The Human Rights Code, as stated by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, affirms that educational institutions have a responsibility to provide equitable access to students with disabilities. The advantages to online course delivery allows teaching and learning to continue even where there is an in-person disruption. This article provides an overview of common academic accommodations, approaches for facilitating these accommodations on Brightspace, as well as general tips to make instructors’ courses more accessible to students.
1. Extra Time for Quizzes
According to their accommodation plan, some students may require time and a half (1.5x) or double time (2x) on tests and exams. Additional time can be applied onto Brightspace Quizzes via Special Access or the Classlist.
Factors to Consider:
- The Manage Special Access feature in Quizzes can be used to extend time for one quiz.
- The Classlist can be used to modify time for all quizzes in a Brightspace course. The Classlist method gives a special icon besides the name of the student(s) who has been given time accommodations.
If your quiz has a small interval between the start date and the end date, or if your quiz is synchronous, consider using the Special Access method to ensure the quiz remains available during the extended time.
2. Restriction of 1 Exam Per Day (Exam must be provided to student on different day)
If the exam or quiz is online, instructors can use Manage Special Access to change the start date and/or end date for the student. Alternatively, instructors can create a make-up exam/quiz and make it visible to selected students using the “Allow only users with special access to see this quiz” option when using Manage Special Access.
3. Extensions on Assignments
Instructors can change the due date of assignments for students using the Manage Special Access feature in Brightspace Assignments.
Factors to Consider:
- If, in a Brightspace Assignment, an instructor has set a Start Date and/or End Date to restrict access and submission outside certain dates, they will likely need to extend the End Date when extending a Due Date.
- Note that Manage Special Access must be configured for each assignment; it cannot be configured once for all assignments.
4. Access to Presentations Prior to Class
Instructors can upload the presentations slides to the Content area prior to class and set up release conditions of group membership for students with academic accommodations so only those in that group can access the slides. After class, instructors can remove the release conditions to make the material visible to everyone.
IMPORTANT: If placing students with accommodations into a group, you must remove the Groups tool from the menu so students cannot see who is in such a group.
Factors to Consider:
- Instructors should consider incorporating access to material for all students when pedagogically possible to support creating accessible learning environments
5. Note Taking
For synchronous content, instructors can choose to record in Microsoft Teams and upload the recording links to Brightspace afterwards.
Factors to Consider:
- Instructors should ensure all recorded content is shared using an accessible platform. For example, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Stream and YuJa have technology for automatic captioning. Instructors can also attach manually annotated transcripts for Stream and YuJa to help students with note-taking.
6. Alternative Formats
YuJa's Panorama digital accessibility tool is embedded in Brightspace, providing all students the ability to access alternative formats of material within Brightspace course sites.
Tips for Accessible Course Delivery
The Student Accessibility Services (SAS) Office has provided a list of resources for accessible course delivery, including:
The Office of Human Rights, Conflict Resolution & Mediation (OHRCRM) has also compiled a list of resources to create accessible documents. If you require assistance on how to support students with their accommodations, reach out to SAS or the students’ SAS advisor.