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Public Awareness Campaign Information

Georgia Tech Students lined up outside for a photo


Resources

Download the Public Awareness Campaign Content Guide

Example Content

Two female students on campus. Quote says 'I want to encourage everyone out there to not be afraid to go at your dreams, to please consider these programs.'

THINK HIGHER. THINK COLLEGE
For students with intellectual disability

The Think College Network is seeking submissions of videos and photos from students, staff, faculty, administration, families - anyone! - for a new public awareness campaign on inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE).

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of this public awareness campaign?

The Think College Inclusive Higher Education Network (Think College Network for short) is a national technical assistance and dissemination center, funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education in October, 2021.  The Think College Network raises public awareness about IPSE opportunities, translates research to practice through training and support, and creates collaborative workgroups to address existing gaps in services. Our objective is to support improved access, engagement, and outcomes for students with ID in colleges and universities across the US.

The “Think Higher.Think College” public awareness campaign will educate, create impact, and build understanding of inclusive postsecondary education for students with intellectual disability (ID).

What will the campaign highlight?

We want to highlight a wide range of stories and thoughts about students with intellectual disability going to college, or planning to go to college - how they started to “Think College”. These thoughts and stories can be shared by students (with and without disabilities), families, middle and high school educators and staff members, transition specialists, college staff/faculty and administrators, or anyone else that is impacted by or involved with inclusive postsecondary education.

How can I be a part of this campaign?

You can create video interviews and ask prompting questions (see below) to draw out each person’s story on how they started to “Think College.” And/or you can submit a photograph and a quote that shares a person’s story about how they started to “Think College” or what it means to go to college.

I want to be a part of this! What should I do to get started?

Download the instructions and interview questions:

  1. Download our interview questions and prompts (you’ll probably want to print them out if possible).

  2. Identify one or more people you’d like to interview. It could be a student (with or without a disability), family member, middle or high school educator or staff, college staff/faculty and administrator, transition specialist, or anyone else that is impacted by or involved with inclusive postsecondary education. 

  3. Have each person complete and sign our release form. You can download the form, and either fill it out on your computer or you can print it, fill it out and make a digital copy (either scan or photo) to send to us.

  4. Some campuses may have access to a videographer for interviews. But cell phone video can also work! For submitting a cell phone video, follow these filming tips.

Once you are done, submit your release forms, and your videos/photos/text files through our online form - that’s it!

Interview questions/prompts

You can decide which of these interview questions/prompts to use based on the type of person you are interviewing. You can ask follow up questions or change/rephrase the questions based on the type of person you are interviewing.

IMPORTANT: At the beginning of the video, ask each person to state and spell their name, and their affiliation (school, college, workplace, and/or hometown).

 

High School or Middle School Student:

  1. What do you want to do (or ‘what do you plan to do’) after high school?

  2. If college is NOT on their radar: What do you think about going to college?

  3. If college IS on their radar: Why do you want to go to college?

IPSE college student or graduate/alumni:

  1. When you were in high school, what did you hear (or ‘what did you know’) about your options for after school?  Follow up possibility: What did you think you’d be doing after high school? 
  2. If college was NOT on their radar:
    • Why didn’t you think about going to college?
    • What happened that got you to think about going to college?
  3. If college WAS on their radar,
    • Why did you want to go to college?
  4. Tell me the best (or your favorite) things about going to college.
  5. How has college helped you grow as a person?
  6. For current students: What are you thinking about doing after college?
  7. For graduates: What are you doing now? (Try to draw out aspects of their work and social life that grew out of college.)

Families/Parents of students with intellectual disability who have NOT yet attended college:

  1. Throughout your child’s middle and high school years, what did you think were the options for your child (or sibling, grandchild, etc.) after high school? Follow up: What were you told (or what did you hear) were the options for your child after high school?
  2. What do you see for your child’s future after high school?
  3. If college is NOT on their radar: Tell me your thoughts about the possibility of your child going to college. And/or Why was college NOT on your radar?
  4. If college IS on their radar:
    • What was the moment or experience that got you to “think college” for your child? When did this become an option for you?
    • What has been the impact on your child now that college is a possibility? What has been the impact on you and your family?

Families/Parents of students with intellectual disability who are in college, or graduated from an IPSE program:

  1. What was the moment or experience that got you to “think college” for your child (or sibling, grandchild, etc) ?

  2. Before you knew college was a possibility, what did you think were the options for your child after high school?  Follow up: What were you told was possible for your child after high school?

