Faculty Resources

The College of Idaho is committed to providing an educational environment that is accessible to the needs of its students with disabilities. According to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, facilities, educational and co-curricular programs, campus activities and employment opportunities must be made accessible to qualified individuals with disabilities. Therefore, all faculty and teaching staff have a responsibility to ensure that each course is accessible.

The Department of Accessibility & Learning Excellence (DALE) has put together these resources to help guide faculty and staff in working with our students with disabilities.

HAVE QUESTIONS?

accessibility@collegeofidaho.edu

208-459-5351

How Students Activate Academic Accommodations

Below is a summary of the process to activate approved academic accommodations. For detailed information, review the Accommodations Policy.

STEP 1

Students complete the Faculty Notification Request Form each semester/term at least two weeks prior to the start of each semester/term.

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STEP 2

After receipt of the Faculty Notification Letter sent electronically by DALE, the student and faculty should arrange to meet in-person or virtually to privately discuss implementation of approved accommodations.

STEP 3

Student and their faculty complete and acknowledge receipt of Faculty Notification Letter for each course through digital signature.

How to Create a Welcoming Classroom

The below is the approved “Disability Accommodation Statement” that you must add to your class syllabus and review during the first week of each class:

The College of Idaho seeks to provide an educational environment that is accessible to the needs of students with disabilities. The College provides reasonable services to enrolled students who have a documented permanent or temporary physical, psychological, learning, intellectual, or sensory disability that qualifies the student for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. If you have, or think you may have, a disability that impacts your performance as a student in this class, you are encouraged to arrange support services and/or accommodations through the Department of Accessibility & Learning Excellence, which is located in McCain Student Center and available via email at accessibility@collegeofidaho.edu. Reasonable academic accommodations may be provided to students who submit appropriate and current documentation of their disability. Accommodations can be arranged only through this process and are not retroactively applied. For additional information or direct contact information for DALE staff members, see https://www.collegeofidaho.edu/accessibility.

Accommodations do not compromise the essential elements of a course or curriculum; nor do they weaken the academic standards or integrity of a course. Accommodations simply provide an alternative way to accomplish the course requirements by eliminating or reducing disability-related barriers. Please direct any questions about how to implement accommodations for a particular student to DALE.

Each semester/term, the Department of Accessibility & Learning Excellence (DALE) will send faculty members notification (referred to as the Faculty Notification Letter) of the student(s) in their courses who have activated their approved accommodations for the faculty member’s course. Once DALE sends you a Faculty Notification Letter for a student, this is a great time to offer a private meeting with the student to discuss the implementation of their accommodations and set clear expectations regarding your work together. Though sometimes this meeting can take place organically before or after class, please take care not to single out a student regarding their accommodations requests and avoid discussing in front of other students or employees. Remember, students are not required to disclose their disability at any time.

At the request of the student, representatives of DALE are available to attend this initial meeting. If a student has requested for a representative of DALE to be present at this initial meeting, DALE will notify you when it sends you the Faculty Notification Letter.

Please find below an email template for your use to reach out to students to set-up this initial meeting as well as a list of potential questions you may want to consider discussing during the meeting.

EMAIL TEMPLATE

Dear STUDENT,

I wanted to confirm that I have received the accommodation letter sent from you through the DALE office. Thank you for communicating with me about this. I have found it can be helpful to meet and talk about what these accommodations look like for you in my course. Would you like to meet? [include instructions for scheduling]

In preparation for the meeting with me, please review the course syllabus and deadlines. If at any point in the term you are having a difficult time in the course, please remember that I am here to support you. I hope you have a fun and successful term!

Best,

INSTRUCTOR

POTENTIAL QUESTIONS

Do you have any questions about the syllabus or deadlines?
What type of support have you received in the past that you found helpful?
Is there anything in particular you anticipate will be a challenge for you in this course?
How will I know if you are having a hard time? (e. missing class, missing deadlines)
If you are experiencing something difficult, how will you communicate with me?
Finally, discuss student’s definition of success for the course, and then clarify what that looks like from your perspective as the instructor

Are your Word or PDF documents accessible? Review your video content for class — are your videos captioned and accessible? Think about providing Google Slides and PowerPoint presentations before the beginning of class. This will allow students to upload them to their electronic note-taking systems for taking notes in class. Remember not all students disclose a disability or request accommodations – accessible education materials (AEM) are helpful for all students.

