2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper reports on workshops developed as part of an NSF ADVANCE Partnership project focused on faculty salary equity titled Let’s Talk Money (LTM). The LTM workshops are conducted via video conferencing to a mixed audience of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing participants from three partner universities.
The aim is to train and support teams of administrators and faculty in using a collaborative process to build knowledge and understanding of the institutional compensation system, and take action to improve salary-related policies, perceptions, leadership skills, and community engagement. The workshops prepare the partner institutions to engage in salary equity efforts and demonstrate best practices in teamwork. Guiding principles used in creating the workshop content include
- Collaboration between diverse stakeholders
- Providing accessible and clear communication for all
- Addressing and challenging “unstated assumptions”
- Recognizing the emotions surrounding the subject of salary and equity
Over the first year of the project, the workshops presented communication and facilitation challenges with this audience. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting within multiple breakout rooms of mixed-hearing-status participants was of varying effectiveness, and workshop facilitators struggled to attend to requests regarding interpreting in real time.
Formative assessment based on observations of the project evaluation team and open feedback channels with participants from our partner universities allowed us to quickly identify these problems and collaboratively determine ways to improve. Thus, revisions were made to the workshop design and “run of show” support documentation, including a backchannel communication method among the presentation team, reminders to enable auto-transcription as a backup for interpreting, and real-time checking on quality of ASL interpretation. These changes improved the workshop experience for all participants, not only those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Ensuring that communication is clear supports inclusivity for everyone while paving the way for full participation and richer discussions.