Moving DO-IT Scholars online

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SHERYL BURGSTAHLER: Hello.

I'm Sheryl Burgstahler.

I direct the DO-IT
Center at the University

of Washington -- Disabilities,
Opportunities, Internetworking

and Technology.

And part of that program,
we have the DO-IT Scholars

program, which is
for teenagers later

in high school that are
working to transition

to college and on to careers.

SCOTT BELLMAN: My
name is Scott Bellman.

I'm the program manager
at the DO-IT Center.

Our Scholars program
offers a variety

of college
preparation activities

throughout the school year.

The most exciting time being
during our summer camp, which

we call DO-IT Summer Study.

That's where students visit
campus to live in dorms,

and learn how to navigate the
campus and eat in cafeterias,

and take college
classes as they learn

about how to get ready for
school after high school.

NAOMI: My name is Naomi.

I've been a DO-IT
Scholar since 2016.

And it's been a
really fun journey,

full of great
opportunities from DO-IT

and connecting with DO-IT
throughout the years.

FINN: My name is Finn.

When we did DO-IT
in person, there

was a focus on disability
advocacy and also on STEM, STEM

things, like we had
daily workshops.

We would go to
the facility where

they monitor seismic activity.

That like the STEM element.

And then, we would also have
the disability element where

we would learn, OK, here's
how to get accommodations

at college.

ALEXIS: My name is Alexis, and
I was a DO-IT 2019 Scholar.

While being there
physically I was

able to learn the ropes of
how a college functions,

traveling all over the campus,
eating at the different places,

sitting through
several hours of class,

and I also learned to
advocate for myself.

A while ago, I had to
do a meeting with, well,

I arranged a meeting with the
disability services at DigiPen.

I was able to get
through it myself.

SHERYL BURGSTAHLER: So when 2020
hit us all with the pandemic,

we were stunned, like
the rest of the world.

But we thought, well, this
will last a week or two.

And we'll have our
program, because we

were planning a program
in 2020 to be on-site,

like the other ones.

But very quickly, we
realized this wasn't

going to be over that fast.

We had to convert
totally online.

It was clear the
students weren't

going to be safe in
an on-site program.

And so we got to work.

What I said to my
staff is, well,

who better than this
team for going online?

We're always about technology.

TAMI TIDWELL: I'm Tami
Tidwell, a program coordinator

with DO-IT.

And I've worked with Summer
Study for almost two decades.

The decision to move online,
like most youth programs,

was something that we knew
was not going to be easy.

KAYLA BROWN: My name is Kayla.

And I am a program coordinator
at the DO-IT program.

I'm also a past Scholar.

I was a Scholar in 2005.

And right now, I work
with students who

are in our Scholars program.

And so we use Zoom
as our primary way

of communication
and facilitation

of all of our programming.

And students who felt
comfortable talking

outloud and answering
questions, they could do that.

Students who were more
comfortable with text,

they would write in the chat.

And so we were able to
accommodate different learning

styles and communication styles.

And in a lot of ways, it
made it more inclusive.

And we were able to
keep people safe,

which, of course, was our
primary concern at the time.

TAMI TIDWELL: We wanted to
make sure that students still

had some of those
interactive pieces,

like mock interviews or
meeting with faculty.

And what we found was those
interactions were actually

more focused,
because students were

in a breakout room
with the faculty

or the mock interviewers
and could really

focus on what they were doing.

And they got to be
in the spotlight

and really say what
they wanted to say.

Whereas, in a
normal situation, we

would have an entire
room of interviews

happening at the same
time, which is very loud

and distracting.

FINN: It was the same deal
as the previous two years,

but just online.

So you'd have the
different sessions

and instead of going
somewhere, you'd just log on,

and your classroom
would be the Zoom room.

I think what I enjoyed most
about the virtual program

is in the lecture setting and
the group discussion setting,

I felt like it was a
lot easier for people--

for everyone to be able
to get their ideas across.

I felt like it was a
lot easier for people

to share ideas in that way.

I felt like it was a lot
easier for people to--

if they didn't
understand something

or wanted
clarification, you could

raise your hand,
the virtual hand,

or you could type
something in the chat.

I felt like the chat
was helpful in terms of,

hey, I didn't understand
this, or what does this mean?

Ask for clarification.

NAOMI: You get
more participation

in classes and in
activities if you

turn on that chat feature, which
made the virtual Summer Study

exponentially more engaging.

TAMI TIDWELL: One of the
most important things

about Summer Study, whether
it's in person or online,

is building
community, making sure

that students with disabilities
that are headed to college

feel like they
belong, feel like they

have other people
like them out there.

And that is definitely something
we still saw happening online.

We see that students find out
more about disability history.

They find out more
about their roots.

They find out more about
this entire community

around the world of people who
have experiences like they do.

MERRITT: Hi.

My name is Merritt.

I'm a 19-year-old
autistic student

who is a Scholar at DO-IT.

In the virtual program,
we did share videos

about our disabilities and
how important it is to us.

It was interesting to hear
about how many of my friends

have persevered through their
lives with a disability.

SCOTT BELLMAN: We had
to get pretty creative.

We included activities, such as
game nights, and movie nights,

and opportunities for students
to talk about their hobbies

and pets and share a meal,
so that we could still

have that sense of community.

ANDREA MANO: My
name is Andrea Mano,

and I'm an assistive
technologist

with the DO-IT program.

We wanted to build a community,
even before Summer Study.

