Important Updates from the Office of Accessibility Services

Important updates from the Office of Accessibility Services are detailed below. These changes have been made in an effort to streamline processes and we provide services in a timely manner while adhering to required social distancing during COVID-19. Any questions or concerns should be directed to oas@clarkson.edu.

Highlights:

• The Office of Accessibility Services updated its name (formerly Office of AccessABILITY Services). This change was made as a result of student feedback and in order to align with best practices according to the Association on Higher Education and Disability. Please update accordingly any material your department distributes.
• Students may now request academic accommodations through myCU. See details below.
• The “green sheet” (academic accommodations) process is through myCU. See details below.
• Instructors and students will work together to identify mutually acceptable exam times when students have an extended time accommodation and that time conflicts with another course. See details below.
• Due to space restrictions caused by COVID-19, OAS exams will occur Monday-Thursday in Snell 112 8am-5pm and ERC 102 5-10pm and Friday in Snell 112 8am-4pm. As a result, no exams may overlap at the 5pm hour. Exams must be rescheduled to earlier or later to ensure the student takes the entire exam in one location.
• The Office of Accessibility Services has partnered with Occupational Therapy to provide two Chrome extensions (Snap&Read and Co:Writer) to all Clarkson users through the Assistive Technology Toolbox. Many additional Assistive Technology offerings are available courtesy of Occupational Therapy.

Processing student academic accommodations on myCU:

1. During the first couple of weeks this semester, check for pending accommodations frequently, at least once per day. IT is in progress of developing an automated email to notify instructors when there are pending accommodations, but that process may still take a couple of weeks to finalize and integrate. It is essential that accommodations are reviewed in a timely manner. Students cannot request to schedule quizzes, tests, or exams through OAS until after you have acknowledged their accommodations.
2. Login to myCU and select Faculty Center.
3. In the Accommodations to Acknowledge column, select the exclamation mark to review pending accommodations. A checkmark indicates there are no pending accommodations to review.
4. Next to each student’s accommodation, select one of the dropdown options: I have questions regarding this accommodation, I understand and acknowledge this accommodation, or I cannot reasonably provide this accommodation. If you select that you have questions or cannot provide the accommodation, a member of the OAS team will follow up with you to assist.
5. When you have reviewed all accommodations, select Submit Acknowledgements.

Exams that conflict with another class:

• Students who have extended time exam accommodations and request to use such accommodation will receive double time on quizzes, tests, and exams.
• Students cannot be asked or required to miss their next class in order to complete a quiz, test, or exam.
• When a student has back-to-back classes and has a quiz, test, or exam in the earlier class, the student must notify the instructor of the need to take the quiz, test, or exam at a time other than the assigned course time. The student and instructor must identify a mutually agreeable time for the student to take the assessment and during which the instructor will be available to answer their phone in the event of any questions or concerns.
• Due to space restrictions caused by COVID-19, OAS exams will occur Monday-Thursday in Snell 112 8am-5pm and ERC 102 5-10pm and Friday in Snell 112 8am-4pm. As a result, no exams may overlap at the 5pm hour. Exams must be rescheduled to earlier or later to ensure the student takes the entire quiz, test, or exam in one location.
• Students who are required to take a quiz, test, or exam at a time other than the rest of the class cannot be given an assessment which is more difficult than the rest of the class.

Coming soon:

• An automated notification from myCU when there are students with pending accommodation acknowledgements in the Faculty Center.
• A link on Faculty Center to provide a complete list of your students and their requested accommodations.
• An automated notification from myCU with instructions for electronic submission of quiz, test, and exam.