Creating Solutions to Educational Challenges

The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KUCRL) is a multidisciplinary research team whose overarching goal is Creating Solutions to Educational Challenges. KUCRL is dedicated to development and research of educational programs and practices that improve outcomes for all learners, including those with learning differences or disabilities. Our recent research and development focuses on online learning for students with disabilities, personalized learning in blended learning classrooms, and the use of technology (e.g., social media, games, virtual reality) to enhance learning for all students. KUCRL is home to the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM), an evidenced based collection of learning strategies, content enhancement teaching routines, and explicit instruction programs. These interventions and practices address higher-order reasoning skills, adolescent literacy, adult literacy, language and reading comprehension strategies, written expression strategies, math skills and strategies, social emotional learning skills, and explicit instruction and routines that respond to diversity in today’s schools.

CRL TODAY

Projects	Behind Our Research
VOISS offers children with autism spectrum disorder a way to practice social skills For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social interactions can be awkward or difficult to navigate. Whether it’s a conversation in the hallway at school or buying a candy bar at a grocery store, direct instruction and practice of social skills may be required to support success. Practicing these interactions as often as possible is key to long-term development and improvement, but it can be difficult to repeat or practice in-person as much as is needed to feel confident. The solution may be found in virtual reality applications being developed by researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. The VOISS, or Virtual Reality Opportunities to Integrate Social Skills, walks users through a variety of potential social interactions. It can be presented in a two-dimensional way on a tablet or laptop, or it can be used with a virtual reality headset.	Get to Know: Tonya Eberhart What projects are you currently working on? I am currently working on the grant titled "Improving Transition Outcomes for HS Students with Learning Disabilities". This grant combines the “Possible Selves” model and the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) and is a 4-year grant. I am additionally researching and updating a tutorial strategies manual, along with other projects. As you look to the future of your work, what are your hopes? My hope is to make a bigger contribution to the department and to the research. I hope to continue to research and contribute resources and learning strategies for parents, one-to-one and small group tutoring, content-specific tutoring strategies and activities. I hope to expand on research related to Possible Selves and motivation and associated social-emotional and behavioral skills that help students to succeed in school and work. What inspires you? I am inspired by the relentlessness of gathering and studying a vast amount of information in order to make informed decisions, discover better strategies and come to a greater knowledge of something. I like thinking out of the box and connecting previously disconnected ideas. I am inspired by sharing findings with others and hearing about what others have found and share. And by working with others and when a team of people’s contribution becomes “greater than the sum of their parts” so to speak.
Instructional Materials
Subtraction Facts 0 to 9 Problems like “6 - 3” and “9 - 4” may seem easy, but they probably cause a few anxious moments when students first learn them – especially at an automatic level. This textbook addresses that confusion by helping students understand what subtraction really is. Purchase Subtraction Facts 0 to 9 today!	The Inference Strategy: Overview for Educators If you’re looking for an evidenced-based learning strategy to help your students improve their inferential reading skills, take a minute to learn more about The Inference Strategy. Contact us for more information on how you can bring it to your students today.

Projects

Behind Our Research

VOISS offers children with autism spectrum disorder a way to practice social skills

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social interactions can be awkward or difficult to navigate. Whether it’s a conversation in the hallway at school or buying a candy bar at a grocery store, direct instruction and practice of social skills may be required to support success. Practicing these interactions as often as possible is key to long-term development and improvement, but it can be difficult to repeat or practice in-person as much as is needed to feel confident.

The solution may be found in virtual reality applications being developed by researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning.

The VOISS, or Virtual Reality Opportunities to Integrate Social Skills, walks users through a variety of potential social interactions. It can be presented in a two-dimensional way on a tablet or laptop, or it can be used with a virtual reality headset.

Get to Know: Tonya Eberhart

What projects are you currently working on? I am currently working on the grant titled "Improving Transition Outcomes for HS Students with Learning Disabilities". This grant combines the “Possible Selves” model and the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction (SDLMI) and is a 4-year grant. I am additionally researching and updating a tutorial strategies manual, along with other projects.

As you look to the future of your work, what are your hopes? My hope is to make a bigger contribution to the department and to the research. I hope to continue to research and contribute resources and learning strategies for parents, one-to-one and small group tutoring, content-specific tutoring strategies and activities. I hope to expand on research related to Possible Selves and motivation and associated social-emotional and behavioral skills that help students to succeed in school and work.

What inspires you? I am inspired by the relentlessness of gathering and studying a vast amount of information in order to make informed decisions, discover better strategies and come to a greater knowledge of something. I like thinking out of the box and connecting previously disconnected ideas. I am inspired by sharing findings with others and hearing about what others have found and share. And by working with others and when a team of people’s contribution becomes “greater than the sum of their parts” so to speak.

Nanette Fritschmann

Instructional Materials

Subtraction Facts 0 to 9

Problems like “6 - 3” and “9 - 4” may seem easy, but they probably cause a few anxious moments when students first learn them – especially at an automatic level. This textbook addresses that confusion by helping students understand what subtraction really is.

Purchase Subtraction Facts 0 to 9 today!

The Inference Strategy: Overview for Educators

If you’re looking for an evidenced-based learning strategy to help your students improve their inferential reading skills, take a minute to learn more about The Inference Strategy. Contact us for more information on how you can bring it to your students today.