The University of Georgia College of Education has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance. The alliance will develop innovative learning environments combining social networking and virtual 3D communities to encourage more students with disabilities to study STEM fields. It aims to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation rates for these students in STEM classes and programs. The strategies developed will include virtual mentoring, teaching and learning communities, faculty training, and transition support for secondary and postsecondary students with disabilities.

1. UGA education researchers receive $1.5 million
NSF grant to make STEM programs more
accessible
Writer: Graham Ervin, 706/542-5889, glervin@uga.edu
Contact: Noel Gregg, 706/583-0814, ngregg@uga.edu
Nov 3, 2010, 13:32, Wed, 3 Nov 2010 13:32:00 -0800
Athens, Ga. – During the last decade, the influence of digital media has changed the way
young people learn, play and socialize. As a result, education researchers at the
University of Georgia are partnering with the Georgia Institute of Technology and
Georgia Perimeter College to develop an innovative learning environment that combines
social networking and virtual 3-D communities to encourage students with disabilities to
pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs.
The UGA College of Education has received a $1.5 million grant from the National
Science Foundation to create the Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSSA), a five-
year collaborative project aimed atgiving students with disabilities greater access to
STEM programs and an increased capacity to succeed in these programs from high
school through graduate school.
The goal of the GSSA is to increase the number of students with disabilities enrolling in
STEM classes and majors; increase their retention and graduation rates; and increase their
entry rate into STEM graduate programs, said principal investigator Noel Gregg, a UGA
Distinguished Research Professor and associate dean for research in UGA’s College of
Education.
“Through virtual mentoring and teaching, social networking, academic support, transition
assistance and preparation of instructors, the GSAA will develop new strategies for
accessibility in STEM courses and degree programs,” she said.
The GSAA’s use of this model of virtual worlds and avatars will provide groundbreaking
research on its effectiveness, scalable impact to other Georgia secondary and
postsecondary schools, and insight into the national needs of secondary students with
disabilities in STEM majors.
The GSAA will develop these new strategies for accessibility in mandatory freshmen
STEM courses at UGA, Georgia Tech and Georgia Perimeter, and the project has the
potential to impact all students at these institutions. The GSAA’s secondary school
partners in Clarke, Greene and Gwinnett counties have more than 6,000 high school
students with disabilities who could be impacted by the project.
Some of the new GSAA strategies will include: creating a mentoring/training island in
the virtual world of Second Life and integrating social networking tools to allow students
year-round mentoring experiences; providing evidence-based STEM learning strategies

2. through learning seminars and virtual learning communities; enhancing STEM faculty
and staffs’ability to educate students with disabilities using web-based and Second Life
training modules; and providing transition preparation and ongoing support to develop
self-advocacy and academic skills essential for students with disabilities to succeed in
STEM secondary and postsecondary programs.
Participants will include students with all types of disabilities including those with
cognitive disabilities (learning disabilities, behavioral/emotional disorders, and mild
intellectual disabilities) enrolled in three secondary school systems in Georgia and
postsecondary students enrolled at the partner institutions. STEM faculty, administrators
and disability personnel from partnering secondary and postsecondary institutions also
will participate.
Although project efforts primarily will be focused in Georgia, outreach and dissemination
efforts will extend nationwide. Lead agencies are UGA’s Learning Performance and
Support Laboratory, Georgia Tech’s Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental
Access,and Georgia Perimeter’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Co-principal investigators include Michael Hannafin, the Charles H. Wheatley-Georgia
Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Technology-Enhanced Learning and director of
the LPSL at UGA, and Robert Todd, a senior research scientist at Georgia Tech.
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