Pn2 Year One Review
It has been a pleasure to collaborate with you working toward our mutual goal of improving and expanding educational and career opportunities for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
I hope you share my enthusiasm for pn2’s Year One accomplishments—they would not have been possible without you. The insights that experienced professionals have generously shared have improved the quality of our trainings and resources, and, equally importantly, the questions asked by newcomers to the field have shown us what training and resources are needed.
I look forward to further collaboration with you in the coming year as we work toward our common goals.
Thank you all,
Cathy McLeod, pepnet 2 Director
“Deaf and Hard of Hearing | Connecting People, Building Capacity”
Follow the progress via
- Our website: www.pepnet.org
- Twitter: @pepnet_2_0
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Pn2 Year One Review
As the year comes to a close, pepnet 2 staff reflect on the previous year’s priorities and accomplishments.
Establishing a National Presence
As our new grant cycle opened in late 2011, pepnet 2 was presented with the opportunity to evolve from a group of regional projects into a national organization serving the entire United States and its Territories . This was a huge paradigm shift from the previous PEPNet regional/local delivery model, and required pn2 to consider the needs of the country as a whole, while still satisfying regional, state, and local needs.
While the change was challenging, we saw the opportunities it presented to integrate regional interests and needs into a national structure. Pn2 interacted with stakeholders at more than 100 state, regional and national workshops, poster sessions and panel discussions, including a successful collaboration with AHEAD that attracted 950 participants. Pn2 also established a national email discussion list/forum where stakeholders can interact with each other and the pn2 staff.
Developing and Providing Online Training
Pn2 premiered two online courses. Access: The Fundamentals is a straightforward and informative introduction to the nature of hearing loss and its implications for communication and learning in educational settings. The newly revised Notetaker Training is a self-guided course that defines the role of the notetaker, delivers information about hearing loss, and provides notetaking strategies. In Year One, 2109 participants received certificates of completion for the Notetaker Training class.
QuickClasses, six-week, facilitated, asynchronous online courses are the result of many hours of curriculum development, facilitator training, and collaboration with eLearning professionals and web designers. Pilot classes provided valuable feedback and the first round of ”live” QuickClasses launched smoothly at the beginning of Year Two.
Understanding and Responding to Stakeholder Needs
A national, comprehensive needs assessment was the primary focus of our Research and Evidence Synthesis unit in Year One. The recently completed pn2 Needs Assessment required extensive planning, measure development, and data collection through a national survey, focus groups, and interviews with a broad variety of participants. Needs Assessment results provide a foundation for future pn2 activities across the project. The final Needs Assessment document comprises nine chapters, presenting the perspectives of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, parents, professionals, and others. An executive summary and the full chapters are available on the pn2 website.
The pepnet 2 Research and Evidence Synthesis (RES) team also provides support to the pn2 staff as they develop presentations and provide technical assistance. By providing research and literature reviews, pn2 is able to deliver information that is informed by evidence-based practices and recent trends.
Delivering Technical Assistance
Pn2 stakeholders now have more—and better— ways to ask questions and receive answers about providing or improving services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. All pn2 information specialists review submitted questions and collaborate to answer them. This not only enables us to provide more comprehensive answers, but also enables us to see emerging trends be more proactive in our assistance.
In addition to an enhanced national listserv forum, pn2 has added a Live Chat link to the pepnet.org website, established a single email address—help@pepnet.org— for all email queries and consolidated frequently asked questions into a single, searchable resource.
During the first year we answered more than 600 requests for assistance. Topics ranged from remote speech-to-text services to dorm room accommodations.
Moving Forward, Together
Our first year of this new cycle has provided us with a firm foundation upon which to build, and rich information from our stakeholders which will guide our practices and products in the coming years. You’ll see more innovation in our use of technology to deliver interactive, Internet-based training and resources, and stakeholder involvement in national discussions on needs and solutions. Early in 2013 pn2 will host a State Capacity Building Summit where 25 established state teams will discuss, identify and respond to transition, persistence and retention issues of students who are D/HH in postsecondary education, training and employment. The teams' conclusions will be published in future pn2 eUpdates. Also coming soon is the launch of the Communities of Practice (CoP) portal—a virtual meeting place where professionals in similar roles can network, share resources and ideas, collaborate on projects, and more. The pn2 staff invites you to engage and collaborate as we strive to develop user-centered resources that take us all closer to our mutual goal of improving outcomes for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Questions? Pn2 has answers.
Reach us via Live Chat, links on our website, or email help@pepnet.org. We strive to reply within 48 hours.
Registration for January QuickClasses
Opens Dec. 13
If your 2013 New Year’s resolutions include learning new skills or improving the ones you have, pepnet 2 QuickClasses can help fulfill them.
QuickClasses focus on specific skills for targeted audiences. Skilled and knowledgeable professionals facilitate the six-week online courses that are accessible 24/7. Participants successfully completing QuickClasses can download and print “Verification of Training Completion” documents, and learn how to receive CEUs.
QuickClasses are free, but enrollment is limited. We recommend signing up as soon as registration opens.
Winter Session Classes
January 13 through February 23, 2013
Class descriptions include an estimate of the time commitment each class will require.
