Designing Support for Online Learners with ADD/ADHD

DESIGNING SUPPORT FOR ONLINE LEARNERS WITH

ADD/ADHD

Dorothy P. Fuller, Ed. DCollege of EducationBlack Hills State UniversitySpearfish, South Dakota

WITH SPECIAL THANKS

Marisa&

Tom

Two adult learners coping with ADD who worked with me over the course of 3 semesters to find design solutions that helped them be successful in their educational pursuits

MEET TOM

36 year old construction worker

Married with one son

Wants better job Knows he needs to

get more education That fact scares him

BACK TO SCHOOL THOUGHTS UNPLEASANT

WHAT ABOUT ONLINE LEARNING?

THE GOOD

“The teacher seemed human to me.”

THE GOOD

“The teacher was always there for me when she said she would be.”

THE GOOD

“She always answered my questions as if I were her only student.”

THE GOOD

“I really enjoyed the freedom to enter the class at my convenience and to come or go as I needed.”

THE NOT SO GOOD Challenges of ADD kicked in

“There were lots of written instructions – page after page of writing with no breaks – I kept getting lost.”

“I found it really hard to schedule times to be in class, and I kept getting more and more behind.”

“I felt overwhelmed with the learning projects. I just didn’t know where to start and what order to do things in.”

“I couldn’t remember where I found things in the course.”

“I even had problems remembering when assignments were due and where I was supposed to turn them in.”

THE NOT SO GOOD

“As work piled up, I got more and more discouraged.”

“I got really down on myself.”

“And I thought about just giving up and droppingout.”

“But I did decide to ask for help first.”

“That turned out to be a good idea.”

HELP COMES FROM THE COMMUNITY

“Marisa came to the rescue.”

“She said that my problems sounded like ADD.”

“She shared some coping strategies with me.”

“The teacher began working with both of us.”

NEW & IMPROVED

She encouraged us to make public commitments to be on line by putting those times on the course calendar.

She made an easy-to use and easy-to-find summary sheet for all assignments.

Guided by our input, our instructor made changes in the course.

NEW & IMPROVED

More white space on content pages

More headings with standard colors and bold fonts

Took key elements out of paragraphs and put them in bulleted lists

Standardized page headings

Unit Assignment Title Time Frame Materials Needed Assignment Turn-in

Time Place

Purpose Procedures Rubric

NEW & IMPROVED

Greater flexibility in assignments & assessments

Easy-to-use rubrics were placed in 3 critical placesWith each assignment In a content file with all

rubrics on the homepageAs an attached document

at the turn-in site

SUCCESS!

RESOURCES

W3C - WAIWorld Wide Web Committee – Web Accessibility Initiativehttp://www.w3c.org/WAI/guid-tech.html

CASTCenter for Applied Special Technologyhttp://www.cast.org

DOITDisabilities, Opportunities, Internet Working, & Technologyhttp://www.washington.edu/doit

ADECAmerican Distance Education Consortiumhttp://www.adec.edu/access-issues.html