Accommodation Descriptions for Faculty

Nearly 15% of the student body is eligible for academic accommodations or modifications under the American with Disabilities Act.  Following a review of supporting documentation, accommodations are approved and then communicated with faculty through accommodation letters.  Accommodation letters are emailed to students the first day of class and it is a student’s responsibility to pass these letters along to faculty members.   

Below is a list of common accommodations, what they mean, and a breakdown of how they should be provided.  At any time, faculty should feel free to consult with Meg Hegener, Coordinator of Student Access Services.

Extended Time Testing: 

Students are to be provided a percentage of extended time on all assessments.  Time should be calculated based on the amount of time that the rest of the class is given, not the amount of time the test is expected to take. 

Examples based on 50% extended test time:

• Example 1: Class is 80 minutes long SWD should be given 120 minutes.
• Example 2: Class is 80 minutes long, students are not finishing so the entire class is given an additional 20 minutes.  SWD would be given 150 minutes.  Time and a half of the entire test time given to neurotypical students.
• Example 3: Final exam is written to take 2 hours but the class is given the full exam period to finish.  SWD will get time and a half on 3 hours or 4.5. 

It is important to note that often, the amount of time a student actually utilizes may vary by subject area because of the nature of disability.  Additionally, it is common that students do not use the entirety of their extended time. 

Distraction Reduced Location:

Students need to take tests in a small group setting with minimal distractions.  SAS has pop up study carrells available for use.  Please contact SAS-testing@skidmore.edu to make arrangements if you need to borrow any. 

Supplemental Note Taking Service:

Students with notetaking service as an accommodation are provided an additional set of class notes by a student notetaker hired by SAS.  In the case where a student receiving notes prefers to remain anonymous the sharing of notes is facilitated by SAS staff.   

Supplemental Notetaking Assistance:

Students with notetaking assistance as an accommodation are eligible to record classes in order to return to the material at another time.  SAS uses a program called Glean which provides students with an audio recording and interactive tools for studying.  Students utilizing Glean are required to sign an agreement to not distribute recordings.  If an audio recording is not the best means of capturing course material, or faculty have concerns about students recording a class, please contact Meg Hegener to discuss alternatives. 

FALL 2020 Notetaking Caveat:

Students eligible for notetaking service or assistance enrolled in remote classes may not need to use the accommodation if a transcript of Zoom meetings are available.

Use of a laptop for testing and notetaking:

For notetaking purposes students should bring their laptops to class. 

SAS has testing laptops that students can sign out and take with them to class if faculty prefer that they do not use their own computers.  These computers do not have the ability to connect to the internet and can be reserved by students online.    

There may be times…:

This accommodation is offered to students with medical conditions that might flare unexpectedly.  If students need to miss class or an exam for heath reasons they are to contact faculty before class begins. Unfortunately, there have been times when a student is hospitalized or unable to make this contact.  In the event this happens additional outreach will be done by Meg Hegener.

Closed Captioning:

All video used in class must be captioned for students with hearing impairments to have equal access.

Use of an FM System:

During in person classes a faculty member will be asked to wear a small microphone when speaking which transmits to the students hearing aid.

Textbooks in an Alternate Format:

Students with this accommodation work directly with the Coordinator of Access Services to obtain digital copies of text books that can be used with screen reading technology.