TheDeafSTEM 
CommunityAlliance:
WhoWeAreandWhat 
We�veLearnedSoFar

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


WhoWe 
Are 


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




Project 
RaEonale 


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


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

� 
Goal
� 
CreatemodelvirtualacademiccommunitytoincreasethegraduaEonratesofpostsecondarySTEM 
majorsinthelongterm
� 
MuchsmallerscalethanotherAllianceprojects
� 
ObjecEves 
� 
Document 
anddisseminatedescripEonofthe
processofcreaEngmodelVACforreplicaEon 
� 
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
� 
Facultymembersprovideindividualandsmallgroupsessionstosupport 
studentsoutsideofclass(appt.based)
� 
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)
� 
(RIT-..RIT)Facultyinoffice,studentsinnearbylearningcenter
� 
(RIT-..RIT)Facultyinofficeorotherspaceoncampus,
studentsat 
home
� 
RITGradStudent/CamdenStudents(T=1;S=2)
� 
Onlyremote! 
� 
RITOff-..CampusAdjunct/RITStudents(T=1;S=4)
� 
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
� 
Synchronousvasynchronous
� 
Scheduling
� 
Appointmentsv�walk-..in�
� 
Challenges
� 
Network/browserinconsistencies
� 
Training&technicalassistance
� 
Google+ 
UI 
changes
� 
Strategies
� 
Ethernet 
connecEon/Chromebrowser 
� 
Ongoingfeedback&technicalassistance
� 
On-..lineguides 
� 
GoogleEducaEonalEnterpriseaccount 

SocializaEon

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



AccessibleMedia 


� 
CuratedSTEM 
Resourcelibraryonourpublicwebsite:www.dhhvac.org
� 
Project 
publicaEonsandpresentaEons
� 
Relevant 
workbyothers
� 
STEM 
ASLdicEonaries(e.g.,ASL-..STEM 
Forum) 
� 
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