Information for Faculty
All instructors are required to include in their syllabus a statement inviting students with disabilities to meet with them in a confidential environment to discuss making arrangements for accommodations.
Sample Syllabus Statement:
If you are a student with a disability and you require accommodations you must register with NIACC Disability Services, located in the Administration Building, AB106, phone 641.422.4296. Disability Services will work with you to authorize accommodations and provide a letter that must be presented to instructors before any accommodations will be available.
Have you suspected a student has a disability?
Here are some suggestions in approaching the student:
- Emphasize positive performance, then note concerns and inconsistencies with other aspects of a student’s work.
- Be specific about your observations, emphasizing patterns of errors.
- Rather than announcing you suspect there’s a disability, ask the student if he/she is aware of the patterns.
- If the student does not disclose a disability, suggest possible resources the student can explore to address the patterns of difficulty, such as tutoring, Student Learning Center, Student Access Center, etc.
Accessibility of Course Materials
Accessibility benefits more than just those with particular disabilities, it can benefit all students. It is much easier to build your course with accessibility in mind at the start rather than going back to fix problem areas later.
As an instructor, you are required to ensure the instructional materials and activities you use are accessible to all students. This website should assist you in making your course content accessible.
Step-by-step instructions
- Webpages – www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php
- Microsoft Word – office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/creating-accessible-word-documents-HA101999993.aspx & webaim.org/techniques/word/
- Powerpoint – office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/creating-accessible-powerpoint-presentations-HA102013555.aspx & webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/
- PDF – www.adobe.com/enterprise/accessibility/pdfs/acro6_pg_ue.pdf & webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/acrobat
- Video & Audio – www.w3.org/2008/06/video-notes & webaim.org/techniques/captions/
- Questions to ask publishers prior to textbook adoption – www.pcc.edu/resources/instructional-support/adopting-publisher-content.html
Legal Settlements related to IT Accessibility
- University of Montana Resolution Agreement (2014)
- Miami University Lawsuit (2014) – due to inaccessible online materials and lack of equally effective content
- Resolution Agreement between South Carolina Technical College System & OCR (2013)
- Florida State University – due to inaccessible of courses and lack of accessible technology (2012)
Resources for faculty:
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/
Captioning Policy