The CAMP+U Course is a free online training for faculty, administrators and academic staff focused on student success and well-being through inclusive practices that aims to increase understanding, knowledge, and skill of accessible and inclusive course design, instructional delivery, and assessment to increase student sense of belonging and postsecondary success.
The five self-paced, asynchronous modules are built around the conceptual framework of Connection, Agency, Mastery, Purpose, an +U (Identity & Place) designed to support students for successful postsecondary experiences while addressing their needs. An optional professional learning community (PLC) will provide facilitated discussion of topics on disability awareness, Universal Design for Learning, educational technology to support learner agency, strategies to build community, and sensory integration.
Learn more about the conceptual framework and the guiding questions and notes from the field (experiences and takeaways from faculty participants and their students) from each:
Module 1: +U
“A University is a place of knowledge-building and discovery, fostered by a unique sense of place. “U” also represents “us” and the ways in which we are committed to equity, inclusion, belonging, and a change for better outcomes for our students.
Guiding Questions
- Who are my learners, and how do they learn best?
- Who am I, and how do my beliefs, values, and biases impact the teaching and learning environment?
- Who is the university, and how do my instructional practices align with the mission and vision of the university?
Notes from the Field:
“Defining disability was very enlightening for me because it gave me a broader definition of disability and its impact on learning.” (Faculty)
“How can we truly support our students if we don’t know something about their family or their broader culture or their background?” (Faculty)
“It’s not that we cannot do some things. We cannot do some things because the environment does not let us do those things.” (Student)
“I think it’s because [my instructor] is very open about their own exceptionality.. They are already themself, and that makes us more accepting of other things.” (Student)
Module 2: Connection
A sense of community through strong relationships that promote acceptance, support, and empathy in their learning environment.
Guiding Questions
- What does it mean to design for belonging?
- How can paying attention to belonging help us as we design new experiences and ways of learning together?
Notes from the Field:
“The main thing that is going to change is being more intentional about what I’m doing and knowing why I’m doing it, other than it just seems like the right thing to do, but knowing that what I’m doing creates psychological safety, or knowing that what I’m doing will allow for students to have a sense of agency in the classroom.” (Faculty)
“We’re trying to make sure, culturally, everyone feels that their voice is heard. So, I want to be more intentional. More intentionally include culture as one of the aspects to a person’s being.” (Faculty)
“One of the reasons all of us feel so comfortable with our instructors is because we not only, of course, talk about coursework and things like that, but we also have real conversations about our lives and our interests. And I feel like, personally, I feel like they know me, like as a person, you know generally, which is a good feeling. And it makes me feel more comfortable with them.” (Student)
“They create an environment where we’re all able to express ourselves, regardless of your culture and regardless of your background.” (Student)
Module 3: Agency
Agency through their capacity and habit to form and act on intentions.
Guiding Questions
- What learning conditions have we created that either inhibit or promote student success?
- What kind of relationships increase engagement and ownership of learning for students – especially those who have not been successful in schools and/or have a history of negative experiences?
- What does it mean to build a Learning Partnership between teachers & students? How can we get started in building that partnership?
Notes from the Field:
“I didn’t realize that offering students possibilities was offering them agency … (this) allows the students to make little choices here and there and to also express themselves freely.” (Faculty)
“I think approaching it as a partnership of they’re coming in with answers, just as I’m coming in with answers. We’re all here to kind of work together in this educational experience, versus me just depositing the information or the knowledge or the advice onto them.” (Faculty)
“[Our instructor] was very accommodating to us. She took our feedback and applied it to the course…for us to have a better learning experience.” (Student)
“The [instructor] makes this classroom feel like family, like Hawaiian culture, where we all feel connected like one big family and help each other out.” (Student)
Module 4: Mastery
Mastery through engagement with rigorous content, demonstration of its understanding, and critical reflection on new material.
Guiding Questions
- In what ways can Universal Design for Learning (UDL) impact the postsecondary classroom?
- How can UDL be applied to the postsecondary classroom to help students demonstrate their mastery of learning goals?
- What are some potential barriers to consider in order to fully implement UDL?
Notes from the Field:
“Some things that I have started to see as pukas … What I was missing was those specific things that I could implement, making sure my syllabus was accessible to all and provided good instructional design. I’ve been able to get some specific strategies for how to provide support to all students.” (Faculty)
“My focus moving forward will be on modeling and being more explicit about demonstrating those multiple ways of engagement, representation, action and expression by doing that. I hope that I reach all learners within that range, and then that they start to learn about how they can do that in their classrooms. (Faculty)
“Some of us are visual learners, some of us are auditory learners. So depending on that, [instructor] would ask if we would like more visuals, or maybe a mind map.” (Student)
“The instructor also offers assistance throughout the whole process.” (Student)
Module 5: Purpose
Purpose through understanding of personal values and their relationship to learning and long-term goals.
Guiding Questions
- How can I ensure my learners transfer knowledge and skills to the real world?
- How can I identify and remove barriers to experiential learning experiences for students?
Notes from the Field:
“Many of my assignments are ‘Go out in your community, find something there and then relate it to what we do in your class’ … I’m letting the students add in the culture themselves.” (Faculty)
“We have a lot of our community projects, which are student-led. We want the students to give them the support and we guide them … because in the future, they are going to be in the community.” (Faculty)
“[My instructor] really includes each aspect of each student in this classroom into each lesson.” (Student)
“We do volunteering every Tuesday…it’s another way of giving us valuable experience.” (Student)