We had the Scholars meet with
us in small groups over Zoom

before Summer Study.

The groups were chosen based on
the shared assistive technology

and what we thought the
Scholars had in common.

Allowing the students
to attend virtually

enabled them to experiment with
technology in their own homes.

And if the students
wanted, they could

have their parents involved too,
which is always really helpful

to have another set of eyes when
you're learning something new.

TAMI TIDWELL: We also
realized that there

was an essential piece of
what we do in person that we

couldn't let go of.

And that was making sure we
had evening activities and fun

things interspersed throughout.

So during the day, we
would take museum tours,

and go online, and visit some
museums around the country.

And at night, we made sure
we had movie nights and game

nights, where
students could really

participate and get to know
each other and their senses

of humor.

And what we found was the
movie night was actually,

in my opinion, more fun
online, because normally,

people are shushing
each other if you're

in person watching a movie.

But we watched
movies, and they could

talk about the
disability-related content

that they may be
really-- didn't really

realize was there
before, or talk

about their favorite characters,
or talk about what they didn't

like about a scene or what they
really loved about that movie.

SHERYL BURGSTAHLER:
So on pet night,

you can bring your pet,
ideally in costume, by the way,

and perhaps in a matching
costume to yours.

That's not something
we would have done--

ever do in an on-site program,
have their pets come along.

And so that translated really
funny, funny, funny, funny

activity.

And as usual, the evening
activities were optional.

So some students that were
experiencing some Zoom fatigue,

or just needed a break, or
weren't interested in pets,

well, they could easily plan
their whole evening without us.

SOPHIA: My name is Sophia, and I
became a DO-IT Scholar in 2021.

I was able to meet people
throughout the community.

But mostly, I felt like
I connected with them

more throughout the
optional evening

activities, where
I had more time

to engage with the community.

I was in the--

I think it was a talent show.

I just showcased my origami.

And that was just
pretty fun, because I

got to see people's
reaction to my crafts

that I've worked on
during the pandemic.

MERRITT: It made us
feel like we were

all one class or one family.

It was very nice to
see so many new faces.

I think we were able to
make plenty of friends,

even though it wasn't in person.

FINN: Well, DO-IT, I
think, was able to build

a sense of community just
in virtue of how welcoming

and open the program is.

NAOMI: What I enjoyed
most about virtual

was probably the fact
that it felt like DO-IT.

So even if we're not together,
we're still together.

And it was like coming
back home, honestly.

I just felt like, I'm back home.

SPEAKER: Lessons learned.

SHERYL BURGSTAHLER:
Well, we learned

that you can pull this off.

We've learned some
things that we

share with others who are
in a similar situation that

are moving an on-site program
online or maybe even starting

an online.

One thing that we did the
first year and continue to do

is made our program
a little bit longer.

And so it's going three
weeks rather than two.

Because we wanted to
avoid Zoom fatigue,

we hear a lot about that.

We thought it was
important that we

keep the screen time a
little shorter than maybe we

would want to.

ANDREA MANO: DO-IT staff was
very thoughtful about moving

Summer Study online.

And in being thoughtful in that
way, they had a lot of staff

in the online sessions.

One staff could monitor
the faces on the screen.

One staff could
monitor the chat.

One staff could be
monitoring email

when a Scholar couldn't
get into the session.

I think that's really helpful.

And it seems like
that's a lot of people,

but you do need a lot of
people in case something

unexpectedly happens.

KAYLA BROWN: Some
of the things that

were particularly successful
that we hadn't thought

about before was we were
able to engage people

from all over the state.

And so it wasn't
just the students

that we were engaged with
but also their families.

We do involve the
parents with the process

of working with the Scholars.

And so we felt like we
made a deep connection

with that aspect of
the student's life.

So we could know
what the support

system looks like and maybe
how we could help them.

But we also got to know the
students in a different way

as well.

They were in their
own environments,

and some of our students
felt more comfortable.

TAMI TIDWELL: For
other programs thinking

about going to an online program
or even a hybrid program,

some of the positives
are that you

can get mentors, people who've
been through your program

in the past.

They can come from
wherever they are.

So if they're away at
school or they're not

able to get to campus
on a certain day,

they can still be engaged.

It engages a bigger
and wider community.

We also had end-of-the-day team
meetings, which were essential.

When we were in person, we can't
pull all those staff together,

because there are staff
working with the students

and supervising.

But online, we were able to
stay in touch with each other

every single day.

SPEAKER: Unexpected benefits.

TAMI TIDWELL: What I realize is
that the students who've only

participated in DO-IT
Summer Study online

have gotten a lot out
of the experience.

I see their growth
in their IEP or 504

meetings, during reunions
and also in the emails

that they send us.

They've gotten a lot.

They've grown a lot.

And the program has still
made a really big impact.

SOPHIA: I had a
lot of flexibility,

because I was also
balancing another summer

program I was doing along
with the Summer Study session.

So I met with Tami
just to talk over

a meeting about how I can
balance those two programs.

SHERYL BURGSTAHLER:
If anyone asks me

for some advice
when they're forced

into turning an on-site
program into online

or maybe even optionally doing
it on-- doing that transition,

the first thing I'd
like to say is just

from the get-go embrace and help
your staff embrace the problem

to solve, that this is
really kind of exciting.

It's stressful too.

But we've shown
that it can be done.

And you just need to do
things one step at a time.

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For more resources about supporting students with disabilities,

consult: uw.edu/doit

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