Bonni Stachowiak [00:00:00]:

Today on episode number 499 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast, fostering neurodivergent learners’ growth with Will Hennessey. Welcome to this episode of Teaching in Higher Ed. I’m Bonni Stachowiak, and this is the space where we explore the art and science of being more effective at facilitating learning. We also share ways to improve our productivity approaches so we can have more peace in our lives and be even more present for our students. 

I am so pleased to be welcoming to today’s episode, Will Hennessy. Will’s a full time faculty member at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, which is located on the traditional unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin people. He works as an educational developer in the college’s learning and teaching services department, which supports faculty with their teaching, course design, and educational technology needs. He has been teaching in higher education for over a decade after earning a master of education from the University of Ottawa and undergraduate degrees at Trent University.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:01:33]:

Will believes that effective teaching is inclusive teaching. Growing up as a neurodivergent learner in many learning environments designed for neurotypical learning. He knows the value of cultivating belonging in the classroom, and he strives to center this in his work. Through professional development facilitation, 1 on 1 consultations, and curated resource sharing will support faculty in implementing inclusive curriculum, learning activities, and assessments into their teaching practice. He is passionate about neurodivergent, trauma-informed and humanized educational strategies, as well as universal design for learning. Also, about nachos. Will Hennessy, welcome to Teaching in Higher Ed.

Will Hennessy [00:02:27]:

A pleasure to be speaking with you today, Bonni.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:02:30]:

I understand that this episode is going to air just a couple of days before your birthday. So us from the Past Will. Will and Bonni from the past wanna wish Will of the future a very happy birthday. And is there anything that you wanna tell Will of the future just in terms of, you know, remember Will to how do you wanna celebrate your birthday? What do you think?

Will Hennessy [00:02:53]:

That’s that’s good. Well, it’s a it’s it’s a big one for me. I’ll be turning 40.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:02:57]:

Okay.

Will Hennessy [00:02:57]:

So something that I’m a little nervous about. So I think just a reminder to just be in the moment and and enjoy your special day.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:03:07]:

Oh, and I and for listeners, I did not know it was that Significant of a birthday. Although, aren’t we humans funny that we make it significant? Because I I am 52 now as of this recording. I will still be 52 in the in that in that time range. And I can tell you that 40 felt big to me and so did 50, and yet every year just keeps getting better and better, like, life is good. So yes. But I know that’s a significant one, so I’m glad I asked that question. Well, you shared a bit yeah. You shared a bit in your bio about What it was like for you to grow up as a neurodivergent learner, but would love to hear you share more about those experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly as they say.

Will Hennessy [00:03:50]:

That’s great. Yeah. Happy to. So I I was the 1st in my family to complete undergraduate and and master’s degrees. And as mentioned in my bio, I am neurodivergent. And those things, combined means that it wasn’t necessarily an easy path for me. And, you know, if you had told me when I was a student that one day I’d be on a Podcast about teaching and learning. I well, first, I would Dave said, what’s a podcast? But then I probably would have said, I think you probably are confusing me with With someone else.

Will Hennessy [00:04:21]:

I have to say, I really enjoyed Maha Bali’s recent episode on openness as a as a way of being and just everything that you both Chatted about in terms of transparency and vulnerability and and and inclusion. So in the spirit of that openness, I’d like to share some some stuff with you in an unpolished, but in an open and vulnerable way

Bonni Stachowiak [00:04:43]:

in

Will Hennessy [00:04:43]:

terms of sharing my experience and my knowledge.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:04:46]:

Thank you for that.

Will Hennessy [00:04:47]:

So when I was, I’d say, around 10, I was diagnosed with, Tourette syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD. And, for those that may not be too familiar with, either of those, Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized very much by involuntary, internal and external tics that occur repeatedly in the same way. This might look like Repeated blinking or head jerking or clenching of specific muscles or parts of the body or even vocalizing Sounds or or words. That tends to be one that people are a bit more aware of. So some compulsive disorder is It’s also a neurological disorder that causes problems with information processing. And, basically, the brain gets, stuck on a particular thought and just That’s a hard time letting go of that thought. In terms of what that can look like, this could be things like a fear of contamination that leads to Frequent handwashing, a fear of uncertainty or fear of losing control or needing control or order, obsessions over forgetting things like your Car keys or if you’ve locked your door or or not. And in terms of academic achievement, there was a study in 22,000 and teen, a Swedish survey that found that, people with OCE are 40 to 60% less likely to meet specific Educational milestones in their in their academic journey, things like graduating from, high school, from from postsecondary, from graduate programs.

Will Hennessy [00:06:22]:

And the study the study found and I’m using, you know, their their their words. Study found pervasive academic underachievement across a student’s Life. So I don’t want to be all, I guess, doom and gloom about my experience. I did have some great, wonderful teachers. And even if they listen to this, they might Be very surprised about about what they’re hearing and think he was a he was a great a great student. So, you know, at times, I did well enough in school, and I have incredibly supportive Parents who always had my back when I was in school. I was an athlete. I did very well in in in sports and and things like that.