  3. What have you seen or experienced since then about the impact of college on your child?

  4. What has been the impact on the life of you and your family because of college access for your child?

High school teachers/Special Ed Directors/Transition specialists:

  1. When you speak with students with intellectual disabilities and their families about life after high school, what are the various options you discuss?
  2. What are your thoughts about students with intellectual disability going to college?
  3. If college is NOT something they see as much of a possibility:  What do you know about college access for students with intellectual disability?
  4. If college IS on their radar:
    • What was the moment or experience that got you to “think college” for students with intellectual disability?
    • What has been the impact on students you’ve worked with who are pursuing college, or have gone to college?

IPSE Personnel/college faculty/college administrators:

  1. Before you knew it was possible, what did you think about (or 'know about') the idea of students with intellectual disability going to college?

  2. What was the moment or experience that got you to “Think College” for students with ID?

  3. What have you seen or experienced since then about the impact of students with intellectual disability going to college?

  4. What has been the impact on you since your college included students with ID?

  5. How has the inclusion of students with intellectual disability impacted your college community?

Participant Agreement Release Form

Each person featured in a video or photo must complete the release form. You may access the release form here. Release forms can be uploaded via the submission form below or submitted via email to ThinkCollegeIHEN@umb.edu. 

Filming tips

General Interviewing Tips

  • Make the ask: - i.e., “Would you be willing to spare a few minutes to record a message for a national campaign to increase access to college for students with intellectual disability?” 

  • Don’t be afraid to ask as many people as possible to participate!! Remember the worst they can say is no. 

  • We are looking for diverse perspectives! Seek out diverse voices in every way. 

  • Keep the release form handy (either printed or having the link up on a device). Before you begin the interview, find out what group below the person falls into, and ask the appropriate questions.

  • Feel comfortable going “off script” and to ask additional, prompting, or follow up questions. The most important thing is to get good content any way you can get it!

  • Your voice will not be in these videos, so be sure respondents answer in full sentences. In other words, if you ask “what do you want to do after high school?” and they say “college,” ask them to repeat with a full statement like, “After high school, I want to go to college.”

  • We need short, concise responses (think “sound bites”). If someone gives a long answer, point out the most compelling part of their answer and ask them to re-state that theme or content as concisely as possible. 

 

Technical Tips for Cell Phone Filming

  • Make sure the video settings on your phone’s camera are set at at least 1080p. Go to your camera settings and look for something like this (iPhone example):

suggested iphone settings

  • Find a quiet space. Subtle outside noises like birds are fine, but avoid traffic noises or rooms with loud background noises of any kind. 

  • Keep it steady. Either hold the camera steady, or use a tripod, or rest your hand(s) on something when filming if needed.

  • Position the person so that their face is well lit, avoid very strong overhead sunlight or bad fluorescent lighting. Soft natural light (window light) or outdoor shade is best. Try not to have anything too distracting behind the person's head. 

  • Try to hold the camera at eye level with the person being interviewed. Hold the camera horizontally, and try to frame the person's head and shoulders only (see image below) like this, standing about 3-4 feet away, zooming in if necessary. If COVID protocols are necessary, you can stand more like 6 feet away and zoom in some to frame it the same way (audio may just suffer a bit).

example of how to frame a video on an iphone

  • Be sure to hold the camera in roughly the same position and framing the entire time. 

  • At the beginning of each video, ask the person to state their name, spell their name, and their affiliation/position. This way the “name stamp” can always be found on the video.

  • When they answer each question, try not to interject at all; let them complete their thoughts.  

  • If sudden background noise occurs (e.g., door slamming, a truck passing by) during a recording, just pause and re-record the statement. It gives the person being interviewed another chance to think about their response.

  • You can record it as one long video, or in separate clips. It doesn’t matter that much, although longer videos can sometimes be trickier to get off of your phone and onto a computer for upload. 

 

For more information about this campaign, or technical questions about video/photo recording and uploading, please contact the Think College Inclusive Higher Education Network team (thinkcollegeihen@umb.edu). 

We appreciate your interest in contributing to the inclusive postsecondary education public awareness campaign. While all submissions will be reviewed and considered, not all content will be featured as part of the public awareness campaign.