Goodwin, E. C., Pais, D., He, J., Gin, L. E., & Brownell, S. E. (2024). Perspectives from Undergraduate Life Sciences Faculty: Are We Equipped to Effectively Accommodate Students With Disabilities in Our Classrooms ? CBE—Life Sciences Education , 23 (2). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.23-05-0094

Accommodations were not specified; the focus was on faculty perceptions regarding providing accommodations for students with disabilities in undergraduate life sciences courses. Faculty discussed standard accommodations in general, accommodations for testing, and accommodations for course-based undergraduate research experiences.

Thirty-four life sciences faculty instructors from research-intensive institutions nationwide participated in this study. The majority (88%) typically taught larger classes with enrollment over 50 students, and most (94%) had over 2 years of teaching experience.

Semi-structured interviews conducted over Zoom with faculty instructors explored their attitudes, experiences, and conceptions about working with students with disabilities and providing accommodations. Using Expectancy-Value Theory, researchers analyzed faculty motivation to provide accommodations through coding interview transcripts for themes related to expectation of success, attainment value, utility value, intrinsic value, and perceived costs.

Faculty mentioned challenges with managing different testing accommodations, particularly extended time. Some faculty described automated systems that made test accommodations manageable, while others mentioned difficulties with manually tracking different time allocations for students. One faculty member specifically mentioned adopting take-home exams with 24-hour windows for all students to avoid having to manage different time accommodations for different students. Some faculty also expressed concerns about the trade-offs students faced when using testing accommodations, such as potentially missing instruction time to take exams in separate locations.