Conference Abstract & PowerPoint for ARIS & RIC 2021 Online Summit

Students with disabilities need support to succeed in their education, including work intergraded learning opportunities. There are well-developed details for supporting students with disabilities in their course work. Yet, the knowledge and skills needed to accommodate students with disabilities during work-integrated learning are inconsistent. This situation leaves students with disabilities set up for failure, meaning they are more likely to leave their programs or be limited in their potential employment. AcTinSite (Accommodation to include students with disabilities in placement sites) aims to improve access to accommodations for students with disabilities within work- integrated learning. We do so through a collaborative project between three education institutions and two institutions that host students for work-integrated learning. AcTinSite’s research is a concurrent design and knowledge mobilization project. Our goals are to design an online platform where tools that support accommodations in work-integrated learning are easy to access and adapt. The project’s concurrent nature means that both the design and knowledge mobilization components work and adjust together. Our work at AcTinSite focuses on improving workforce diversity using collaborative partnerships, design, and knowledge mobilization. This regular session’s goals are for people to 1) learn about the needs and benefits of accommodation in work intergrade learning, 2) find out about AcTinSite, and 3) how they can get discover more about our concurrent design and knowledge mobilization project.