Projects

Faculty Awareness and Training in the Post-Secondary Community: An Annotated Bibliography

Medicine Hat College

Medicine Hat, Alberta

Special Needs Department's Plans For The Future

Future plans

The following description was submitted by Sherry Kuss:

Medicine Hat College is committed to ensuring that each student is afforded an academic environment that has been developed on the principles of equality, respect for individual differences and academic integrity. The College will endeavour to provide educational opportunities for post-secondary education to students with special needs. Special needs can be classified under many categories, but a major portion of students who are attending the college are coded as having a learning disability. Faculty, staff and students must work together in order for an institution to provide an environment that is conducive to students with learning disabilities. A major incentive for the special needs department for the upcoming academic year is to provide more educational opportunities for faculty and staff about learning disabilities as there is much uncertainty surrounding the topic. There is a lack of information about what exactly is a learning disability and what sorts of resources need to be set in place in order to support students who have this type of special need. As part of the college's implementation, the special needs department will undertake the following actions in the upcoming academic year.

  • Hosting guest speakers who specialize in the area of learning disabilities.
  • Compiling a faculty handbook on students with special needs.
  • Providing a resource library for faculty and staff use.
  • Linking with other post-secondary institutions on approaches that they are using to educate faculty members.

These are just a few of the suggestions that are being considered at the present time. In the upcoming year, the department will have a practicum student who will be looking at other recommendations in order to better educate faculty and staff about learning disabilities. If you have any questions about the Special Needs Department at the Medicine Hat College, please contact Sherry Kuss at (403) 504-3569.

Contact:
Sherry Kuss
Special Needs Coordinator
Medicine Hat College
299 College Dr. SE
Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 3Y6
Phone: 403-504-3569 or 403-529-3819
Fax: 403-504-3521
Email: kuss@acd.mhc.ab.ca
Web site: http://www.mhc.ab.ca/services/advising.html




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