Will Hennessy [00:06:57]:

But as a neurodivergent Student, I don’t know that I ever felt that I belonged academically. I felt very much that I was swimming against the current in what What I now know are what we would call to be, neurotypical learning environments, and this certainly did impact my academic Achievement. I I honestly thought that I just wasn’t as smart as my as my peers, that I just needed to try harder Or that one day, I guess, I would just kinda all click in my brain. Now, obviously, I know that’s that’s not the case now, But that’s that’s kind of where where I was at. I mean, this was pre, individual education plans, Much before an emphasis on things like inclusive teaching, neurodivergence, invisible disabilities, neurological differences, they weren’t as prevalent in the educational Discourse as they are are today. So what I experienced was throughout my learning journey, I guess, just Repeated instances that taught me that I didn’t necessarily feel that I belonged in the learning environments that that I found myself in, And they forced me in a way to close myself off, experience credible anxiety, hide my authentic self, and really just seek to be, Honestly, as invisible as possible so as not to draw attention to myself when I would bump up against that neurotypical learning system. So, I mean, I can highlight a few a few examples. I remember when I was in grade 1, this was before I was diagnosed with anything or before I knew I was neurodivergent, but I do I do remember I had a hard time organizing papers.

Will Hennessy [00:08:36]:

So, I mean, this is in grade 1, so what kind of organization did I have to do? But I remember that was the 1st time I that I had a desk, and it was the desk with the kind of storage space underneath the desk. So every time I would get a worksheet back or Get handed something by my teacher and just jam it into into the desk. No system whatsoever. It’s just a log jam of phonetic and numeric achievement Just jump in there. I learned recently of a term called, a doom box, and this is, something that’s common, I guess, in, amongst Folks with ADHD, doom standing for didn’t organize, only moved. So doom well, this is very much a doom Bonni or a big a doom desk, I guess. So there’s one time we were getting ready to sing the the Canadian national anthem, and the teacher had everybody stand up at their desk. He said, just make sure you grab your homework that we worked on the night before and put that on your desk.

Will Hennessy [00:09:25]:

Get your homework out before we sing O Canada. Well, I couldn’t find my homework. I remember rifling through all of my papers trying to trying to find it, and I must Dave been taking too long because the teacher was getting visibly frustrated and and calling on me. And my peers were standing beside me on their in their beside their desks, and it must have been must have taken too long because what happened was the teacher walked over and Kinda dumped the contents of my desk at my feet, which is which is I was mortified, of course, and then proceeded to to say, okay. Well, Your papers at your desk or sorry, at your feet, but we’re going to now sing the national anthem, and then you can find your paper after after that. So and I remember distinctly in that moment Thinking, how come everybody else could find their homework okay, but I but I couldn’t? You know? And I think that was one of the first times that I thought maybe maybe maybe I was A little bit different, I guess. Another example, I was in grade 10 grade 10 English class. I remember we were we were reading Othello at all of our desks.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:10:23]:

Hold on. Remind people because how old are people when they’re in grade 10? Because we have listeners from all over the world, and I’m trying to do math in my head too to remember

Will Hennessy [00:10:32]:

You know? That’s that’s

Bonni Stachowiak [00:10:33]:

a great question. 10.

Will Hennessy [00:10:34]:

I think it’s old. Oh, boy. This is I’m not an active teacher

Bonni Stachowiak [00:10:37]:

at school. I think that’s 15 ish years old. 15 or 16, somewhere in there. Yeah? Does that sound right?

Will Hennessy [00:10:42]:

I wanna say I was probably 16. Okay. And and, of course, when you’re in high school in in Grade 10. Yeah. I mean, that’s a tough time for for anybody. You’ve got hormones and puberty and

Bonni Stachowiak [00:10:54]:

Mhmm.

Will Hennessy [00:10:54]:

Acne and social interaction, and you’re learning to Dave, and you’re very much Focused on fitting in, but also, you know, competing with each other. So I think we were reading a fellow in class, and I remember the layout of the desks in our class were set up in a u all the way around the classroom, and then the teacher would stand in the middle. And the teacher was having, you know, each person in line take their turn to read passages from Othello, which yeah. I always I I never really understood that because when you’re doing that, nobody’s really listening. Nobody’s really paying attention, and you’re just counting ahead to see when is it my turn, what pass through might I have to have to read. But, anyway, I remember right across the the u from me, there was a bit of a a commotion. Some students were having fun and and joking around, and all of a sudden, Some some, some f bombs were were dropped. What my my wife is a grade seven teacher.

Will Hennessy [00:11:43]:

She would refer to this as spicy language with her students. Mhmm. And I remember the teacher My teacher is saying, hey. What’s what’s going on over there? And the students one of the students responded saying, sorry for the swearing, sir. It’s just My Tourette’s acting up or something like that, trying to be funny. And then everybody laughed, and then and and then the teacher teacher laughed. So that was my my identity was very much reduced to to a punch line. But one experience that I remember Quite, quite vividly was when I was doing my, bachelor of education.

