Working with the office of Disability Services you can be sure to adhere to accommodations and accessibility of course materials for all students.  You can read additional information at Accessibility at Penn State.

Remote Teaching Needs for Accessibility Consultation Form

Welcome! We are here to provide support around accessibility with the transition to remote teaching. We can provide assistance with:

  • Accessible digital course materials
  • Lecture technology
  • Canvas
  • Captioning
  • Any other accessibility questions

Please fill out this Accessibility Consultation Form.

Disability Services

Note to students with disabilities: Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. If you have a disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course, contact the Office for Student Disability Resources, OSDR, located in 244 Swift at 814-372-3037. For further information regarding OSDR, please visit the University's Student Disability Resources website.  Instructors should be notified as early in the semester as possible regarding the need for reasonable academic adjustments.

The following links are in regard to accessibility support for students needed when enrolled in an online course within Canvas. 

Accommodations

Below are some of accommodations with solutions for virtual offering. Some of these solutions might be best practices for all students in your class. 

Extended time on quizzes and exams

This is handled through Moderate This Quiz (Click on the quiz then choose Moderate the Quiz from the options on the side. Find the student in the roster that appears and click on the pencil beside their name. You will now have the option appear to provide extra time. Identify the amount of additional time in the box, so, for example, if it’s a 60 minute exam and the student gets time-and-a-half, enter “30” in the box to give the student 90 minutes total. 

Extra attempts on quiz or exam

This may or may not be a stated accommodation but might be needed based on some other circumstance. The process is the same as providing extra time, but you’d use the extra attempts field under Moderate the Quiz. 

Recorded lecture

This is something many are already doing. Record the lecture to the Zoom cloud and distribute the streaming link (which now has no expiration date) that is sent to you by Zoom after the class ends. Remember to use the syllabus announcement about recording class and gain consent from your entire class every time you record. All recorded lectures must be deleted once the course is completed.

Setting with less distractions

While this is mostly on the student to accommodate themselves at home, you can also accommodate this if you are giving an exam live on Zoom. Utilize the breakout room described under the Zoom section of the ID website. 

Utilizing a screen reader

There is free screen reading software available to Penn State students. Learn more at Accessibility at Penn State: Screen Readers. 

Hearing impairment; transcription needed

Zoom audio transcription is surprisingly accurate and far better than YouTube automatic transcription. To enable in your class, go to Zoom (https://psu.zoom.us), click on Settings, then under Recording, Advanced cloud recording settings, click the box next to Audio Transcript. Then click Save. Zoom will send you a link to a streaming video with audio transcription playing next to it. You will also get a transcription file via email should you want to embed it in another streaming player. It’s very accurate but can be edited for corrections.