Reasonable adjustments form part of the students' adjustment reports. These reports are posted on the Disabled Students' system on Pegasus.
This page provides information on some adjustments where further explanation may be helpful. It lists new adjustments introduced to support disabled students' participation in remote learning.
Zoom and blended learning
Where possible, allow students to take part without sharing video and/or sound. Social anxiety may present a barrier to participation in Zoom meetings.
This could be helped by having permission to take part without sharing video and/or sound. For all students, a lack of private space in their homes may prevent them from sharing video and/or sound.
Please allow students to stop and resume video and audio share without comment. Students may need to stop and resume video and audio share to manage anxiety. Or, to manage mobility difficulties. They may have to stand, walk or lie down to manage discomfort.
Modules
For all modules, provide clear guidance on the nature of online learning. This should include methods of delivery and participation.
Having clear guidance on the nature of online learning sessions will help the student to prepare for sessions. This will also be crucial in determining the student’s need for further support. This may include things such as notetaking or personal support.
Student will be working with a Notetaker
Speak with the Disability & Wellbeing Service to allow the Notetaker to access online classes.
Notetakers are employed by the Disability & Wellbeing Service to take manual notes. That is, handwritten or typed and not a verbatim transcript.
Where many students in the session need notetakers, one will be provided. The Disability & Wellbeing Service will add the Notetaker to the Myplace class, under the 'Notetaker' role. The Notetaker should then gain access to the zoom sessions and take notes. No action is required by the host.
Student will be working with a BSL Interpreter
Speak with Disability & Wellbeing Service to allow BSL Interpreter to access live online classes. And to review guidance for assigning the BSL Interpreter to the session.
BSL Interpreters, like Electronic Notetakers, are a scarce resource in Glasgow. They must be booked in advance. Where a student needs BSL support, the department must make the timetable available in advance. This timetable should detail all live Zoom sessions. These should include links, passwords, and lecturer names. Please see the Disability & Wellbeing Guidance and the Deaf Unity Tips on Using Zoom with a sign language interpreter.
Student will be working with an electronic notetaker
Liaise with Disability & Wellbeing Service to allow the Electronic Notetaker to access live, online classes. And to review guidance for assigning the Electronic NoteTaker to the live session.
Electronic Notetakers are scarce in Glasgow. They must be booked in advance. Where a student requires an Electronic Notetaker, the department must make the class timetables available in advance. The timetables should detail all live Zoom sessions. It should also include links, passwords, and lecturer names. Please see the Guidance for the Provision of Live Captions in Zoom.
Please ensure all online classes are captioned. Make a separate transcript file available.
There is an expectation that all prerecorded sessions will be captioned. Students who rely on captions may need the captions to be provided as a separate transcript file. This is to enable them to access the session. Where captions are required for a live session, an Electronic Notetaker will be required.
When teaching, ensure that all visual content is made available verbally. This is to ensure that those accessing without sight of the presentation will not miss essential information. Please see P.O.U.R. principles (website).
For students with a visual impairment or students who are blind, it's vital that information presented visually is also verbalised. Otherwise the information will be lost.
Please provide an opportunity for clarification or follow-up communication and support if it's requested. For example, via online office hours.
Loss of valuable face-to-face contact time with tutors and peers will remove opportunities for learning outside of class. And for socialisation/familiarisation. Anxieties can be reduced for students if communication channels are available and clearly signposted.
Where student absence from face-to-face teaching sessions is because of disability-related reasons, please ensure full A/V recording of all sessions
When face-to-face teaching resumes, not all disabled students will be able to attend classes. They'll rely on recordings of sessions.
A room with wheelchair access
Estates should be contacted to ask them to take the student’s needs into consideration for room bookings and timetabling. Safety Services will also be able to offer advice. Issues to consider are access and egress, and accessible toilets.
AccessAble provides information on the accessibility of the University's buildings and facilities.
Reasonable adjustments
Information and guidance on some key adjustments are provided below:
Allow the student to audio record lectures or agree an alternative acceptable to the student
It's unlikely that students would not be permitted to tape lectures. There may be occasions when this may not be appropriate. For example, to protect confidentiality in a case study from professional practice. In these circumstances, staff should contact the student in advance to discuss possible alternative arrangements. This adjustment is particularly useful for students who have difficulty in listening and notetaking at the same time.
The Disability & Wellbeing Service often recommends this adjustment for students who have a Hearing Impairment, information processing difficulties, or difficulties in physically producing notes. This strategy would be useful for many students who don't have a diagnosed disability. Having an audio recording allows students to clarify their notes or understanding. Some students may have a better understanding oif they listen during a lecture. It means they are not distracted by having to write notes. Students then have the security of an audio copy of the lecture to augment their notes later.
