Online Accommodations
Students with disabilities are still eligible to use accommodations in online courses, although the type of accommodations needed may be different than what is needed in a traditional classroom setting.
DSS typically does not assign notetakers for online courses. The only exception is recorded lectures posted on Canvas. In this case, the notetaker accommodation may be necessary to provide equal access to the DSS registered student. Students typically request that accommodation notifications are sent to all faculty teaching their courses in a given semester, including those offered online. If this happens, please respond to the notification email to confirm that your course online, with no lecture component. DSS will then remove the note taker request from the student’s record.
Please reach out to the DSS student by email to address other accommodations needed for the online course, such as testing accommodations. This will serve as a record of your attempt to engage the student in an interactive discussion about accommodations and the design of your online course.
Canvas Accessibility Features may be a helpful resource when designing your courses.
Typical Accommodations for Online Courses
- Extended test time
- Accessible course documents
- Notetaker for recorded lectures posted in Canvas
- Video captioning
*Please note this is not a comprehensive list as accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis.
Extended Test Time
Canvas allows instructors to extend exam time for a particular student. DSS encourages faculty members to add student’s extended time (if applicable) to all quizzes and exams at the beginning of the semester.
Accessible Course Documents
Accessible course documents include textbooks, articles, scanned copies of books, and any other assigned reading material. Just because a book or a handout is digital, that does not necessarily mean it is accessible. An important reminder is to only copy one page of a book at a time. Double pages are typically very difficult to make accessible for students. Many electronic texts/documents cannot be navigated with a keyboard, which is important for students who use assistive technology. Digital texts may be in a proprietary format that cannot be accessed by blind students or students with specific types of motor impairment. Contact your Instructional Designer with TLT for support with creating accessible documents or repairing your digital documents.
Video Captioning
Videos that are shown in class or in online courses must have closed captions, regardless of students with disabilities being enrolled in your course. Videos should be captioned before they are added to Canvas. Transcripts should only be used for audio-only content such as podcasts, not for videos. Auto-generated captions that are provided through YouTube, Google, or Panopto must be reviewed for accuracy prior to distribution to students. The Library has video databases that have videos with captions that any student can access. YouTube also has filters for videos with closed captions. Contact your Instructional Designer with TLT for support and resources with creating accessible videos.
Page last updated 2:47 PM, July 8, 2022