Accommodations

Understanding Accommodations

If one of your students has requested an accommodation, you will receive an email that will list the accommodation(s) that have been approved for and selected by the student in your class. The decision of whether to approve accommodations is made solely by the Ross Center, who will collaborate with students and their instructors to coordinate approved accommodations and services. If you have had no notification from the Ross Center, the student should be referred to the Ross Center for consultation and information.

Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to a course that provide a qualified individual with a disability an equal opportunity to obtain the same benefit, or to attain the same level of achievement, or to enjoy equal benefits and privileges as those available to a similarly situated individual without a disability. Accommodations do not require the instructor to alter the essential design and learning outcomes of the course.

Some classroom policies can be applied to all students, but accommodations for students with disabilities need to be considered "based on disability and individual needs" as stated by the Department of Education. These accommodations should not lower or substantially modify essential requirements. Classroom policies may need to be adjusted for a student with disability accommodations. The Ross Center is happy to support student and faculty in achieving that goal in a manner that does not fundamentally alter the nature of a service, program or activity.

Examples of accommodations that may be reasonable for your class include the following:

Priority registration scheduling (to work around treatment regimens, personal care needs, medication schedules, variations in energy level and pain, etc.)
Early access to course syllabi and assignments
Flexible attendance
Appropriate seating arrangements
Ability to record lectures (Recording class and lectures)
Ability to take frequent breaks
Extensions on deadlines
Snacks during class
Assistive technology that decreases the impact of the disability

Below are some details on accommodations available for qualified students:

Captioning

Captioning is the process by which the spoken word is transcribed and linked with visual images in real time. Captioning is also available for students who are blind or visually impaired by using a descriptive narrative of visual elements. You should be purchasing or using videos that are already captioned. If you have a student who needs captioning to access your course, the Ross Center can arrange to have captions added. Please contact the Ross Center at 617-287-7430, or ross.center@umb.edu. Students who need captioning cannot be held accountable for material that is not captioned.

Exam Accommodations

Students who qualify for exam accommodations may take exams in the Ross Center, which provides testing space with reduced distractions, proctoring, and access to technology requested by the student and/or approved by the faculty. Ross Center staff will notify faculty via the notification email that contains a link to the Alternative Testing Contract, which faculty must complete before the student may take any exam. This contract outlines exam details for the semester, and faculty need to complete one contract for each class. Faculty can access the contract using their personal UMass Boston email and password or by logging into the instructor module of myRCDS.

A student must schedule the exam accommodation with the Ross Center; if they have not done so, faculty should not provide the exam to the Ross Center but instead refer the student to schedule with the Ross Center. Students may schedule an exam without a completed Alternative Testing contract, but they may not test until the contract is submitted.

A student, once approved for the exam accommodation, will schedule each exam separately at least one week prior to the scheduled exam. The Ross Center will send the faculty a confirmation email when the student schedules the exam, and faculty will receive a reminder email at least 48 hours before the scheduled exam. It is the faculty’s responsibility to send the exam to the Ross Center before the scheduled time and retrieve the exam once the student has taken it; faculty can also arrange for the Ross Center to return a scanned copy of the completed exam. When a make-up exam is warranted, the faculty determines when the exam should be taken.

You may email our Alternative Testing staff at rosscenterexam@umb.edu or at Bianca.Herlihy@umb.edu.

Flexible Attendance

In many cases, attendance is a critical component of an instructor’s course design and is essential to fully understanding the subject matter covered in the course. This accommodation is appropriate when a student has a chronic disabling physical or mental condition that can be unpredictable. The condition is managed, but health-related disabilities or conditions may flare up episodically and impact course attendance. The accommodation is designed to address a brief medical or health impact around attendance (including test dates).

1) The syllabus for the course, which should contain your attendance policy, should be readily available before the semester begins, as this will allow student review. As instructors develop their own course attendance policies, this accommodation will always defer to the most flexible policy.

2) If a student requests this accommodation for a class, the details listed below will be shared in the notification email to the faculty:

Number of absences reasonable for a standard 16-week course based on number of times per week that class meets (recommended: 1x per week = 2 absences; 2x a week = 4 absences; 3x a week = 6 absences)
How and when the student should inform instructor when he/she/they will miss/has missed class due to episodic illness (recommended: notification will occur with 24 to 48 hours of missed class)

3) In-class exams and other in-class work is classified as attendance - students with this accommodation who miss an exam or in- class work should have the opportunity to complete the work. All missed work is to be completed by the student as soon as possible - it is recommended to complete make-up exams within 48 business hours, and for in-class work to be handed in at next class attended.

4) There may be exceptions in cases where attendance may be an essential requirement for a class or assignment:

classes/assignments where grade/learning is dependent on in-person discussion or participations (for example, iClicker responses)
in-person requirements (such as group work, lab work, clinical work, etc.)
classes with an experience that cannot be recreated (out-of-class visit, etc.)

The accommodations should be implemented as described. Should the faculty member consider that this accommodation would alter the fundamental nature of the course, the faculty member will notify the Ross Center and the student that discussion is needed. The student (if needed), faculty and Ross Center staff will then meet together to determine a reasonable accommodation. The Ross Center makes the final determination of a reasonable accommodation. Until a resolution is reached, the faculty member must provide the accommodation as outlined in the faculty notification email.

