Increasing Faculty Collaboration with the Office of Disability Services

Introduction

A previous article in the DE Oracle @ UMUC provided an overview of the Office of Disability Services (ODS) and the student accommodations process. This installment describes a variety of ways in which faculty can support students with disabilities in collaboration with ODS.

Background on ODS/Faculty Collaboration

ODS understands that successfully accommodating and educating UMUCs students with disabilities can be achieved only by partnering with the faculty. We view the faculty as content experts and valuable resources in the development of student accommodations. Sometimes, implementing accommodations requires faculty to move beyond their comfort zones. When a student encounters particular barriers to success or full participation in a classroom, ODS will help the student and instructor understand what steps they can take to remove those barriers and will also provide support for both parties to ensure that the accommodations process is seamless. If requested, ODS can arrange a training session or provide additional materials for faculty or any academic department.

Understanding and Working with Student Accessibility Challenges: Dos and Donts

Students with disabilities encounter a variety of accessibility challenges in a distance education setting. When ODS completes the registration process with students and submits the final accommodation letter (known as the Accommodation Notification Letter) to faculty, the office notifies faculty and program/academic directors to anticipate certain accessibility challenges in the classroom. For example, a student with a speech impairment may have difficulty participating in Wimba sessions that require vocal communication from students. For more information regarding accessibility challenges for people with disabilities in distance education programs, visit the Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) Faculty Room section on distance learning.

ODS staff encourage students to contact the instructor (via phone or e-mail) to discuss the accommodations requested and develop a plan to ease facilitation of those accommodations. It is important in this process that faculty do NOT do the following:

Do NOT requestthat students disclose their disabilities. Because many disabilities are invisible, ODS encourages students to self-advocate and articulate their needs in courses; however, they do not have to disclose the nature of any disabilities. Make sure you do not collect or store a students medical documentation.
Do NOT deny a students accommodation. Accommodations are not designed to interfere with academic standards. Please contact ODS immediately if you are concerned an accommodation might compromise the academic integrity of your course. You will have to provide the accommodation until the issue has been addressed. An accommodation cannot be denied without due process, and all concerns will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
Do NOT attempt to accommodate students on your own or provide expert advice about the students condition. If a request is not listed in the Accommodation Notification Letter, refer students to ODS staff to ensure that additional accommodations are supported by the documentation.
Do NOT assume that a student with a disability who does well in your class does not need to use an accommodation. Students with disabilities are as diverse in learning as their non-disabled peers. If a student with a disability is not performing well in your class, do not assume you should grade him/her differently.Academic accommodations are designed to assist with equal access in the classroombut they do notguarantee equal success.

In addition, here are some suggestions that faculty are encouraged to DO when facilitating accommodation requests:

DO encourage students to self-identify with ODS. Students with disabilities may not disclose that they have a disability until they are experiencing problems in class. If a student requests an accommodation but you have not received notification from ODS, you are not obligated to provide accommodations. Please refer the student to ODS to begin the registration process.
DO keep any medical information a student shares with you confidential. It is a students choice how much information to discloseabout a disability. Regardless of what is shared, only the academic challenges and accommodations used in the classroom are necessary for discussion.
DO promote and encourage timeliness. All UMUC syllabi contain a statement encouraging students with disabilities to contact faculty, but many students wait for a crisis to occur before they disclose their disability or begin the registration process with ODS. It is important for faculty to communicate with the students to promote timeliness and to prevent accessibility challenges in the course.

Universal Design Considerations

Due to the accessibility challenge that many students encounter when accessing course content online,ODS staff are committed to taking proactive steps to promote universal design (UD) principles. UD principles focus on barrier-free design and architectural accessibility.

Universal Design Foundations and Principles

The concept of universal design emerged from the architectural field, which sought to design buildings and spaces to improve physical accessibilitysuch as curb cuts, automatic doors, and wheelchair ramps. Architects soon found that when considering a multitude of needs early in the development process, they could design a product that could be used for individuals with and without disabilities (Burgstahler Coy, 2008). For example, curb cuts were originally designed for wheelchair users; however, they equally benefit individuals riding bikes and pushingstrollers.