Departmental Disability Contact (DDC) or other nominated staff member to proactively discuss progress with student at regular intervals
DDC to initiate contact with the student They discuss how and when you will be able to monitor and support the students' progress. This may be through regular meetings throughout the academic year. Or at key times, such as the lead-up to exams, coursework deadlines, or placements.
Do not ask student to read and respond to unseen material in class
Reading that students are to discuss in class should be provided in advance. That means those with reading difficulties can adequately prepare.
Maintain a teaching environment that takes account of the student's need to lip read
When lecturing, ensure that your face is in good light. And that you are standing still when talking. Make sure you don't continue talking when your back is turned to the lip reader.
In group work and tutorials, sitting in a circle allows the lip reader to participate. You should ask speakers to indicate before they begin to speak and remind people of the need to face the student who is trying to lip-read. If people keep forgetting, then an object, such as a pen, can be passed around, with a rule in place that only the person holding the object is allowed to speak.
Ensure that all areas used for teaching/tutorial purposes are accessible to students with visual impairment with appropriate attention to e.g. colour contrast and lighting.
Guidance on working with students with visual impairment can be found at: Working with students who are blind or partially sighted
Allow to work with a lip speaker
Further guidance on working with students with hearing impairment can be found at: Working with students who are d/Deaf or hearing impaired
No penalty for spelling/grammatical errors that do not conflict with published assessment criteria
To identify errors to enable students to improve their work, but not to deduct marks for errors.
Students find it difficult to proofread their own work. For some, picking up errors is challenging. The Disability & Wellbeing Service recommends software to assist with this process. It improves the accuracy of most students’ coursework over time. Despite effort on the part of students, errors often remain. This is true in examination settings where students are under time pressure and may not have access to assistive software.
To help remove this barrier for students, markers should highlight spelling and grammatical errors in feedback. This enables students to improve their work over time. But that marks are not deducted for these errors wherever possible.
Accommodating extra time in class tests & exams
Where a student has a requirement for extra time in exams, it's important this time is also applied to other forms of timed assessments. For example, quizzes in Myplace.
As of 2018/19, the Disability & Wellbeing Service will no longer be setting the ‘Ignore Time Limits Role' (unlimited time) for new adjustment reports. As such, departments will manage the extra time allocation of assessments within Myplace.
Myplace provides the following two methods for accommodating extra time for an individual student:
- Ignore Time Limits Role (set by Disability Service pre-2018)
- User Override (can be set by departments)
1. Ignore Time Limits Role (unlimited time)
Where the Ignore Time Limits role has been applied, the student’s adjustment report should include the adjustment:
The Ignore Time Limits role has been applied to myplace (Moodle) quizzes to accommodate this student's requirement of additional time. Where the quiz score contributes to course marks it should be invigilated and the student's additional time allowed for.
Reports containing this adjustment will largely relate to those approved before the beginning of session 2018/19. As of 2018/19, the Disability & Wellbeing Service will no longer be setting the ‘unlimited time’ role and as such reports will include the ‘user override’ adjustment instead.
The Ignore Time Limits role:
- can only be set by the Disability & Wellbeing Service
- once applied, applies to all classes
- the quiz will not time-out, therefore where the quiz score contributes to course marks it should be invigilated and the student's additional time allowed for
- will not be removed for continuing students who have had it applied pre 2018/19, unless requested by department
Departments can request that this role is removed in order that they can opt instead to use User Override. To do so, email the Disability & Wellbeing Service disability-wellbeing
2. User override
Where a student’s adjustment report includes a requirement for extra time, this should be accompanied by the adjustment:
This student has a requirement for extra time in class tests and exams. Please ensure that this is accommodated in all class tests including those completed within Moodle and other assessment environments.
Reports containing this adjustment will largely relate to those approved in session 2018/19. As of 2018/19, the Disability & Wellbeing Service will no longer be setting the ‘unlimited time’ role. As such, reports will include the ‘user override’ adjustment instead.
The class tutor:
- can set a specific time as required by the individual student
- is required to set the ‘user override’ per class test for students requiring extra time
The use of "user override" to set specific extra time means the test will time out once the extra time is met. This may remove the need for invigilation that was previously required.
As of 2018/19, the Disability & Wellbeing Service will no longer be setting the Ignore Time Limits role. As such, new reports should include the ‘user override’ adjustment instead.