If you believe that the essential course elements and this accommodation appear to conflict, you should consider the following questions:

What is the fundamental nature of the course (e.g., lecture, lab, independent study)?
What are the learning objectives and activities (individual/group projects, field trips, presentations) of the course? Are they clearly stated? Where?
What do the course description and syllabus state about the learning process, instructional methods, and student participation?
Does the fundamental nature of the course rely upon student participation as an essential method for learning? How?
To what degree does a student’s failure to participate constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
Do student contributions (e.g., presentations) during the class constitute a significant component of the learning process?
Is there classroom interaction between the instructor and students? Between/among students?
How are student achievement and mastery of the course objectives demonstrated? How are they measured? Are there alternative measures that would be acceptable to you?
How is the final course grade calculated? Are there alternative methods of calculating the final grade that would be acceptable to you?
Is this course a prerequisite for other courses? Is this course based on prerequisite courses? Are there alternative courses that would meet the student’s course of study requirements?

Faculty members who continue to feel the accommodation will alter the fundamental components of the course may appeal to their department chair, Dean and the Provost.

5) If updated terms of the accommodation are needed and have been determined, the Ross Center staff person will send an email containing the final accommodation(s) to both student and instructor. The Ross Center then retains a copy for its files.

Once finalized, the accommodation is in force for the semester, and both the student and your instructor(s) are expected to follow the instructions or deadlines as described.

Should absences become unexpectedly excessive, faculty member should communicate with the Ross Center staff and the student so that the student can consider options such as withdrawal.

Please note:

We encourage students to request accommodations early in the semester. Accommodations are not retroactive, so a student cannot request application to past absences or missed deadlines.
You should never waive essential academic components of the course.
Students who receive an attendance accommodation are responsible for all course work and do not have blanket permission to miss class. This accommodation does not apply to non-disability related absences.
Requests for flexibility in attendance may or may not be determined to be reasonable.

Time Extensions

Time extensions for assignments may be an appropriate accommodation, particularly for those with chronic disabilities or conditions that flare up episodically and may impct meeting assignment deadlines. The accommodation may be combined with flexible attendance accommodations. With an episodic illness, a student may not be able to predict exactly when or how coursework may be affected, but based on the documentation of the disability, the Ross Center will establish the parameters for an accommodation.

1) If the student requests this accommodation for a class, the details of the recommended accommodation in the notification email to the faculty, which contains the following information:

The student will make every effort to complete assignments on time.
Should the disability cause an issue, the student will email the faculty member indicating the need for an additional 24-48 hours to complete an assignment.
This accommodation is only to be utilized when the lateness is caused by a disability, and is not to be utilized as permission for repetitive late assignments.
Special attention should be paid to courses where group assignments comprise a portion of the grade.

2) Extensions may not be possible when:

assignments or the answers are discussed in class or posted
the assignment is pre-lab work required to do the lab
group work where there are shared deadlines

3) Accommodations should be implemented as described. Should the faculty member consider that this accommodation would alter the fundamental nature of the course, the faculty member will reply to the Ross Center and the student that discussion is needed. The student (if needed), faculty and Ross Center staff will then meet together to determine a reasonable accommodation. The Ross Center makes the final determination of a reasonable accommodation. Until a resolution is reached, the faculty member must provide the accommodation as outlined in the faculty notification email.

If you believe that the essential course elements and this accommodation appear to conflict, you should consider the following questions:

What is the fundamental nature of the course (e.g., lecture, lab, independent study)?
What are the learning objectives and activities (individual/group projects, field trips, presentations) of the course? Are they clearly stated? Where?
What do the course description and syllabus state about the learning process, instructional methods, and student participation?
Does the fundamental nature of the course rely upon student participation as an essential method for learning? How?
To what degree does a student’s failure to participate constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
Do student contributions (e.g., presentations) during the class constitute a significant component of the learning process?
Is there classroom interaction between the instructor and students? Between/among students?
How are student achievement and mastery of the course objectives demonstrated? How are they measured? Are there alternative measures that would be acceptable to you?
How is the final course grade calculated? Are there alternative methods of calculating the final grade that would be acceptable to you?
Is this course a prerequisite for other courses? Is this course based on prerequisite courses? Are there alternative courses that would meet the student’s course of study requirements?

Faculty members who continue to feel the accommodation will alter the fundamental components of the course may appeal to their department chair, Dean and the Provost.

4) If updated terms of the accommodation are needed and have been determined, the staff person will send an email containing the final accommodation(s) to both student and instructor. The Ross Center retains a copy for the student's record.

Please note:

We encourage students to request accommodations early in the semester. This accommodation is not retroactive, so if a student has not requested the accommodation ahead of time, he/she cannot request it be applied to past missed deadlines.
You should never waive essential academic components of the course.
Students who receive a time extension accommodation are responsible for all course work and do not have blanket permission to extend timelines on all assignments. This accommodation does not apply to non-disability related requests.

Textbook/Handout and SensusAccess Alternate Format

The Ross Center can convert required reading for a course or academic activity into the following alternate formats for students:

Digital file for reading on a computer
Audio file for listening
Enlarged print
Braille

The Ross Center will check with the U.S. alternative format libraries to determine if the book requested is available in one of the libraries. If it is available, then the Ross Center will help the student obtain a free membership and have the book sent directly to the student in alternative format.

If the book is not in an alternative format library, the Ross Center will contact the book publisher to obtain an electronic copy if possible and will make a copy of the book for the student. Otherwise, the Ross Center will scan a copy. In either of these cases, the student must provide a copy of the book or materials to be scanned to the Ross Center, along with a receipt for proof of purchase. Once the conversion is completed, the files will be emailed to the student.

Students may not share any converted files with others, because the copyright law allows alternate formatting of materials only for individuals with disabilities.

If you have questions, please contact the Ross Center Alternative Format Team at rossaltformat@umb.edu or by phone at 617.287.7431.

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