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Frist Center for Autism and Innovation

Frist Center for Autism and Innovation

Autism Career Empowerment Sign-Up

Overview of the Modules

Autistic students in higher education have many strengths; however, autism presents challenges in every environment, which may not be apparent to their lecturers.
This training was created to help professors and teaching staff better understand and accommodate their autistic and neurodivergent students. The hope is that this training will help the user in learning the strengths and challenges associated with autism and develop strategies to teach autistic and neurodivergent students more effectively. The basis of this training is Universal Design, the concept of design (in all its forms) being accessible to everyone. One study showed that this training (and the input of autistic people in creating it) helped professors to better understand and serve their autistic students.
The course contains two modules. Module 1 focuses on better understanding, teaching, and supporting autistic students. Module 2 covers the concept of Universal Design in depth (definition, fundamental principles, and developing universal design-aligned strategies for effective teaching). This module also covers using online teaching as a powerful tool to carry out universal design. This free course is open access and can be disseminated widely within your home institution.

Modules for Professors and Teaching Staff Interested in Reducing Autism Stigma

Welcome! This page describes the process of signing up to the instructional modules for professors and teachers interested in reducing autism stigma. Please see the instructions below and the attached flyer for information on how to sign-up for these modules. For those interested in signing up to the full ACE curriculum, the same steps apply, as the modules are provided on the same course site as the full ACE curriculum.

Sign-Up Instructions for the ACE Curriculum

See below the attached flyer for instructions to sign up to the ACE curriculum. Basic text instructions can also be found below:

Instructions to Sign-up for the ACE curriculum:

  1. Navigate to https://www.vkclearning.org/
  2. Register for an account on the website.
  3. Sign up for the ACE curriculum by selecting the appropriate check box ‘ACE’ during registration.

Sign-Up Instructions for the Modules for Professors and Teaching Staff

To sign up for the modules for professor, first complete the ACE sign-up described above and then follow the instructions on the flyer below. Basic text instructions can be found below the flyer.

Instructions to Access Modules for Professors:

  1. Follow instructions to sign up for the ACE curriculum (see above).
  2. Navigate to the ACE course page.
  3. Here you will see the professor modules underneath the ACE course curriculum.

Links:

If you have any difficulties signing up to the program please fill in the support form here, or reach out directly to admin@vkclearning.org. For any comments or suggestions on how to make these instructions clearer or easier to follow, please reach out to FCAI Program Manager Jessica Schonhut-Stasik at (jessica.s.stasik@vanderbilt.edu).

Sign up to VKCLearning here.

Video demonstration for those with existing account is here.