Possible Collaborations in Higher Education

We had excellent meetings with the Zamise College (Zambia Institute for Special Education) and with the University of Zambia Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology of Education and Special Education. In both of these meetings we discussed possible collaborations between the University of Minnesota.

At Zamesi there is interest in using the College of Direct Support and identifying connections for special education textbooks and materials to send out to the special education programs throughout Zambia.

At the University of Zambia there was interest in a shared research agenda that would involve community organizations and perhaps a community intervention. Several faculty were present at this meeting and they expressed interest in working on projects that support teachers in working closer with family members and within communities. There was also interest in supporting students to conduct research and in reviewing and supporting these efforts. These faculty were also interested in connecting and collaborating with the Zambian leadership team.

All parties agreed to remain in contact via the internet and to look for concrete and specific ways to collaborate in the future.

Zambians Using College of Direct Support

It has been exciting for us to hear about how the College of Direct Support (CDS) has been used in the country of Zambia. Makela has been using the CDS and has completed two courses, Positive Behavior Support and Teaching Skills. She is a Principal at Bauleni and has reported using the information and skills that she has learned in the CDS courses to teach and develop the skills of her teachers at the boarding school and in her home based education program. She indicated, "I learned that when a child has behavior it could be because they are trying to communicate. That had never even entered my mind."

In addition to the use of CDS by the Zambian team members who attending the leadership training program in the United States, others are interested as well. The Lusaka Ministry of Education is likely going to set up a learning lab in their resource center so that teachers can access the College of Direct Support. Additionally, Zamise (Zambia Institute for Special Education) is interested in providing the College of Direct Support curriculum to the 120+ special education teachers that they graduate each year. Having learned about their
curriculum, it is evident that the College of Direct Support curriculum could be useful in many ways.

In a meeting earlier in the week we learned about the many needs that educators, families and policy makers have regarding disability services and issues in Zambia. These include working with families and support networks, basic values and attitudes toward people with disabilities, supporting children and adults with autism, working with children who have challenging behavior, transition and employment issues among many others. The CDS certainly contains much of this content.

We will follow up with our Zambian colleagues and begin registering new learners for the CDS as they are identified.