Erin Vobornik
Chair
Southern Illinois Professional Development Center
Elgin, IL USA
evoborn@siue.edu
Aimee Julian
Vice-Chair
Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support
Normal, IL USA
alafoll@ilstu.edu
Sarah Goldammer
Founding Member
Southern Illinois Professional Development Center
Edwardsville, IL USA
sgoldam@siue.edu
Tara Schwab
Founding Member
Southern Illinois Professional Development Center
Batavia, IL, USA
tarschw@siue.edu
About Us
The UDL-IRN CTAE SIG’s mission is to bring together professionals from across the career, technical, and adult education fields who are dedicated to developing UDL-aligned curriculum, engaging in professional development, improving access and inclusion, and advocating on behalf of the people we serve.
Why It Is Important
Career, technical, and adult education are grant-funded fields that follow strict guidelines on how student success is measured. UDL has been gaining traction as a mechanism for equity and access in career, technical, and adult education because it can help reach our students with literacy, linguistic, social, and digital literacy barriers. Our grant-funder, the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE), has been pushing for programs to implement UDL practices at all levels of instruction, including professional development. Additionally, Perkins V states professional development and training will “prepares career and technical education teachers, faculty, specialized instructional support personnel, and paraprofessionals to provide appropriate accommodations for students who are members of special populations, including through the use of principles of universal design for learning, multi-tier systems of supports, and positive behavioral interventions and support.”
This SIG will:
- create a space in which practitioners can work toward more inclusive, equitable programs without judgment;
- share resources and promising practices for UDL in CTE and Adult Education;
- advocate on behalf of those we serve in CTAE programs
- foster partnerships between career, technical education and adult education
Our Activities
This SIG will highlight partnerships between career and technical education and adult education while centering our students. We will use UDL as a framework to build new partnerships and repair those partnerships that have faded over time. Each meeting will incorporate issues and concerns that affect both career and technical and adult education fields along with resources and promising practices for UDL in our classrooms and within our larger programs. There is a place in every discussion for members of each field, and all voices are welcome.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments at ctae@udl-irn.org.
Follow us on Twitter.
Upcoming Meetings
- Meeting #3: May 31, 2023
- Topic: UDL and (Dis)Ability
- Goals: Members will…
- Determine the ways in which course material may be inaccessible to folks with disabilities
- Reframe or revise material to adhere to UDL guidelines (and acknowledge learner variability as the norm)
- Meeting #4: October 25, 2023
Past Meetings
- Meeting #2: February 22, 2023; Topic: UDL in Classrooms and Labs (YouTube Recording; Meeting Slide Deck; Meeting Notes)
- Meeting #1: October 26, 2022; Topic: CTAE SIG Overview (Meeting Slide Deck)
Appearing At
UDLHE Digicon 2022
Oct 18, 2022 from 3-4pm
2023 UDL-IRN International Summit
Session times TBD
IACTE Annual Conference 2023
Session times TBD
COABE National Conference 2023
Session times TBD
Meet the Founding CTAE Team
Sarah Goldammer
Sarah Goldammer is a passionate lifelong learner and educator. There is nothing more exciting to her than the “aha” moment and supporting others to find theirs! She currently serves as the Director of the Southern Illinois Professional Development Center – part of the Illinois Community College Board Professional Development Network. Sarah is a certified trainer of Universal Design for Learning and the Special Learning Needs Institute. She has trained hundreds of individuals throughout her years in adult education. Sarah recently co-created the Illinois training, “Designing for Equity and Access for ALL Learners”. Sarah has been involved in adult education for the past 22 years and has been teaching and training for over 30 years. She is proud to have had students from 3 to 83 years old and every age in between. Sarah joined the COABE team to serve as a Presenter Coach for the COABE conference presenters. In this role, she provided tutorials, office hours, and individual support to presenters looking to present with excellence. Sarah’s later-in-life career journey is that of author. She has written and published a series of 16 chapter books introducing careers combining fun and adventure while exploring each of the career clusters. These books are designed to inspire, educate and entertain both children and adults…and to hopefully provide an “aha” moment.
Aime´e LaFollette Julian
Aime´e LaFollette Julian, PhD is the Director of the Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support (ICSPS) at Illinois State University. ICSPS provides technical assistance, develops publications, and facilitates program improvement strategies for our partners as they relate to equity, inclusion, access, transition, recruitment, retention, and completion – encouraging achievement of special populations learners. The Center focuses on access, equity, and support for all learners with attention on students pursuing nontraditional fields, students with ASD transitioning to postsecondary and the workplace, and equity for under-represented learners.
Dr. LaFollette Julian creates, supports, and delivers professional development for career, technical, adult education, and workforce professionals across Illinois. She has 23-year experience working extensively with the implementation of the Perkins legislation in coordination with the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois State Board of Education. Aime´e collaborates with the Adult Education professional development providers in Illinois to develop and deliver the Illinois Transitions Academy – Illinois’ scalability of ICAPS/IET programs. . Aime´e is an experienced lecturer and facilitator, and has taught for seventeen years as an Instructional Professor in the Educational, Administration and Foundations department at Illinois State University.
Tara Schwab
Tara Schwab is an Educational Training Specialist at the Southern Illinois Professional Development Center, part of the Illinois Community College Board Adult Education Professional Development Network. She holds a B.A. in Social Studies Education from Illinois State University and an M.A. in the Arts of Teaching from Aurora University.
Tara has 20+ years of experience in education in the areas of instruction, training, curriculum development and implementation, and mentoring. Tara began at the high school level and expanded to adult and higher education where she has served for the past 15+ years. Tara’s adult education teaching experience includes all types of classes including ICAPS, ESL, ABE, and ASE. She currently teaches Adult Education classes at Waubonsee Community College in Aurora, Illinois.
In addition to her work in the classroom, she has valuable experience in training and mentoring teachers in curriculum development and delivery, teaching methods and practices. Tara has written, submitted and implemented curricula through the Illinois Community College Board and various community college settings and designed and facilitated multiple professional development opportunities for community colleges and adult educators in the Chicago area. She has presented at many local, state, and national conferences.
Erin Vobornik
Erin Vobornik teaches ESL (all levels) at Elgin Community College. She also works for COABE as the Students as Leaders Coordinator. She is COABE’s 2021 State Advocate for Adult Education for Illinois, an IACEA Junior Director for Region 2, and the co-chair of IACEA’s legislative committee. Additionally, She co-hosts COABE’s Adult Ed Advocast podcast. She has been in adult education for 9 years now teaching HSE, ESL, IET, bridge, and learning community classes. Since the March 2020 whirlwind, she has taught both in-person and fully remote adult education classes. She is passionate about advocacy, student leadership, and equitable learning opportunities. Erin is also the chair of the UDL Career, Technical, and Adult Education (CTAE) special interest group.