Accessibility & ACCOMMODATIONS

Resources on topics ranging from hosting class sessions through video conferencing to how faculty can move exams to an online format can be found by going to the Keep Teaching webpage.

Here are some additional resources to ensure the content you create is also accessible to students with disabilities:

• 20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course

• 30 Web Accessibility Tips

Unfortunately, Student Accessibility Services does not have the ability to run a report of all students who are enrolled in specific classes that have requested accommodation letters.

Also note that accommodations are used by students based on their disability and class type. A student with a math learning disability may not request or use any accommodations in their English class so it is hard to say exactly which students in your class need and have requested accommodations, even if they are registered with our department. Each student currently registered with our office has access to a copy of their Accommodation Letter, as they are included on all correspondence to professors during the time accommodation letters are disseminated.

Our recommendation is for you to review current accommodations by searching “Accommodation Letters” in the search bar of your Trinity assigned gmail account. Follow this link to a simple accommodation tracker. You will need to download a copy for your own personal use.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has made national health recommendations that state people should not be congregated in groups of more than 10. Placing students in a testing room to take their exam goes against these guidelines for the campus community’s operation during this time and potentially exposes students and Accommodated Testing Center staff to potential risk. Consequently, the ATC will not be active during this time. If students have reserved an exam for the remainder of the semester, it will be cancelled.

We appreciate your desire to uphold your academic objectives, and there is information about creating quizzes and tests on the Keep Teaching webpage that still provide students access to their accommodations. You may find this reference guide useful if your exam is to be administered via TLearn.

• It is important to note that extending the exam time for everyone in the class (i.e. just giving all students time and a half or double time) does not meet the accommodations of students with Extended Testing Time as an accommodation.

The Collaborative will also be holding training next week on reimagining assessments to fit the realities of this unique situation.

Trinity strives for access and equity for all students. Faculty are encouraged to make captions and transcripts available in their courses, when possible.

Below are some options you can use add captions to your lectures:

• Zoom: Hold a meeting with just yourself, record moving from one shared screen to the next. Open pp and ‘read’ slides. Save.Load mp3 video YouTube. And use caption option.

• Subly: Subtitle videos automatically with multi-language support

Student Accessibility Services maintains that students with disabilities are no more likely to cheat than any other student on campus. During this challenging time, let’s choose to trust our students and the rapport you have built with them. This is an opportunity for us to remember the Honor Code (https://new.trinity.edu/academics/academic-resources/honor-code) and how significant it is to our Trinity culture.

• Encourage students to self-identify (“Hi, this is __ ”) as they begin comments to make clear who has the floor.

• Consider alternative methods of encouraging/soliciting student participation besides verbal interactions during Zoom video lectures. Alternatives include: discussion boards on TLEARN or shared Google docs.

• Do not penalize students for spelling or grammatical mistakes made during in-class discussions. The extra cognitive load of typing may make things difficult for them.

• Make sure to provide students with access to recordings and transcriptions of live video lectures.

• Provide close-captioning for recorded lectures.

• Build in opportunities for students to process information.

• Consider sharing a written outline ahead of time to help students see connections.

• Think about time limitations carefully when it comes to online tests. If you want students to have a limited amount of time to complete a test or quiz, you can set this up in TLEARN; however, there are several things you must consider/do:

  • • • • Create copies of the test or quiz that are identical except with time limits for both “regular” time and the extended length(s) needed for accommodations.

        • Remember that while students without accommodations may be able to complete quizzes/tests during the regularly scheduled class period, students needing additional time may not be available to continue working on their assessment immediately following your class session. Most students will have classes prior to and after you class.

        • Make alternative arrangements for when students with extended testing accommodations actually have a block of time long enough that they can take the test according to their accommodations. You will then have to make sure students have access to the test at that time.

        • Provide reasonable and equitable periods of time for students to complete “‘take home” exams. Remember that some students may be in class all day; allow students to have plenty of time to complete the work.

• Consider that students will have different technological resources at home. Due to existing problems with reliable Internet accessibility across the nation and world, faculty should still consider contingency plans for students having Internet-disruption during a test. There is no perfect solution to creating timed tests during this situation but there are options:

  • • • • Allowing multiple attempts on a timed TLEARN test means that students will have the ability to re-take the test at a later time when they are no longer facing technical issues; however, selecting this option means that all students can re-take the test and, for each attempt, have the full timed test limit.

        • Allowing for only a single attempt on a timed TLEARN test reflects what most often happens in the classroom: students only have one attempt to complete the test. If a student experiences a technical problem during this attempt, their clock still counts down. They will only have until the time limit expires to solve the technical issue and they would have lost valuable test-time to solving the problem (if it can even be solved in that time). In such a situation, faculty would need to find an alternative way and time for the student to complete the test.

        • It is possible to create a different mechanism for timed tests; however, this may take some creativity on the part of the faculty and it may still be with its limitations.

        • The last option is to transform the test so that it is no longer as reliant upon students completing in a certain amount of time; this may not be feasible for all tests or course needs, but it might be the best solution for some faculty and courses during this time.

• Be consistent about how and when you administer assessments and collect assignments.

• Take advantage of this shift online to encourage digital projects such as podcasts, maps, or interactive timelines.

• Use class presentations as opportunities to encourage students to incorporate image description and plan language, to pre-circulate electronic access copies, and to think about the form of presentation.

• Create alternative plans for students who may not have easy access to reliable web cameras/microphone features. Many students can access these tools at some point; however, not all students will be able to do so during synchronous class times.