A great place to start to learn about how to make your course materials accessible is with National Center on Accessible Educational Materials.

Common Terms:

Audio Book: a print book that is read out loud by a human. Audible and Apple Books have many titles though generally no textbooks
Digital Text: any text that can be retrieved and read by a computer or other electronic device
E-Book: a digital version of a print publication
Text-To-Speech (TTS): a type of assistive technology utilizing artificial intelligence to create a human sounding voice (think siri) that reads digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology

Many students with print disabilities read print materials with Text To Speech (TTS). TTS interprets renderable text and uses an AI voice to read the text aloud. Word documents (doc, docx) are accessible. PDF documents may, or not be, accessible. A scan of a document, though saved as a PDF, is a picture of text rather than renderable text, and cannot be read using TTS. A PDF is generally accessible if text can be highlighted using a cursor (cut/copy to paste). A PDF is not accessible if a crosshair is visible and text cannot be cut/copied. If the PDF is searchable, using the find option; it is accessible. Within accessible documents, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) can be used to convert every symbol on a page of print into sounds, which allows the text to be read aloud via TTS.

In order for DALE to assist a student or faculty member with converting copyrighted material into an accessible PDF, it must have explicit permission to do so from the copyright holder or reasonably be able to demonstrate adherence to academic copyright fair use laws. For more information, see The College’s Copyright LibGuide.

Additionally, students may also require assistance with (or faculty may assist with implementing an accommodation for) converting documents into alternate or more accessible formats, such as braille, audio, or e-books.

For e-books, VitalSource and RedShelf are sources available to rent/purchase e-books, and e-books from these sources include TTS (check the digital rights link to ensure read aloud is included). Also, Kindle may have e-books, but individual titles may not include TTS capability (check Kindle product details to determine if TTS is included).

It is important to remember that not all students with disabilities work with the Office of Student Accessibility – consider incorporating elements of Universal Design into your classroom.

Universal Design Education: Supports educators and students in their teaching and study of universal design. http://www.udeducation.org/

The Center for Universal Design: A national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products. https://design.ncsu.edu/research/center-for-universal-design/

Universal Design Alliance: Committed to creating awareness and expanding the knowledge of universal design for all ages, sizes, and abilities through education, services, and resources. Membership is open to designers, builders, students, businesses, and consumers who want to share and learn about universal design. https://universaldesign.org/definition

Disabilities, Opportunities, Inter-networking, and Technology (DO-IT): A program at the University of Washington funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation to share guidance and resources on creating more accessible products and environments through the use of universal design. DO-IT’s special focus is on the accessible design of information technology and universal design in education (UDE). http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/udesign.html

FAQs

The College of Idaho is committed to serving the needs of our students with disabilities. Ensuring equal access for all students is a collaborative effort between DALE, students, and faculty. All participants have a role in making education accessible. Here are several Frequently Asked Questions to help guide faculty and staff in working with our students with disabilities.

Yes, The College, as a postsecondary institution, is required to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities. According to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, facilities, educational and co-curricular programs, campus activities and employment opportunities must be made accessible to qualified individuals with disabilities. Therefore, all faculty and teaching staff have a responsibility to ensure that each course is accessible.

The purpose of accommodations is to ensure equal access and the opportunity to participate fully in higher education, not to ensure academic success. Accommodations are provided because without them, students would not have access to all the same information and facilities as other students, and/or may not be able to demonstrate their learning of the information in your course. Provision of accommodations for documented disabilities is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. For more information, see www.ada.gov.

No. Students have accommodations to provide them with equal access and to allow them to fully demonstrate their learning. A student with a disability should not be graded any differently from any other student. The integrity of your course should not be compromised; the student is expected to meet the objectives of the course and to submit quality work.

DALE provides a variety of accommodations to match the different needs of our students. The below provides some examples of academic accommodations granted by DALE to support students with disabilities. For additional information, see The College’s Student Disability Accommodation Policy.