Will Hennessy [00:12:17]:

So I decided after high School, I would do my bachelor’s of education. I’d want to, go to teacher’s college to become I want to be a high school history teacher. I’m very, very passionate about history, and I thought I want to create inclusive learning environments for for neurodivergent learners and and and introverts, Students students like me, the kind of environments that maybe I didn’t necessarily, have. And in that year, I had to do a A teaching placement, a teaching practicum course. You do a series of extended teaching placements at a school, And then you would come back to the university and then basically have a few weeks to debrief in class And and and talk about how that went. And I remember those those debriefing classes were very participation heavy. There was a big emphasis obviously on Reflection and discussion and oral communication, but the discussions were very unstructured discussions and and activities. And I I remember having a hard time Participating.

Will Hennessy [00:13:15]:

Feeling a little bit anxious because I because they were unstructured, I didn’t really have a sense of when or how to jump into the conversation, so I tended to just take a a a a back seat as the conversation went on. But But I remember when I was on placement, the my my professor would come and do observations of your teaching. And when it came to my final placement at the end of the semester, he He passed me with flying colors. Nobody said, I have to be honest. I really didn’t think you were going to pass this course, and I have serious doubts about you as a teacher because when we’re in class, you don’t speak up in class, and you’re very quiet. So he had made judgments or decisions about my abilities as a teacher based on his own preconceived ideas of what student engagement looks like. So By the end of that year, by the end of that degree, I didn’t wanna be a high school teacher anymore. I wanted to pursue graduate studies.

Will Hennessy [00:14:09]:

I wanted to teach at the postsecondary level To help teachers to to understand that not everyone learns in the same way and that when we privilege, quote, unquote, neurotypical learning, We can be excluding and creating barriers for a lot of people who could make education a better and and more inclusive place. So, I mean, those are just a couple of of many examples, but I I chose them to highlight the assumptions that we can make at all levels of education about who our learners are or or aren’t. And, usually, those assumptions are are connected to, you know, a hidden curriculum That we assume all of our learners know how to navigate.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:14:50]:

Yeah. Your story is I mean, all of those stories are so powerful. I’m finding myself wanting To ask a question and then and then notice a theme, the question I wanted to ask is I I I’m I’m very interested for myself and my continued learning in the benefits and drawbacks from becoming more aware of what some of the learning challenges someone might have in their context might be. I’m I’m intrigued by this because Sometimes the benefit to me knowing is I’m able to match what feels like a limited tool set, but at least start to go, Oh, I mean, you so you you’ve already mentioned Tourette syndrome. So I used to work with someone who had Tourette syndrome, but what I already know is that that particular syndrome shows up in lots of different ways. So in his particular case, it didn’t involve Any types of spicy language as your wife would say, it would instead involve and so it’s it’s I just find it fascinating how our brains will sort of work a little bit like, oh, I know what That is, I have seen that present itself. I am somewhat aware of the challenges someone might experience, And therefore, I might be better equipped than someone who had never heard of Tourette syndrome before, has no idea what that even means. You know what I mean? So it’s like but at the Same time as you’re talking.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:16:11]:

I know there has to be that I couldn’t possibly know enough because you are an entirely unique person. You are and you entirely experience those things with your own I mean, you’re sharing such beautiful, painful stories in such an open way, and thank you for how you started this conversation. And so I’m thinking much as I wish it wouldn’t be the case, well, no doubt me thinking that I might understand sometimes gets in the way because, of course, there’s still bias that exists. So one thing I’m trying to sort out in my head is these teachers that did such horrible, terrible things. I mean, that I think that we all, you know, listening could probably go, yeah, not great. But then I’m thinking, like, So for the like, your your Tourette syndrome when you were in that class, not that it even should matter, but were they aware That you have Tourette’s or or was this by then you had strategies in which it didn’t show up where it might have been as observable as at earlier stages in your life. So again, I don’t even I’m kind of wondering, a, how important is that even to know as I think through your stories? You know, the the difference between I I work with many people now very closely who have invisible disabilities. And unless they choose to disclose that to other people And it’s always complicated because there’s, of course, totally not ones people would have ever heard of before.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:17:37]:

And then, I mean, like, to what extent do you wanna bear your soul to People that you work with just to to receive, you know, a bare minimum of ability to show up to the fullness of your humanity, that kind of thing. So anyway, that was a little bit too long of a of a question. But, what I I guess I’d like to know, Any thoughts that you have about the degrees to which these stories might be nuanced in terms of your disability and how it presented Self and and maybe that doesn’t even matter. I mean, obviously, we should not be making jokes about Tourette syndrome. And especially a teacher, we would not wanna find ourselves in a position laughing about like that. But I am curious the ways in which, I guess, your disability is being, observable to others may or may not affect some of these stories. So, again, terrible, terrible, terrible question, but I’m interested in your reflections nonetheless.

