ORLANDO — When advocates for students with disabilities asked
Stephen Rehberg, an associate academic professional at Georgia
Tech’s Center of Enhanced Teaching and Learning, to help create
workshops to teach science and technology faculty members how
better to accommodate disabled students, Rehberg’s answer was
simple: “No.” “Trying to teach faculty about accessibility is a
dead end,” Rehberg said last week, during a session as
Blackboard’s annual user conference here. “They’re not going to
come to the workshops, and [if] they get there, they’re going to
glaze over. I said, ‘I’m not going to waste my time or the grant
money.’ ” Instead, Rehberg made a counter-proposal to his
suitors from the Center for Assistive Technology and Environment
Access: He would design a STEM class catering to the needs of
disabled students with the hypothesis that it would improve
engagement for everybody — specifically, students in huge
lecture courses. “At Georgia Tech, we have many classes that are
300 [students] and up, and it’