At the heart of our shared commitment to student success is the belief that every learner deserves equitable access to their education. Faculty play a pivotal role in the accommodation process—not only by implementing academic accommodations, but by fostering inclusive learning environments where all students feel valued and supported.
Your partnership with Student Accessibility Services is essential in ensuring that students with disabilities can fully participate in their academic journey.
Responsibilities of Course Instructors/Faculty Members
Course instructors/faculty members are expected to act in accordance with Human Rights legislation pertaining to the Duty to Accommodate students with disabilities.
As such, course instructors/faculty members will:
- Foster an equitable learning environment where respect for the dignity of the person with disabilities is upheld, and respect for confidentiality is realized
- Recognize the Student Accessibility Services Advisors expertise in determining disability-related academic accommodations based on students' functional limitations
- Uphold a student's academic accommodation plan, as determined by Student Accessibility Services, to the point of undue hardship
- Facilitate the implementation of accommodations when necessary, and work collaboratively with SAS Advisors to determine an appropriate alternative accommodation if the accommodation would cause undue hardship (e.g, compromise academic integrity or fundamentally alter the essential components of the course/program)
- Communicate with the SAS Advisor if there are concerns that an accommodation is not appropriately meeting a student's needs
- Submit all testing agreement (Alternative Testing Agreement) in AIM in a timely manner after receiving a Faculty Notification Letter. At the beginning of each semester the alternative (alt) testing agreements should be completed within the first 2 weeks of the semester or as soon as you receive the accommodation letter
- For Final Exams you are required to update your Alternative Testing Agreement no later than 15 days after the release of the Final Exam Schedule. Any changes past the 15 days need to be emailed to exam@uwindsor.ca
- Provide all testing material (test, quiz, midterm, final exams) within 2 business days prior to the date of the test
As indicated by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, educators have the responsibility to implement accommodations in a timely way, to the point of undue hardship. In order to ensure students receive their approved accommodations in an appropriate manner, consistent with legal requirements, Student Accessibility Services requires course instructors/faculty members to collaborate and participate fully in the process and submit materials and information to the office in a timely manner.
Senate Policy on Academic Accommodations for Students With Disabilities
Academic accommodations are highly individualized and are determined on a case by case basis, based on functional limitations and specific individual needs and recommendations of medical professionals included in documentation provided.
Classroom accommodations are provided to ensure that students with disabilities have fair and equal access to the curriculum and an opportunity to process classroom information in a way that respects and addresses their functional limitations.
Examples include but are not limited to:
- Alternate means to capture course content
- Extensions of assignments, as negotiated with the professor
- Copies of powerpoints in advance of the lecture
Examination accommodations lessen the impact of the functional limitations without fundamentally altering the integrity of the examination.
Examples include but are not limited to:
- Extended time to write tests/exams
- A quiet, distraction-free environment
- An alternative format for exams (i.e., large print, contrasting)
- Use of a computer for essay exams
Faculty Module in the online system: Enabling you to manage your student's academic accommodations
https://olympic.accessiblelearning.com/uwindsor
Student Accessibility Services online system; AIM, is used by students and SAS staff to request and manage accommodations. Faculty can use AIM to manage their course accommodations, through the Faculty Module. This module enables you to:
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View a dashboard listing of your students and their accommodations for each of your courses
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Export a list of students by accommodation
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Receive real-time updates to accommodation plans should it change throughout the term
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Navigate between courses and sections using the Advanced Search Panel option
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Submit and make changes to your Alternative Testing agreement, so SAS Exam Staff can appropriately facilitate your in-person tests on your behalf
Faculty Notification Letter: Informing you of student eligibility for accommodations
When a student requests an approved accommodation for your course, the instructor listed in AIM will receive the Faculty Notification Letter by email. The Faculty Notification Letter also includes a description of the accommodation. Please ensure any teaching assistants or co-instructors leading course, labs or tutorials are aware of these accommodations as well. A Faculty Notification Letter may be generated at any point in the term as students may experience a disability, and/or a change in their condition, at any time in the year.
If an accommodation interferes with the essential components or objectives of your course, or, if you have concerns or questions about the accommodation, please contact Student Accessibility Services at sas@uwindsor.ca or the Accessibility Advisor assigned to the student.
https://olympic.accessiblelearning.com/UWindsor
Requirements for SAS to Facilitate Testing Accommodations
- Submit all testing agreement (Alternative Testing Agreement) in AIM in a timely manner after receiving a Faculty Notification Letter.
- At the beginning of each semester the alternative (alt) testing agreements should be completed within the first 2 weeks of the semester or as soon as you receive the accommodation letter
- For Final Exams you are required to update your Alternative Testing Agreement no later than 15 days after the release of the Final Exam Schedule. Any changes past the 15 days need to be explicited emailed to exam@uwindsor.ca
- Provide all testing material (test, quiz, midterm, final exams) within 2 business days prior to the date of the test either by uploading through the AIM portal or dropping it off to Dillon Hall room 117
Submit tests two business days prior to the test date
- This allows the exam team to prepare test packages and apply accommodations (such as enlarged font/Kurzweil).
- Tests may not be able to be facilitated by SAS without receiving the test within 2 business days.
Course instructors who do not submit a Testing Agreement and/or who do not submit the test on time may be required to:
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Facilitate the test on their own, ensuring all approved accommodations are upheld, or
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Defer the test for the student requiring an accommodation, until Student Accessability Services has the Alternative Testing Agreement and/or test materials
What is a Memory Aid?
- It is an accommodation that enables a student with a disability to have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in a testing situation
- It is a sheet that a student can use during a test to trigger thinking or prompt information that they have studied and learned
- It cannot include complete terms and definitions, facts or information that can alter the academic expectations of the course, or any information that is to be remembered as part of an essential learning outcome or course requirements
- It may include keywords, pictures, phrases, acrosticces and acronyms
What is a Formula Sheet?
- It is an accommodation that enables a student with a disability to demonstrate their ability to apply formulas rather than retrieve the formula(e) from their memory
- It is appropriate when memorization of a computational formula is not an essential learning objective of the course
What are the guidelines of a Memory Aid/Formula Sheet?
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Must be submitted by the student to the instructor ten business days in advance of the test for approval or modification (if new content is provided in lecture less than 10-days in advance, the student may submit an updated memory aid no less than two business days in advance)
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Completed on an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper, single-sided
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Can be hand-written or typed in 10-12 point font
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The Formula Sheet can contain formulae used in the course
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The Formula Sheet cannot include a description or specific examples of how formulaes are used, nor additional course content outside of formulas
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The Memory Aid should only make sense to the student and should only contain information that the student cannot recall without it. More information on that distinction and some examples are shown in the memory_aid_information_sheet.pdf
What is the responsibility of the Instructor
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To review and approve the submitted memory aid
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To submit the approved memory aid to the SAS Exam Coordinators at
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To contact the SAS advisor if this accommodation or the submitted memory aid content is thought to compromise exam integrity and/or not meet the guidelines listed above
What is the responsibility of the student?
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To generate the memory aid based on the memory_aid_information_sheet.pdf
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To submit the memory aid to instructor for approval ten business days in advance of the test
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If new content is provided in lecture less than 10-days in advance, the student may submit an updated memory aid (for approval of updated content) no less than two business days in advance
What is the responsibility of SAS Exam Staff?
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To receive the approved memory aid from the Instructor
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To provide the memory aid to the student with the test
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To return the memory aid to the Instructor via submission with the test