Will Hennessy [00:18:33]:

For sure. No. That no. That is a great question. I mean, this this this was a time where like like like I said, there there wasn’t too much in terms of like, there were no IEPs are individual education plans that whenever a student maybe is is identified or or or diagnosed, They can then have this this this plan that follows them through their elementary and and secondary high school that Provide support and and accommodation. So this was this was really before that. So my teachers didn’t necessarily know, and that was That was my own choosing. That was something that I didn’t particularly feel I feel safe Having that shared.

Will Hennessy [00:19:16]:

So like I said, when it’s not on the radar, when it’s not on the So it’s not within a teacher’s toolbox to necessarily be too aware of, then it may not be something that I mean, they can make those assumptions about who’s in the room And and and who isn’t? I mean, I’m very grateful that neurodiversity and supporting neurodivergent learners Has entered the higher education discourse more in in the last couple of years than it than it ever has, And I know some amazing faculty who go above and, you know, beyond, to support their neurodivergent learners. But, you know, at the same time, I think still Even even years later now across higher education, I think there still exist opportunities for for improvement. A big part of it is Being more aware of neurodivergent learners, of neurodiversity in in general, I think I think a lot of it has to do with Educators don’t necessarily have have an awareness of the specific challenges. Like you said, it’s I mean, everybody’s a different person, so this shows up and manifests in in different ways. So can’t obviously know everything that everybody experiences, but being able to unpack and understand what some of those challenges and barriers And symptoms, for lack of a better word, can be, I think I think helps. Yeah. I know that A lot of times in the in the faculty support I provide and offering workshops when I’m talking about specific challenges and barriers that neurodivergent learners may may face, Giving tangible examples, like, a student with ADHD may have difficulties with With time management. Right? And and and breaking that down to to to share, you know, even whenever you’re planning your drive To work in the morning.

Will Hennessy [00:21:03]:

Right? You may you may plan it in a certain way that allows you to to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, leave your house, get to work Precisely on time or or even early, personally, that’s something that I have a challenge with. I tend to leave out the parts that Tend to make me about 10 to 15 minutes late on average for everything in my life. Right? So maybe that’s I might if if this is me driving to work, for example, I might leave out the part where, I might sit in traffic in my planning. I might leave out the part where I forget the period of time that it takes for me to park my car and then walk to my office, you know, and that’s about 10 or 15 minutes. So so those those kinds of things, those specific tangible examples, I think, can help faculty understand that a little bit better. So what I like to do is is go through some of the the, I guess, the strengths and challenges that that I have as a as a learner.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:22:00]:

Yeah. Before you do that, that’s gonna be really, really helpful to us. I’m looking forward to hearing more about that. I I’d wanna go back to your story. People couldn’t see my reaction. I mean, you can because we’re on video today. But when you told that Story about having learners read out loud. Would you before you start giving us lots of examples, of things we can hold on to, Would you speak about why it would be really unwise for anyone ever in any context to go around a circle and have everyone read aloud? Just just in case there are people who might be listening who would not already be aware, that is not a practice we should ever employ.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:22:39]:

Everybody in a circle reads aloud. Why would we never want to employ that regardless of age or context or or or things like that?

Will Hennessy [00:22:47]:

For sure. And I think there’s a couple a couple things at at play, but, I mean, I can share my own example in in that kind of activity as a as a student. I mean, all that I was ever doing was counting the distance between the amount of students between me and where they currently are And trying to maybe estimate paragraphs and figure out exactly which passage that I would be reading because I have I have specific challenges Being put on the spot in the in the moment. So it’s something that I want to make sure that I get right. I need extra time. So I’m not listening to student number 6, student number 5, student number 4 as they’re reading out their passages. All I’m Focused on is exactly which passage I’m going to be reading, and I want to make sure that I get that right. So I’m not I’m not taking in the text.

Will Hennessy [00:23:37]:

I’m not I’m not listening. I I’m not I’m not learning anything. And then, of course, there are also particular challenges around information being present in only in only one form. If it’s if it’s just being spoken out, there’s no accompanying visuals or anything like that Other than if you have the actual copy of the physical book in front of you as well, that can present a barrier for for learners as well. Yeah.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:24:00]:

I’m thinking dyslexia. I’m hearing that there are special fonts that are being developed to support them. So you you already mentioned If the information is only presented in one form, that could even literally mean the font that is used, etcetera, etcetera. So yeah. Anyway, I wanna hear more. So So share some of the examples that you that you can help us be better at doing this.

Will Hennessy [00:24:21]:

Yeah. Happy to. And and like I said, I think it helps when you can point to specific examples. Right? It’s one thing we can talk about supporting our neurodivergent learners, but what exactly does that look like Yeah. And In what ways can we support them, and in what ways are they facing barriers and challenges? And and as we mentioned, those barriers are are going to be different for for all of your neuro neurodivergent learners. It’ll be different for for everyone. So in terms of myself, I have Specific challenges when it comes to focus. So if this was a long lesson in class, a long lecture whenever I was in University and it’s just, you know, passive lecturing for for 3 straight hours, no breaks, no activities, things like that, I’m going to have a very hard time Paying attention for that amount of time, and we can extrapolate that too beyond learning, sitting in a long work meeting or or something like that.

