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Author Biography

Stacie Whinnery is a Professor of Special Education at the University of West Florida. Her research interests are collaborative teacher education, UDL, and programming for individuals with severe disabilities.

Keri Fogle is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of West Florida. Her research interests include high-incidence disabilities, parent-school relationships, and school-university partnerships in special education.

Jennifer Stark is an Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of West Florida. She teaches courses in general and science methods for preservice elementary and special education teachers. Her research focuses on professional development for teachers.

Keith Whinnery is a Professor Emeritus of Special Education at the University of West Florida. He is involved with research on collaborative teacher education and universal design for learning.

Abstract

Teacher educators have focused reform efforts on preparing graduates to address increasingly diverse K-12 students. Collaboration among general and special education faculty is seen as beneficial for preparing teacher candidates who can teach diverse learners, yet it is not the norm. This practitioner research study explored a curriculum reform effort that employed a faculty learning community (FLC) to engage general and special education faculty to collaboratively integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into two teacher education programs. Faculty perceptions of the collaborative reform process and resulting curriculum enhancements are presented. Findings indicated the process was valued by our faculty, promoted a stronger culture of cross-disciplinary collaboration, and resulted in systematic curriculum improvements coordinated across content and field courses. This study offers guidance to teacher education faculty interested in collaborative curriculum reform.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/2379-9951.5.2.1161

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