Automated accommodations system - do you have, what do you think?

[mbelvadi]

Hi, all of the faculty at my institution just got this email. We are in Canada so not under the US ADA, but Canada has similar legislation:

<quote>
I am writing on behalf of [my univ] Accessibility Services, which is implementing a new system to support students with a documented diagnosis. As you may know, [my univ] supports over eight hundred accommodated students, and Accessibility Services continues to support faculty, sessional instructors, and lab instructors in their duty to accommodate our learners. 

The new system, Accommodate, went "Live" at the beginning of August. With the new system, there are important changes for faculty members to be aware of, including:

• Tracking Accommodated Students in Your Classes – Previously, faculty were emailed a "Student Accommodation Letter" for every student in their class who is approved to receive accommodations. In Accommodate, an instructor can easily find/reference a student's accommodation letter because they are housed in one location.
• Change in Testing Process – Instructors will set up all quiz/test/exam dates and times within Accommodate at the beginning of each semester. Then students can select an exam when requesting exam accommodations. This is a change in process from the previous system. When uploading a test file, Accommodate offers improved security compared to email. 
• Training Sessions – Accessibility Services will be scheduling and facilitating training sessions throughout the summer and fall to help instructional staff to familiarize themselves with the new system and processes. These sessions will be promoted using [campuswide newsletter], and faculty members are encouraged to participate. 
• Training Videos – The Accessibility Services team has created succinct how-to videos that will be located on the department's website to help faculty and students familiarize themselves with the system. 
• Accessing Accommodate - Accommodate will be found in your [my univ] portal and accessed through an icon on the dashboard. 

</quote>

What do you all think of this? Are any of you using this product or something similar?

[onthefringe]

We have something that seems pretty similar to this in some ways. They do still email an alert about each student in your class with accommodations but the letters themselves are in a portal. I think the email alerts are critical because many faculty aren't going to check portals unless prompted.

It massively streamlines several things. Once you put in your exam and other dates for one student in a class you can automatically apply them to other students, and since the most common accommodations are fulfilled by students taking exams at the testing center, it means I can fill out one form at the start of the semester, and then I just submit exams as needed.

It also lets me fill out a class specific plan for other common accommodations like flexible deadlines that again I can do once and then it is applied to all students with that accommodation in my class.

[RatGuy]

We have something that seems pretty similar to this in some ways. They do still email an alert about each student in your class with accommodations but the letters themselves are in a portal. I think the email alerts are critical because many faculty aren't going to check portals unless prompted.

It massively streamlines several things. Once you put in your exam and other dates for one student in a class you can automatically apply them to other students, and since the most common accommodations are fulfilled by students taking exams at the testing center, it means I can fill out one form at the start of the semester, and then I just submit exams as needed.

It also lets me fill out a class specific plan for other common accommodations like flexible deadlines that again I can do once and then it is applied to all students with that accommodation in my class.

+1

Our accommodations portal is similar. We're emailed links to letters from the ODS (which we are required to mark as read), and all letters are sorted by class sections. Complete one testing agreement (only necessary when a student asks ODS for testing accommodations) and apply it to all sections/students. ODS handles the proctoring of those exams; the onus is not on faculty to find quiet distraction-free rooms for students requesting extra time or environment. There's also a quick-reference chart of all students across all an instructor's classes, with checkmarks for different accommodations. And I've found that some students don't demand all accommodations anyway.

[Morden]

We use Accommodate. It's certainly easier than the old back and forth of emails for exams. The student still gives us a hard copy of the accommodation letter, but everything else is through the system.

[the_geneticist]

I appreciate the centralization of having an automated system.  Letters are emailed to faculty, we can put in exam/quiz dates, and the testing center handles scheduling rooms for students that get extra time, reduced-distraction environments, etc.

Makes it much easier since acknowledging the letter is all electronic.  The system includes the date of the accommodations & the date the letter was sent. 

I am careful to remind students that they need to schedule their exams with the testing center if they want to use their accommodations of additional time & reduced distractions.  If they choose to take the exam during class, then they are choosing 1x time and taking the exam in the regular classroom.  No more scrambling to find an empty room or putting students in my office.

[artalot]

We have something similar and I really prefer it. It's much easier for me, and for the students, because everything is in one place. So much less email!

[apl68]

The subject of accommodations for students hit close to home this past week.  Some friends at church have a daughter who is a freshman on scholarship at the state's flagship university.  She badly broke her leg in a freak accident on her very first day of college classes.  A surgeon has had to put the bones back together with metal plates and screws.  She's supposed to get out of the hospital today.  Now she faces a whole semester worth of painful recuperation and physical therapy to get back on her feet.

They've arranged an emergency accommodation for her to take all of her courses online this semester.  Her course schedule is being rearranged to postpone lab courses that simply can't be done virtually.  If all goes well and she is able to apply herself, she might be able to keep from losing this semester of work.  But she won't have any chances to make friends or do things on campus as she had planned.  She'll probably feel like a COVID-era student imprisoned in her room.

It won't be an easy semester for her instructors who have to accommodate her, and a very hard one for her.

[the_geneticist]

Can

The subject of accommodations for students hit close to home this past week.  Some friends at church have a daughter who is a freshman on scholarship at the state's flagship university.  She badly broke her leg in a freak accident on her very first day of college classes.  A surgeon has had to put the bones back together with metal plates and screws.  She's supposed to get out of the hospital today.  Now she faces a whole semester worth of painful recuperation and physical therapy to get back on her feet.

They've arranged an emergency accommodation for her to take all of her courses online this semester.  Her course schedule is being rearranged to postpone lab courses that simply can't be done virtually.  If all goes well and she is able to apply herself, she might be able to keep from losing this semester of work.  But she won't have any chances to make friends or do things on campus as she had planned.  She'll probably feel like a COVID-era student imprisoned in her room.

It won't be an easy semester for her instructors who have to accommodate her, and a very hard one for her.

Can she delay and start in Winter or Spring?  A few months to heal and do all the physical therapy is plenty to do without also taking a full load of courses.

[apl68]

Can

The subject of accommodations for students hit close to home this past week.  Some friends at church have a daughter who is a freshman on scholarship at the state's flagship university.  She badly broke her leg in a freak accident on her very first day of college classes.  A surgeon has had to put the bones back together with metal plates and screws.  She's supposed to get out of the hospital today.  Now she faces a whole semester worth of painful recuperation and physical therapy to get back on her feet.

They've arranged an emergency accommodation for her to take all of her courses online this semester.  Her course schedule is being rearranged to postpone lab courses that simply can't be done virtually.  If all goes well and she is able to apply herself, she might be able to keep from losing this semester of work.  But she won't have any chances to make friends or do things on campus as she had planned.  She'll probably feel like a COVID-era student imprisoned in her room.

It won't be an easy semester for her instructors who have to accommodate her, and a very hard one for her.

Can she delay and start in Winter or Spring?  A few months to heal and do all the physical therapy is plenty to do without also taking a full load of courses.

I really don't know what issues would be involved in that to know whether it would be an option in this case.  With the accident having happened so early in the semester, the thinking seems to be that she can manage to catch up.  I hope for her sake that they're right.