Accessible materials and text format
Note-taking
Forego spelling/grammar evaluation on in-class writing
Extended time on exams
Reduced distraction environment
Breaks during classes or exams
Use of computers for exams
Sensitive content modifications
Participation consideration (within reason)
Flexibility on assignment deadlines (within reason)
Flexible attendance (within reason)

Federal law requires that colleges provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. However, faculty are also responsible for maintaining the integrity of their course. If you believe an accommodation should be modified, it is essential that you provide it until you have discussed the matter with DALE. Please do not engage the student in negotiations about accommodations.

E-mail Template

Dear STUDENT,

Best,

INSTRUCTOR

Potential Questions

Do you have any questions about the syllabus or deadlines?
What type of support have you received in the past that you found helpful?
Is there anything in particular you anticipate will be a challenge for you in this course?
How will I know if you are having a hard time? (e. missing class, missing deadlines)
If you are experiencing something difficult, how will you communicate with me?
Finally, discuss student’s definition of success for the course, and then clarify what that looks like from your perspective as the instructor

The information a student shares with faculty about their disability is confidential information and must be treated as such, according to the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974. Avoid discussing disability issues at the front of the class or in the presence of other students. Information about a specific student’s disability should not be shared with other faculty members or staff, unless they have a legitimate educational need to know (you should consult with DALE regarding this issue). Written material about a specific student and their disability, including but not limited to the Faculty Notification Letter, must be regarded as “confidential” material.

For more information, see “Make Classroom Materials Accessible” and “Incorporate Elements of Universal Design” above.

A student experiencing a temporary illness or injury may qualify for services or accommodations similar to those with on-going disabilities in order to maintain their academic program requirements. Students experiencing a temporary disability who wish to request academic accommodations must provide medical documentation and initiate accommodations through DALE. Though DALE will work as quickly as possible to approve accommodations and communicate with faculty, you may be asked to reasonably accommodate the student until that process is complete. A personal emergency is not covered under the Student Disability Accommodations Policy, though faculty may still reasonably accommodate a student and point them to resources such as the Health & Wellness Center. See also The College’s Bereavement Policy.

Neither the DALE Office nor the Testing Center conduct make-up exams for students who miss an exam due to an illness or other reasons, unless the student already has approved accommodations with the DALE Office and has activated those accommodations for the relevant term. In other words, only those students for whom you have already received a Faculty Notification Letter are able to be accommodated for a previously missed exam.

Flexible attendance may be approved for students with significant health-related disabilities who miss class when flare-ups occur or when issues related to their disability prevent them from attending class. A faculty member may be asked to provide flexibility in attendance “within reason,” which usually means permitting a specific number of additional absences over and above your established attendance policy.

Flexible attendance is dependent upon the individual student, the nature of the course, and the degree to which class attendance is an essential requirement of the specific course. Students must confer with the faculty member about their flexible attendance needs at the beginning of the academic semester. Absences for reasons not related to a documented disability are not excusable under Flexible Attendance. When possible, students should communicate with faculty members in advance of their absence. If notifying the faculty member before class is not possible, students should inform faculty members as soon as possible.

Some examples of potential accommodations for flexibility in attendance:

Permitting students to attend another section of the same class, if applicable
Assisting students in obtaining notes from a classmate
Allowing students to keep a journal or email comments to instructor to make up missed discussions
Allowing participation points via response to emailed questions within 24 hours
Posting slides or lecture notes
Recording classes consistent with the Recorded Lecture Agreement

Students who have disabilities related to writing speed, processing speed, graphomotor difficulties, concentration, and anxiety may be approved for flexibility on assignment deadlines, within reason. “Within reason” usually means turning work in a day or two beyond the deadline. In no case should it mean that late assignments begin to “pile up”, a negative situation for both student and faculty member.

Students confer with the faculty member before the due-date about the status of work completed on the assignment, the reasons for its lateness that directly relate to the nature of the disability, and a definite turn-in day and time.

Some examples of potential accommodations for assignment extensions:

Permit reasonable, specific, and documented assignment extensions (typically 1-3 days, but no longer than one week, depending on the flare-up and symptoms)
Merge smaller projects into larger projects with a longer timeline, or alternatively, break assignments down into smaller, more manageable sections
Allow recorded presentations in lieu of live presentations, as reasonable

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