Post-production or Offline Captioning
Cindy Camp, Facilitator
Target Audience: Administrators, disability services coordinators, instructors and other education professionals who want to learn captioning skills that can make classroom and online materials accessible.
Course Topics:
- Caption types, captioning methods, captioning standards, captioning software.
- Legal considerations related to captioning and accessibility.
- Pros and cons of outsourcing vs. in-house captioning.
Anticipated time commitment: Five or more hours per week.
Skill Building for New TypeWell® Transcribers
Kate Ervin, Facilitator
Target Audience: TypeWell® Transcribers who have successfully completed the Basic Skills Course and have been transcribing for less than one year.
Course Topics:
- TypeWell® chunking and abbreviation skills in the classroom.
- Transcribers’ Code of Ethics.
- Professional boundaries.
- Professional problem-solving skills.
Class format includes online discussion, reading, and hands-on practice activities.
Anticipated time commitment: Five or more hours per week.
Skill Building for New C-Print® Captionists
April Prater and Shannon Aylesworth, Facilitators
Target Audience: Novice C-Print® captionists.
Course Topics:
- Networking and skill building.
- Increasing captioning speed.
- Improving transcript readability.
- Enhancing processing skills.
- Captioning professionalism and ethics.
Anticipated time commitment: Five or more hours per week.
Making Online Classes Accessible
Mark Camp, Facilitator
Target Audience: Administrators, disability services professionals, and instructors who want to learn how to make distance learning accessible to deaf and hard of hearing students.
Course Topics:
- Distance learning benefits and challenges for students with disabilities.
- How to improve accessibility of various modes and methods of delivering course content.
- Best practices in teaching through distance technologies.
- Going beyond traditional teaching methods.
- How Universal Design strategies improve distance learning access for all students.
Anticipated time commitment: Five or more hours per week.
Registration for these courses opens December 13.
We welcome ideas for future QuickClass topics. Post your suggestions here.
Results of the pn2 National Needs Assessment
Now Online
The pepnet 2 Research and Evidence Synthesis team (RES) conducted a comprehensive Needs Assessment during the first year of the 2012-2016 funding cycle. RES conducted interviews, surveys and convened focus groups with more than 1,500 participants—individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), parents, and professionals—throughout spring and summer 2012. Key findings from this Needs Assessment include:
- Experience Matters: For professionals who serve individuals who are DHH, experience is a significant predictor of successful outcomes. Building opportunities for intensive experiences, particularly for professionals whose contact with DHH people is not a regular part of their job, could be an impact point for pn2 professional development.
- Mental Health: Mental health conditions are frequently a co-occurring disability that receives little attention in assessment and practice with individuals who are DHH. Many institutions and agencies may benefit from specific training in this area.
- Self-Advocacy: Participants across the Needs Assessment discussed the critical importance of self-advocacy in successful postsecondary transition and outcomes.
- Identity, Language, and Communication: Choices about DHH identity, language, and communication modalities is an important topic for youth in transition, particularly in terms of choices about postsecondary training environments.
- Orientation Programs: Institutions can make their campuses or sites more accessible by developing orientation programs or opportunities for DHH youth to connect with each other as they are beginning their postsecondary experience.
- Workplace Accommodations: Students benefit when postsecondary programs and settings discuss workplace accommodations with students before they enter the job market. Specific strategies for disclosure and examples of accommodations for a range of workplace environments could be a focus of both technical assistance and professional development.
- Outcomes Data: There is inadequate information about how individuals who are DHH do when they leave postsecondary training. Building capacity in this area for states, regions, or institutions could be a focus of pn2.
- Database: The pn2 database has a strong representation of Caucasian female professionals, ages 40-60. Pn2 could benefit from outreach to broaden the demographics of its members, including parents, youth, and individuals from diverse linguistic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.
View the complete pn2 Needs Assessment results
Pn2 Co-Sponsors 2013 National Forum for State Coordinators and Related Professionals Who Serve D/HH
Pepnet2 is will collaborate with University of Arkansas CURRENTS and George Washington University’s National Technical Assistance Partnership (NTAP) to co-sponsor the 2013 National Training Forum for State Coordinators & Related Professionals Who Serve Individuals Who Are Deaf, Deaf-Blind, Hard of Hearing & Late Deafened.
The event—the sixth of its kind— provides opportunities for participants to engage and network with colleagues from across the country around the conference theme Partners Building Bridges for a Diverse and Accessible Tomorrow.
The Forum will be held February 25–27, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.
Vocational Rehabilitation and other interested professionals are invited to register.
Discuss Issues With TA Experts Via pn2’s LiveChat
While a simple question and answer can resolve many issues, a two-way conversation can clarify thorny questions, sticky situations, or everyday dilemmas. That’s why the pn2 Technical Assistance Team offers a LiveChat link on the pepnet.org website, monitored by members of the TA team who are ready to answer any and all questions posed by pepnet2 stakeholders around the country.
The pn2 LiveChat service is available:
- Noon-3:00 p.m. (EST),
- 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. (CST),
- 10:00 a.m.-1:00p.m. (MST) and
- 9:00 a.m.-noon (PST).