Will Hennessy [00:25:13]:

And for me, it’s because I honestly have a lot going on in my brain. One of the one of the ticks that I have with Tourette syndrome is actually spelling words backwards In my in my brain, we’re counting the amount of letters that are that are in a word or repeating words and and phrases or maybe song song lyrics. And it’s It’s almost like trying to watch multiple television screens all at once. There’s a lot of information. There’s a lot going on. So it’s it’s very hard for me to tune in to that one Specific television channel for a long period of time.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:25:46]:

Yesterday, I got to attend this workshop put on by Sarah Silverman. And Oh, she’s fantastic. She gave a break every 25 minutes, a 5 minute break. And I I’m excited to hear more of your examples because the beautiful thing is The thing is that the examples can not only benefit benefit those who are part of, the neurodiverse population, but also It benefits everyone. So how nice is that that that I mean, there could be all sorts of reasons that people may be held back from Feeling like they can achieve their their potential. You talked about that sense of belonging in your experiences and those powerful stories. And and yet the when we employ these sometimes simple, not always, but sometimes simple approaches, we really can be doing things to support all learners. So, yeah, please share more of your examples.

Will Hennessy [00:26:37]:

Absolutely. Sure. I do have particular challenges with Processing information in in the moment. I mentioned that I I don’t like being put on the spot in class or or in a meeting because I honestly just I need more time To think. I need more time to to to to think of an answer. So that can be a challenge for me, especially when it comes to Anything in any activity or an assignment involving maybe oral communication, maybe some forms of presentations as well, even things like job interviews, right, if the Questions aren’t circulated beforehand or if you don’t know the questions that are that are coming. A big challenge for me was, writing tests. Right.

Will Hennessy [00:27:16]:

Not knowing what’s coming, only being able to get the questions in in that moment presented a, you know, a big of a big challenge for me. And To be honest, I’m not sure that, you know, writing a test or giving answers Bonni on a test is entirely indicative of exactly what you know. It’s what you know in that specific amount of time. And if I have specific challenges processing that information in that specific amount of time, I would argue that’s not an accurate evaluation of what I actually know. Yeah. I’ve, I mentioned some some challenges with time management as well. I tend to second guess myself with a with a lot of things or assume that I’ve interpreted information incorrectly. So I very much benefit from lots of structure, lots of clear instructions on assignments and and activities and and things like that.

Will Hennessy [00:28:09]:

Because if I don’t have that, I’m not really sure exactly where to focus on or what is exactly being asked of me, or I tend to overthink it and put more effort, More detail into it than is what is actually expected. I remember in in undergrad, it was might have been an English literature or history class, but one of the assignments was to create an annotated bibliography. And being a a first generation student, I I didn’t know I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know what was being asked of me. I I didn’t really know what annotated meant at the time. I didn’t know what bibliography meant at the time. So putting those 2 words together, I really didn’t know. Mhmm.

Will Hennessy [00:28:46]:

No one was asked of me, and that’s really All that there was for those that assignment’s instructions was creating an annotated bibliography using APA referencing or or or something like that. So I remember being very, very confused about that. But I think the biggest challenge that I face is just the The effort and energy that it takes to to to to mask to mask, quote, unquote, normalcy In neurotypical environments. I’m a a big fan of doctor Liz Norell, and I know that she Talks about this as the performance of attention. Mhmm. And and what she says that if your neurodivergent Students are performing attention in your class. Chances are they’re probably not able to actually pay attention or or learn. So, you know, sitting Still paying attention, trying to make eye contact, those those kinds of things, trying to focus on the lesson when there’s a lot going on In in in my brain, a lot of external stimuli, right, if it’s noise or if it’s a busy environment, if there’s bright, bright lighting, those kinds of things, Cognitively can be very taxing and tiring.

Will Hennessy [00:30:00]:

So I I think those are a few good examples of of the specific challenges that I face.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:30:06]:

I know there are some specific strategies that you’d like to share with us today. Would you tell us about Humanizing the Syllabus, the LMS, and assessments, and also providing opportunities for flexibility, universal design for learning. I’ll stop talking now because I’m excited to hear about some of these strategies.

Will Hennessy [00:30:28]:

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, the the big 3 that I like to to focus on are flexibility, structure, And, basically, connection. So a lot of things that you’ve mentioned so far are really to tie tie into those. So in terms of Flexibility and specifically, you know, universal design for learning, a lot of neurodivergent learners are very interest driven. Autistic learners, ADHD learners are some some examples. So providing choice and and flexibility in learning gives opportunities for for for them to learn and to demonstrate their learning in in intrinsically motivated ways. So so UDL or universal design for learning is a great framework for embedding exactly that choice and and flexibility, through multiple means of of engagement, Representation and action and expression.

