The admittance of students who declare that they have a learning disability is on rise more faculty/instructors are seeing an increase in accommodation asks for students. Given the concerns from faculty, it is clear that academia is not ready for the change. This is just one reason for change within the culture of academia, as there has been call to engage with better teaching and learning pedagogical models within higher education, as well as more inclusive practices within academic culture.
As an academic with a learning disability, I face the day-to-day struggle of teaching and learning, as well as being an advocate and assisting in professional development and training. In this presentation I will share my story with dyslexia as I have pursued post-graduate degrees and a professorial carrier in academia. I will explain my own experiences with dyslexia and differences in learning to better understand how one learns and how to use that information to approach ones work. Additionally, I will reference information from The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain coauthored by Dr. Brock Eide and Dr. Fernette Eide, as well as Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
I am proposing an interactive session open to graduate students, future professors and current professors, instructors, scholars, and overall members of academia. Persons exploring their own learning and teaching styles are encouraged to attend. This session will illuminate the diversity of the mind/brain and how that clashes with a relentless culture that needs to change and adapt to be more inclusive, aware, and essentially “woke”.
About the presenterPeta Long
Peta Long is a Phd Student in Mass Communication at the Newhouse School of Public Communication, Syracuse University. She hails for Portmore, Jamaica, where she studied at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications, UWI, Mona. Long seeks to specialize in Public Communication, Political Communication, Political Leadership and Ideology.