Reach the TA team via a simple click on the LiveChat icon on the top right of the pn2 Homepage www.pepnet.org
Complex questions may require some digging, and in those cases the TA team promises an email response within two workdays. The in-depth answers to these complicated questions often include evidence-based research findings, links to helpful resources, facts and other information.
Here’s how a university Disability Services director used pn2’s Live Chat. She explained that she wanted to proactively offer captioning services to students who were receiving interpreting services, but might not be as fluent in ASL as print. She was concerned that her campus provide not just accommodations, but the most effective accommodations possible. The response she received included links to a speech to text overview video, an intake form to better determine student needs and preferences, an email address for another campus that cross trained interpreters to become captionists and links to C-Print® and TypeWell® websites.
Pepnet 2 LiveChat: The help you need, when you need it.
Hot Topics from pn2 TA
Here are some frequently heard questions from pn2 TA:
If a deaf or hard of hearing person visits your campus must you make their visit accessible?
Yes, you must ensure deaf and hard of hearing individuals have access to the same presentations, programs, or meetings that hearing people would experience as provisioned under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Not all deaf and hard of hearing individuals will request the same accommodations. Some might prefer an American Sign Language interpreter while others might request real-time captioning. It is important to ask the visitor what their preference for accommodation is. It takes time to ensure providers are available, so it is reasonable to ask for advanced notice from visitors of their requests.
For more information on this topic, please see the pepnet 2 video FAQ.
You may also review our FAQ PDF document.
Further questions? Find answers. Contact help@pepnet.org
Must a college or university provide accommodations for a study abroad experience?
Several factors affect the answer to this question. Here are some important considerations:
- Is this experience required for a class?
- Will the student receive class credit for this experience?
- What are the goals and outcomes hoped to come of this trip?
While some suggest the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not apply outside of the United States, if a student is using this trip for class credit it is standard practice to provide accommodations. How this is done varies. Some institutions choose to send staff or freelance interpreters abroad with the student while others prefer to hire local providers. There are many variables that go into planning a successful trip so it is important to start planning as early as possible.
For more information on this topic, see the pepnet 2 video FAQ
You may also review our FAQ PDF document.
As mentioned above, this is a complex question. Pn2 has additional resources to share. Please contact help@pepnet.org if you would like more information.
A deaf or hard of hearing student is enrolled in a foreign language class. How can I make this accessible?
The answer to this question will likely require some trial and error, and is unique to each student and course. Most interpreters are trained to interpret from English to American Sign Language. Most speech to text providers have the ability to provide captioning in English. How, then, does one provide accommodations in foreign language classes?
First, it is important to know the goal of the student who is taking the class. Do they hope to learn to speak, hear, read, and write the language? Will they only be reading and writing? This will likely influence the accommodation choices you and the student will make.
Second, it is important to talk with the instructor about how they might make their class accessible for deaf and hard of hearing students. This might mean more use of visual materials, more one on one interaction, or a number of other changes that would make this class more accessible for the student.
Some interpreters are trilingual and provide interpretation in Spanish in addition to English and ASL. What would their role in the class look like? Would the student spell out each word in Spanish for the interpreter to speak? Will the student speak for her- or himself? Will the interpreter sign ASL for the Spanish words?
As you can see, it can be quite complex! Some speech-to-text providers have dictionaries that include certain foreign languages. It is important to ask these questions when hiring providers.
While it might take a little extra time it is certainly possible!
For more information on this topic, see the pepnet 2 video FAQ
You may also review our FAQ PDF document.
If you have further questions, or would like to discuss a specific situation, please contact help@pepnet.org
Introducing
Chris Skoczynski is a Personnel Development Specialist and a member of the pn2 Technical Assistance team, located at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).
Chris has a Master’s degree in the Linguistics of American Sign Language from Gallaudet University. She built upon that background to become a nationally certified interpreter holding the Comprehensive Skills Certificate, the Certificates of Interpreting and Transliterating and the National Interpreter Certificate-Advanced from the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
Chris has been a Program Director and instructor in the Interpreter Training Program at UWM and a staff interpreter and lead mentor in the five-tier mentoring program through the D/HH Program in the Student Accessibility Center.
Chris was the recipient of the 2012 RID Region III Distinguished Educational Interpreter Award for significant contributions to the field and demonstrating a commitment to serve as a role model for all educational interpreters.
Chris uses her interpreting, teaching and mentoring background to present workshops nationally and to facilitate a current pn2 QuickClass on “Mentoring in the Postsecondary Environment.”
Josh Rainey is a research assistant for the pepnet 2 Research and Evidence Synthesis team housed at the University of Texas-Austin.
Josh holds a Master’s degree in school psychology and is earning his Doctorate at UT-A in the same field. His current research focuses on improving education and post-secondary transition outcomes for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. He travels extensively to present on current research in deaf education and to interview students, parents, and professionals for future research.
His career goal is to work as a mental health therapist. He plans to use his research and experience in deaf education to provide consulting services to other mental health professionals who serve people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
For the latest pepnet 2 information be sure to check the News and Events page of the pn2 website.