Will Hennessy [00:31:19]:

I like to really pinpoint assessments as a a great way to embed choice In the spirit of of UDL. So I like to encourage faculty to design authentic and alternative assessments that their learners can choose from, So authentic assessments that are that are practical, that that provide real world tasks or or projects that learners Presumably, reasonably can be expected to to do in their in their professional life, and this aligns nicely with the intrinsic motivation of all learners. And then, of course, having being able to have that choice for neurodivergent learners is is is even better. So one example that I give is I used to teach technical communications, and I would teach my my course to computer systems technicians. So students would be going on to work in IT fields. And I would have them create, basically, a technical instructions manual or a user guide, a step by step thing that you could Follow to maybe map your network drive or sync your email on your on your smartphone or or or back up your hard drive or something like that. And I would encourage the students, you know, you can you can complete this assignment as a written step by step tutorial. It can be a a screencast Video, perhaps it could be some kind of visual in infographic, but, you know, the big thing about about UDL is, of course, not limiting The the choice as well too.

Will Hennessy [00:32:45]:

So if you’re familiar with the the the yes and rule from improv from improvisation classes, I I like to say that UDL is about choice and, so, you know, providing learners you know, you could do these options, but Or maybe there’s something else that I haven’t thought of. And if you do have other ideas about how that could you could demonstrate your learning, but in alignment with the course’s, you know, learning Objectives, then then let’s chat about that. Right? So that’s one example of universal design for learning being a great way to support neurodivergent learners. I did mention that structure is important to me, and that might seem contradictory considering that I was just talking about implementing flexibility and choice. But Structure is incredibly important for neurodivergent learners. And even though we’re implementing flexibility and choice, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be a free for all or students can just Do whatever they want that could actually, you know, hinder learning. So neurodivergent learners need structure. All learners need need structure.

Will Hennessy [00:33:43]:

Helps us better understand what’s expected of us on assignments and and activities. And the routine and predictability that we can get from Going from assignment to assignment and following those instructions, you know, in a similar manner help us feel more comfortable and settled so that we can actually focus on the learning task, not try to Maybe decode what the professor actually wants from us. So implementing structure in terms of maybe the the the TILT framework. Right. Transparency in learning and and teaching. So providing specific information about the the maybe the purpose or the rationale or the context connected to that assignment, Providing things like a sample assignment of what student work might look like is another great example for assignments In in class, in your learning management system, as much as you can implementing predictability, pattern, The structure. Right? So even things like signposting in class at the start of class saying, we’re going to be covering 3 main things Dave, We’re going to be doing a couple of activities, and this is kinda what they will look like, or this is what will be asked of you. This is how you will be asked to to engage.

Will Hennessy [00:34:52]:

So that structure, hopefully, no surprises. You know, those kinds of things can be can be very helpful. The third Elements that I mentioned is is is connection, and this is one that’s very near and dear to to my heart. So humanizing learning and doing so in ways that That fosters academic belonging for learners is is is really important. Having a professor that you can trust, That you feel safe in their class, that who cares about you, that makes all all of the difference. So that connection and that and that care, It’s not something that it’s not a default setting for learners, especially underrepresented and equity deserving learners. It’s not it’s not the default. It’s not something that we can Assume just exists in the class.

Will Hennessy [00:35:37]:

It’s something that needs to be cultivated. It’s a it’s a relationship that needs to to To be built. I think back to one of my 1st classes in in my undergrad at, Trent University in in Peterborough, Ontario. And I mentioned, as a 1st generation student, I didn’t really did not know what to expect. And I remember going to one of my very first classes of of the semester. This was before, really, there was an an LMS, so you had to go to the class to get this syllabus. So walking into that room, I really had no idea What to expect, who the professor was, what we were Bonni be talking about, what kind of assignments we’d be doing. So there was a lot of anxiety built up in that, and it took A lot of effort and and energy for me to, to to work up the courage to to step into that Classroom.

Will Hennessy [00:36:23]:

So I remember as soon as I went in, I thought I need to blend in. I I need to look I need to be invisible. I don’t want to I don’t wanna stand out because that’s that’s That’s how I I I survived for a long time in education, and it was that in front of the amphitheater style classroom. So you’d You’d walk higher up as you got to the the the back of the room. So I thought I’m gonna go right to the back. I’m gonna go blend in. There’s there’s nobody Around me, this is good. I can I can disappear and just kind of focus on the learning about the course? And I remember I had a coffee with me.

Will Hennessy [00:36:53]:

I put the coffee down, Accidentally spilled the coffee and watched in horror as it slowly went downhill down the end of theater towards some of my classmates. I was Mortified. So I did what any rational person would do. I bolted. I I bolted out of that class. I mean, I was feeling anxious. I was feeling like maybe I didn’t belong. And then to have that happened, I just bolted.