The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University has developed seven principles for thedesign of products and environments. These Principles of Universal Design are as follows:

Equitable Use to ensure that designs are useful and marketable for people with diverse abilities;
Flexibility in Use to accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities;
Simple and Intuitive Use so that products or environments are easy to understand;
Perceptible Information such that information can be communicated effectively regardless of the users sensory or physical abilities;
Tolerance for Error that minimizes the effects of accidents or unintended actions;
Low Physical Effort so that products and environment can be used comfortably and with minimum fatigue; and
Size and Space for Approach and Use to support access regardless of a users body size, posture, or mobility.

Universal Design in Education

Since the passage of disability rights legislation and the changing demographic of individuals with disabilities, UD has been a growing area in education, particular curriculum development. Over the last 20 years, the population of individuals with disabilities has grownwhich has led to a significant increase in the number of students with disabilities, especially military and veterans, seeking postsecondary education. The Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008) emphasized that postsecondary institutions should design curricula with a focus on UD principles. As educators and administrators, it is our duty to ensure that both online and face-to-face courses can be universally used and accessed. Adopting UD principles in all types of education can ensure that every students potential needs and learning styles will be considered in the design and implementation of courses stateside and internationally.

The seven design principles developed by the Center for Universal Design, while not specific to education, have been used by educational researchers and practitioners as a foundation in educational settings for course design and instruction.

Ensuring Accessibility of Course Materials

At UMUC, faculty are encouraged touse innovative instructional materials and to incorporate a variety of Internet resources, videos, synchronous communication tools, andother resources to provide references or simulations, etc. Most UMUC courses are accessible in a variety of ways. All courses have the syllabus available in electronic form, and most courses provide supplemental materials electronically in the online classroom. Faculty who distribute physical handouts in class are encouraged to make them available in electronic form as well. Most textbooks are available in both paper and electronic formats. An electronic format of course material provides a variety of alternatives to access information. For example, students with visual impairments who use screen readers or screen magnifiers can listen to or enlarge the text for simplified reading. In addition, a student who speaks another language can utilize online dictionaries and thesauruses to assist with reading and writing tasks.

ODS staff work closely with faculty to support innovation in the classroom by ensuring accessibility of media, Wimba, and other audiovisual classroom tools. Faculty are encouraged to contact ODS when they are unsure whether a particular tool is accessible and/or how to create accessibility. For example, transcription is one way of providing access to audiovisual content. ODS partners with the Center for Support of Instruction (CSI) to provide this accommodation for students.

We encourage faculty to start thinking about the use of audiovisual components in the classroom early. Making these decisions in advance of the course start date allows time for students who need transcription to make an early request for this accommodation. When ODS receives a request for transcription, the office will ask the faculty member to fill out a Transcript Request form, identifying their course information and the material to be transcribed. ODS sends the completed form to CSI for transcription. CSI works with an outside vendor to fulfill the request and, upon receipt of the completed transcript, reviews it for missing information or errors. Once the transcript is reviewed and finalized, CSI places itin the online classroom and notifies ODS and the faculty member that the process is complete. The entire transcriptionprocess takes approximately 57 business days but can take longer for lengthy, complicated material. Our goal is to receive the requests well enough in advance so that students do not fall behind in the course while awaiting a transcript.

In short, here are some tips to incorporate universal design concepts in your courses:

Plan your course in advance and decide what audiovisual tools you will use.
When possible, select audiovisual materials that already include captioning and/or transcripts.
If captioning or transcripts are not available, request transcription for audio material, including optional course work.
Make sure textbooks have an e-text version available for students to purchase.

For More Information

Collaboration between ODS and faculty is a crucial component in the accommodation process. ODS staff remain abreast of accessibility challenges that students with disabilities experience. ODS and faculty must maintain communication to best address any issue regarding specific accommodations or access to course content. To receive more information/training on students with disabilities or course accessibility, please do not hesitate to contact the Office of Disability Services at or (240) 684-2287.

Reference

Burgstahler, S., Coy, R. (Eds.). (2008). Universal design in higher education: From principles to practice. Boston: Harvard Education Press.

Additional Resources

Applications of Universal Design: http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/udesign.html

The Center for Universal Design in Education: http://www.washington.edu/doit/CUDE

Pliner, S., Johnson, J. (2004). Historical, theoretical, and foundational principles of universal design in higher education. Equity of Excellence in Education, 37, 105113. Retrieved from http://websvr.smith.edu/deanoffaculty/Pliner%20and%20Johnson.pdf