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ICS | Faculty Resources
Faculty Resources
Welcome
Program Overview
What is the ICS Program?
In 2007, Beyond Academics was established as a private-public partnership between a non-profit organization and UNCG to address a national and state void in continuing education and training for young adults with intellectual disabilities. UNCG was one of only three programs in the state at the time, along with Western Carolina and Appalachian State.
When the non-profit organization closed in 2017, we shifted our name from Beyond Academics to Integrative Community Studies (the name of the certificate with which students graduate), but our program is the same. We serve students with intellectual disabilities who are interested in furthering their education. ICS is a four-year certificate program – awarded by UNCG’s Office of the Provost – that emphasizes self-determination, life planning, and career development. Integrative Community Studies (both the program and the students) have achieved meaningful milestones. Learn more about these achievements in this report.
Do ICS students enroll in credit-bearing courses just like degree-seeking students?
Yes, they can. The ICS program of study includes courses taught by ICS departmental staff as well as courses that students take outside of the department from across campus (known in the field as a hybrid model). Students choose these courses based on their interests, career goals, and advising meetings with program staff. Students also are encouraged to talk about auditing options with faculty members who are teaching courses that might be challenging but meaningful to a student. Both ICS and non-ICS courses are taken for credit, and students will have UNCG transcripts that reflect all of their coursework. They also receive support services specific to the ICS program goals of self-determination, life planning/independent living, and career development.
What do we hope you will offer our students?
ICS students are not degree-seeking students, but they are seeking to learn, grow, expand their horizons, and build new competencies just like their degree-seeking peers. We hope you will offer them the opportunity to do so.
Consistent with our goals for ICS students, we hope they are developing skills for meaningful participation in their courses. What does this mean? An ICS advisor engages each student to empower them to select coursework that is meaningful and purposeful to them. Many students start by taking classes that are fun and engaging based on personal interests. Then, as students advance through the program, they begin to focus on classes related to their career field of interest. They also complete an internship, volunteer opportunities/community service, and a capstone project.
What do we offer for ICS students?
The ICS program offers students learning opportunities and support as they build their confidence and capabilities for self-determination and independent living. Here is how we do that:
The ICS office supports students to create a College Support Plan which is part academic plan of study and part support plan. First, students learn to utilize existing resources on campus and in the community. This might include the Speaking/Writing Center, the library, the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services (OARS), or faculty and instructor office hours. Once these natural resources are in place, the office works with the student to engage with ICS support staff (e.g., full-time and part-time employees, interns, graduate assistants) and connect with other campus and community partners. Lastly, if students still need further support, the ICS office can work with students and families to find a third-party (off-campus) provider for their specific area of need.
Students in ICS may live on or off campus, participate in academic advising meetings, choose courses from within the ICS department and from the course catalog at large, join student organizations, and participate in student life. “Independent living” is one of the top reasons why applicants want to attend UNCG’s ICS program. Students engage in coursework and experiential learning to practice independent living skills. We encourage students to build a network of interdependence to help achieve their individualized independent living goal. We focus on financial literacy; housing opportunities; in-home skillsets (cooking, cleaning, laundry, bill payment); leisure interests; social planning; transportation opportunities; and much more.
ICS students are also developing advocacy and self-determination skills. More than just expressing their rights and accommodation needs, students practice skillsets related to short-, medium-, and long-term planning; managing complex emotions in various settings; simple and complex problem-solving; relationships and boundaries; and communication.
What can we offer you when our students are enrolled in your course?
Many times, you will not know if a student in the ICS program is in your course or not. While our office will not disclose student’s personal information and/or association with our department, students may choose to self-identify or self-disclose. When our students have approved accommodations from OARS, you will receive a letter of notification (as with any other student). Otherwise, we hope that you will conduct class as usual and will reach out to each student in the room to assess their needs and provide resources helpful for their learning. ICS students already have a robust set of resources behind them, so we are only asking you to be a responsive instructor who meets students where they are and seeks to move them toward the stated learning objectives of the course. If we can assist you in brainstorming, please let us know.
Universal Design for Learning is an approach that is very consistent with meeting the needs of students in the ICS program – indeed, its premise is that we can craft a learning environment where each student, no matter what their particular background or situation, can access learning materials and engage to their fullest extent. The UTLC (University Teaching and Learning Center) already has resources for you related to UDL. We will be adding videos about using Universal Design for Learning to our website as well. Here are some supplemental links if you are interested in learning more about UDL.
In addition, the organization “Think College” is dedicated to developing, expanding, and improving research and practice in inclusive higher education for students with intellectual disability. See this link for webinars, articles, and more!
FAQs
Many of our students are in their early 20’s when they arrive at UNCG, but not all. Most students come from NC and have a variety of racial/ethnic backgrounds. Some are very social and talkative, some may be quiet and shy, some are artistic or athletic, and some are entrepreneurial. In terms of their qualifications for the ICS program, they must have a diagnosis of intellectual disability, but they may also experience autism, learning differences, ADHD, Down’s Syndrome, or other differences. Get to know them!
You will not receive any formal notification from our office, although students may choose to self-disclose. You may see on your course roster that their student level is “transitional studies”, and their student type is listed as “Beyond Academics.”
We hope that you will maintain expectations for our students like you do with your other students. However, we also hope you will try various approaches to see how best to encourage their participation with their peers and with the course materials. In some cases, it may take students longer to read a passage, reflect on a question, or write a response, and they may have OARS accommodations that allow for that. In some cases, they may benefit from some strategies to help them stay focused and on task (see some ideas in our video section below).
As a faculty member, you have some freedom in how you structure and enact your own grading system. As with any student and course that you teach, we encourage you to reflect on how you are assessing progress and learning and why you are grading the way that you are grading. While ICS students are not degree-seeking students, and their personal reasons and goals for being in the classroom may be slightly different, the ICS department expects that students still strive for and hopefully meet all learning objectives of the course.
We are glad you asked! We have some great strategies that we have modeled in the video section below. In general, these are UDL type strategies that could indeed be helpful to many students in your classroom, not only the ICS students. For example, if you are using slides to accompany a lecture, consider including images that reinforce the words on the slides, and supplement that with verbal stories or examples as you speak. This provides several different ways for students to interact with the materials, depending upon their strengths.
Sometimes faculty have wondered if our students are completing their own assignments. They do have opportunities to participate in study halls and meet with support staff every week. Knowing that our goal is to promote self-determination and independence, we do not wish to take learning opportunities away from our students. We instruct the support staff to provide assistance by asking questions to help the student decide how to structure the task, or coaching with the steps needed to complete the work (executive function aids). Ultimately, the work that is submitted is always theirs, regardless of the level of support they receive from the ICS department. The best way to answer this question, if you have it, is to talk directly with the student in your class.
We are not asking you to recreate the wheel. You have your learning objectives and departmental standards that you are being asked to uphold, and we do not expect those to change. You may also have a range of students in your class who need different things in order to be successful. You may ask yourself some UDL-inspired questions such as these: “For what kinds of learners would this experience (activity, lesson, etc.) work best? Who would find it most challenging and why? What adjustments could I make so everyone can benefit from it?” (source: https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/applying-universal-design-for-learning-udl-supports-inclusive-education)