Will Hennessy [00:37:17]:

That was my reaction. So I missed out on getting this Syllabus syllabus, I I missed out on getting the the course introduction. So when it comes to humanizing the learning environment, there are a few things that you can do, but I really think that it should start with The syllabus. And this is something that I know Michelle Pacansky-Brock has has talked quite a bit about in terms of humanizing the the syllabus and a liquid syllabus, and She talks about how weeks 0 and 1 are a high opportunity zone to to really cultivate that academic belonging and mitigate What’s known as belonging uncertainty and and and anxiety. So I I work with faculty to think of ways that they can humanize their their syllabus. It can be something like injecting warm language into the into the document. It can be rethinking their late assignment policies. It can be an actual statement in the document of of welcome and and and support for learning however you learn, basically, however, whenever.

Will Hennessy [00:38:15]:

I offer some workshops on how to create your syllabus in a way that humanizes it by reformatting the syllabus as a frequently asked questions document, an FAQ, Or working with faculty on creating what Remi Kalir is is quite known for in terms of an annotated bibliography too. So sharing space with the learners, giving them agency and power, basically presenting to them, this syllabus, is incomplete without your input. Right. I would like you to ask questions. I would like you to, you know, insert comments and and things like that because without it without your input and your feedback on the direction of this course, Then it’s incomplete. And I think that’s an incredibly powerful way to invite learners into into their course and really help them feel like they belong.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:38:59]:

Before we get to the recommendations segment, what is one piece of advice that you would like to give to faculty as we seek to better understand the narrow diversion learners experience.

Will Hennessy [00:39:11]:

Yeah. Are you familiar with the show Good Omens?

Bonni Stachowiak [00:39:15]:

No. Yeah.

Will Hennessy [00:39:16]:

It was a Wednesday show.

Will Hennessy [00:39:20]:

Originally a novel. Okay. Originally a novel by, Neil Gaiman and and Terry Pratchett. It’s It’s a very funny story about an angel and and a demon who basically join forces. They team up to prevent the the end of the world That’s brought on by the birth of of Satan, and they want to prevent the apocalypse because they’re just having too much fun on Earth. So in the show, I think it’s maybe on Amazon, There’s a there’s a scene where the the demon that I mentioned is him, miss Crowley. He’s mad at his houseplants. He’s mad at his houseplants for having blight or spots, and He he berates the plants, and there’s a very memorable scene, a line in which he shouts at his house plants to grow better, Which cracks me up because, well, first of all, why does a demon have houseplants, I guess? But more importantly, because it’s Obviously, absurd to get mad at plants for not growing in the way that we expect them to.

Will Hennessy [00:40:13]:

Plants grow in different ways. Plants have different needs. They require their own individual specific combinations of of sunlight, watering, soil conditions. I can’t simply give the same care to all of my plants and expect them to thrive and and produce. And it works the same with learning. Everyone learns in different ways and has different Learning needs. So, my advice would be that it’s not enough to deliver content maybe in traditional ways that Assume that we learn in the same way. It’s not enough anymore.

Will Hennessy [00:40:48]:

It probably never was. We need to teach for learning in the ways that Students learn, and that needs to be proactive. It needs to be centered within our practice. It’s not enough to wait for a student to come To us, with a request for academic accommodation, it’s something that we need to do proactively. Even without those academic, accommodation requests coming forward. You already have neurodivergent learners in your class whether you know it or not. And there are Lot of proactive things, big things, small things that you can do to support them. It’s not just about it’s not just about good teaching.

Will Hennessy [00:41:23]:

Todd Zakrajsek talks about this, yeah, when he’s talking about the neuroscience of learning and and and how students learn. And he says something along On the lines of, like, now that we know how students learn, we have a moral obligation to teach them in ways that students actually learn.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:41:40]:

This is the time in the show where we each get to share our recommendations. And I have what I think is a simple recommendation, but Sometimes simple can be powerful and that is that in our hashtags, we should be using Camel Dave. And the reason for that and CamelCase would be like initial initial capitalization. So if I were to use a hashtag called hashtag CamelCase, The c in the word camel would be capitalized and the c in the word case would be capitalized. And this allows people who use Screen readers or who otherwise may, have difficulty reading hashtags that don’t break up the words like that, it allows them to be able to experience the hashtags with the intended effect. And I bring this up as something that I didn’t know. And I only found out about this through the social network. Well, it’s not a social network, it’s a federation of social networks called Mastodon, which I belong to.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:42:41]:

I don’t get up there very often. Although for a while, Dave and I were subscribing to a paid host service, and so we moved. That’s the benefit, by the way, of Federated Social Networks. So I could we decided we just weren’t getting enough value out of Our usage level, so we decided to move over. I moved over to mastodon dot social, which is one of the the many networks. And so When I moved over, I mentioned that I was there and this, very nice person whose username I can’t pronounce, So I’ll spell it, bodhipaksa. And I’m sort of laughing because there’s probably I mean, it could be his last name, but it also could be any number of things that I’m missing. But anyway, he was so kind and welcoming.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:43:23]:

