Students with Accommodations
Students who are registered with the Disability Resource Centre (DRC) and whose disability makes it extremely challenging to engage in online learning and evaluation should consult with their accessibility advisor. The DRC is encouraging students to write their exams online, in their own space, with their accommodations.
Students Registered with the DRC
Students who require exam accommodations are asked to continue to book their exams in the accommodation portal following the standard procedure. Some accommodations may no longer be relevant to the online testing environment (eg. distraction reduced or private space as they set that up for themselves). By putting their request into the system it allows for instructors to receive the 7 day notice email that will let them know to consider these students accommodations. Instructors can log into the portal to see which students are requesting accommodation and can refer to the accommodation letters in the portal to view each student’s eligible accommodations. Instructors can contact the DRC exam coordinators (drc.exams@ubc.ca) for assistance if they have questions about the accommodations.
Students Not Registered with the DRC
Students seeking accommodations for online exams who are not currently registered with the DRC and who would not normally seek accommodations outside of this acute situation are being directed to seek academic concession through their Faculty or School. Their course instructor will be the first point of contact for this request. It is possible that the concession can be some type of accommodation in their online experience.
Setting up Online Exams for Students with Accommodations
The DRC, Centre for Accessibility on the Vancouver campus, and the Centre for Teaching and Learning are working together to share expertise and provide information and support to faculty about accommodating students in their online exams. As you plan your online exams, please consider:
Extra time accommodation
Please manage this for each student based on their specific accommodation. You can view their allotted extended time in their accommodation letter in the portal. Consult ctl.helpdesk@ubc.ca if you need assistance.
Private or distraction reduced environment
Students will be responsible for finding a suitable space to write their exam.
Students requiring in-person supports
There are very few cases requiring in-person supports like scribes. The DRC will work them out on a case-by-case basis. Please ask the student to contact their accessibility advisor at the DRC.
Adaptive software/technology
Most students who require this technology should already have it on their personal computers. If you are planning for the exam to run entirely within Canvas, students may require an alternate format of the exam to utilize their software. The ideal format is a Word (.doc) file that is straightforward and does not utilize significant formatting (graphs and tables etc.) If you need assistance with this or your student requires other formats contact the DRC at drc.exams@ubc.ca.
Lockdown Browser
For accessibility and accommodation reasons, the DRC recommends staying away from ‘lock down’ exam invigilation programs. While Respondus Lockdown Browser supports the use of Dragon and Zoom Text for magnification, there is no Reader capacity. Also, lockdown programs may not allow for the use of assistive technology or might require exams to be linear so students are unable to go back and review their work and answers.
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