以及他们在听力和沟通方面更好技能的发展。第二个主题是关于他们社交参与机会的大幅减少。关于第三个新出现的主题，他们讲述了在线学习的一些优点，指出在疫情期间它更容易参与、更方便且更安全。
对于研究参与者来说，转向在线课程和辅导课程出奇地成功。他们变得更加独立，并提高了在线沟通、时间管理和组织技能。社交参与严重缺失，尤其是与大学同学一起学习、社交以及参加课外活动。学生们还指出了在线学习的一些优点，如方便参与、便利、在家感觉舒适、无需前往大学以及学习使用新的技术工具。导师们开始相互分享和学习。这通过在线辅导圆桌会议得以促进。我们从这项研究中得到的第一个见解是认识到我们现在有了一种辅导校园生活学生的新媒介。第二个是需要更好地理解学生在在线世界中的社交参与情况。