So fun to come into a new space, and he was really kind and welcoming. And he let me know that in the most kind, generous way that, you know, you might in the future wanna do this. And it’s very hard to Blaine without reading you word for word, you know, how he did it, but it was just I thought I thought, like, if you’re gonna correct someone, that’s the way to do it. It’s just to be very gentle, but I was so glad to be informed. And he was so welcoming and generous. It’s just kinda like Kinda like you were saying, well, just a moment ago about Todd Zakrajsek. You know, once you know this information, then it’s on you to do it. Well, I didn’t know that information.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:44:01]:

And so now I do and I can do it. And thanks to this person on Mastodon, I’m able to do that. And he was just, Like I said, so kind. And I had mentioned something, Mastodon, when you join a new instance, it’ll say, you know, you should introduce yourself. So I mentioned something about using Mac Computers. And at the end of his message, he says, anyway, I’m looking forward to learning more about Mac stuff from you. So I was like, hey. We’re just gonna be learning from each other here, and, you know, I got to teach you this.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:44:27]:

And he said, apparently, using CamelCase in hashtags is helpful. It allows the screen readers that visually impaired people use to know how to break them up. It also helps human readers in some instance, and then he gave an example, higher ed with a capital h, capital e is easier to parse than the same hash tag in all lowercase. Anyway, he was so just so kind. So my 2nd recommendation for today is to be like this guy. You know, if we’re gonna like, let’s let’s all not leave people Where they are, and let’s keep learning and growing from each other. And at the same time, let’s be kind because not all of us know. Not all of us know, You know, how to be better at what we do and yeah.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:45:07]:

So be like this guy even though I can’t pronounce his Dave, and I hope someday if that is indeed his name, I hope to be able to do so someday. So yeah. Anyway, well, I’m gonna pass it over to you for whatever you’d like to recommend.

Will Hennessy [00:45:18]:

Thank you. That’s that’s wonderful. And who knows? This could be, like, the the origin star story of a new friendship that

Bonni Stachowiak [00:45:23]:

you have

Will Hennessy [00:45:23]:

For for future you. Thanks for sharing that too. That’s I didn’t know either, and I I found the way that you described it in terms of the the if CamelCase was a hashtag, This is what it would look like. I found that very helpful, so so thank you. My recommendation, is connected to Trying to be present and grounded in in the moment moment. So being grounded in the moment is is something that Can be a challenge for neurodivergent folks, and it’s something that, personally, I do I do I am challenged with with my con my brain constantly being distracted or Or seeking distraction or being anxious or overwhelmed with with stimuli. So I I try to find better ways to to To ground myself and be more more present. So 2 ways that I find work well for me is by exercising and and listening to music.

Will Hennessy [00:46:13]:

So In terms of exercising, I recently started Muay Thai kickboxing. Shout out to my friend, Khru Yuki, at, Boss Thai Fitness and boxing in in Kempo, it’s a wonderful supportive community. It’s so challenging, and and I love it. I obviously you know, I I joined, the class is to exercise my body, but I find it not only does that, but also is such a an exercise for my mind because there’s so much Technique, you know, with the footwork and the and the positioning, and in order to do it and and do it well, I have to be incredibly connected in in my mind and in my body and Completely present in the moment. So that’s been, a wonderful thing for me. My other recommendation is just just listening to music. It I find that it grounds me and helps me check-in with my emotions and how I’m feeling in that moment. And I tend to pick music Based on my mood, as many people do, one of my favorite songs to ground myself is a song by a a folk musician named John Creggy, And the song is called Dissect the Birds, so I would like to recommend that.

Will Hennessy [00:47:19]:

It’s it’s a charming, funny, Heartwarming song, but very much, serves as a reminder to not get down on ourselves and to not sweat the small things in life.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:47:31]:

Thank you so much for these 2 recommendations and for all the recommendations that you have shared about how we can do this better. And it’s been such a pleasure being connected with you. I love how you share so vulnerably. That is something that You may look easy today, but I know is not easy. So that takes a spirit of openness that is bold and Courageous and means that this matters to you enough to not want to leave us in the same place where we are Dave. So thank you for that. I’m just so glad to be connected with you, Will.

Will Hennessy [00:48:04]:

Thank you very much, Bonni, and thank you for helping me, feel safe in in this space. I appreciate that.

Bonni Stachowiak [00:48:12]:

Today’s episode was produced by me, Bonni Stachowiak. It was edited by the ever talented Andrew Kroeger. Podcast production support was provided by the amazing Sierra Smith. If you have been listening to Teaching in Higher Ed for a while and aren’t getting emails from me once a week, head over to teachinginhighered.com/subscribe. What happens when you do that? You’ll receive that email from me as well as some resources, quotable words that don’t show up in the regular show notes. Thanks to each one of you for listening, and get ready for this week, it’s episode 500 of Teaching in Higher Ed. Get ready to celebrate.

Teaching in Higher Ed transcripts are created using a combination of an automated transcription service and human beings. This text likely will not represent the precise, word-for-word conversation that was had. The accuracy of the transcripts will vary. The authoritative record of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcasts is contained in the audio file.