Kirsten Behling
On this episode, Katie is joined by Kirsten Behling, the Director of the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at Suffolk University. Prior to joining Suffolk, Kirsten worked for the University Centers of Excellence on Disability at both the University of Massachusetts Boston and the University of New Hampshire. At both institutions Kirsten wrote and directed projects funded by the Office of Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education on inclusive practices for students with disabilities in postsecondary education. Kirsten is currently leading a team of disability service professionals in partnership with the University of Connecticut in the development of an online certificate course for Disability Services in Higher Education. Kirsten also speaks nationally on the topics of universal design in higher education, strategies for effectively educating faculty on working with students with disabilities and accessibility online learning. She also serves at the president of the New England Association of Higher Education and Disability Services (AHEAD).
(After this episode was recorded, Kirsten accepted a new position at Tufts University as the Director of Student Accessibility Services.)
Transcript (.docx)
Show Notes
Would you like to incorporate this episode of “Research in Action” into your course? Download the Episode 6 Instructor Guide (.pdf) or visit our Podcast Instructor Guides page to find additional information.
Segment 1: Benefits of research/writing collaborations [00:00-11:55]
In this first segment, Kirsten and Katie talk about their collaborative work and some of the benefits they have found from research and writing collaborations.
In this segment, the following resources are mentioned:
- Two articles that have come out of Kirsten and Katie’s national study on online accessibility are
- Behling, K. & Linder, K.E. (summer 2017). “Collaborations Between Centers for Teaching and Learning and Offices of Disability Services: Current Partnerships and Perceived Challenges,” Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability (in press).
- Linder, K.E., Fontaine-Rainen, D., & Behling, K. (2015). “Whose Job Is It?: Key Challenges and Future Directions for Online Accessibility in U.S. Institutions of Higher Education,” Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance, and e-Learning 30(1): 21-34.
Segment 2: What to do when a research or writing collaboration goes bad [11:56-23:40]
In segment two, Kirsten and Katie share some experiences with collaborations that have not gone as well as they would have liked and offer strategies to respond to challenging situations.
Segment 3: What makes a good research collaborator/collaboration? [23:41-35:00]
In segment three, Kirsten and Katie share some of the components they look for to set up a strong collaboration from the start.
In this segment, the following resources are mentioned:
- Katie mentions a collaboration where her collaborator had strengths with data visualization. The article that resulted from that collaboration is:
- Linder, K.E. & Klaf, S. (2013). “Faculty Development Scholarship: An Analysis of To Improve the Academy, 1982-2011,” To Improve the Academy, Vol. 32: 163-182.
- Chronicle of Higher Education article: “To Co-Author or Not to Co-Author” by Geoffrey Pullum
- Another good resource is the Science Magazine article “How to Collaborate” by Sharon Ann Holgate
To share feedback about this podcast episode, ask questions that could be featured in a future episode, or to share research-related resources, post a comment below or contact the “Research in Action” podcast:
Twitter: @RIA_podcast or #RIA_podcast
Email: riapodcast@oregonstate.edu
Voicemail: 541-737-1111
If you listen to the podcast via iTunes, please consider leaving us a review.
The views expressed by guests on the Research in Action podcast do not necessarily represent the views of Ecampus or Oregon State University.
