Guidance for Faculty Providing Accommodations for Remote Instruction

Student Disability Services (SDS) aims to support faculty and instructional staff with providing access and accommodations for students with disabilities during this period of remote teaching and learning.  The information below is intended to provide some general information and guidance.  Please contact SDS directly if you have questions about a specific student’s academic accommodations and accessibility needs.  Our email address is studentdisabilityservices@swarthmore.edu. 

In general, we need to continue providing accommodations that have already been issued and for which students have provided you with accommodation letters.  If a student shares with you that they may need additional accommodations in the context of remote learning, please refer them to Student Disability Services to discuss how to make a request. 

Testing Accommodations

Students who have been approved for testing accommodations should continue to receive those accommodations for all quizzes and exams during this time of remote class administration.

  • Extended Time – When giving an exam through Moodle, the start and stop time of the exam should be adjusted for each student to include the regular administration time plus the amount of the students’ extended time.  SDS recommends that students who have an accommodation for stop-the-clock testing be afforded 50% extended time for their exams to allow for breaks as needed.  Additionally, for exams with extended time that will last 4 hours or more, SDS recommends including a 30-minute rest break in the exam time.

  • Use of a Computer for Exams – When an exam requires or permits handwritten submission, students who have an accommodation to use a computer for exams should be permitted to do so.  SDS recommends that students be permitted to use their own computers/laptops for exams, as we are not able to provide them with a clean laptop while off campus.

Accommodations for Students with Visual Impairments

Students who are blind or have other visual impairments will need to access course materials through a screen reader or screen magnifier. Additionally, it is helpful to provide as much oral description as possible when referencing items during a lecture.

  • Enlarged Font - Providing exams and other written course material in a Word document allows the student to format the document with the font size that is  appropriate for them. 

  • Screen Readers - Word documents are typically the most accessible format for screen readers. PDFs should be readable as text, not images. Images, graphs, diagrams, and drawings will require “alt text” and detailed oral description during the lecture.

Lecture/Class Accommodations

Students may have accommodations for permission to audio record lectures, a peer note-taker, and lecture materials from the professor.  As such, SDS recommends that lectures are recorded and made available for students to re-watch as many times as needed.  This would allow students to listen to and process the information and to take notes at their own pace.  Additionally, students with an accommodation for attendance modifications would also have access to the recorded lecture at a later time.

Assignment Accommodations

Students who have been approved for a grace period or extension on out-of-class assignments as an accommodation should continue to have this additional time to submit their work. Students are still expected to communicate the need for an extension before a due date.

Creating Accessible Course Materials

The Accessibility Team can assist you with making your course materials accessible for students with accessibility needs. Please contact them at accessibility@swarthmore.edu. 

 

Note: This information was adapted from guidance shared by Princeton University.