This page provides additional information on some of the Exam Arrangements that may appear on the Disabled Students' Information hosted on Pegasus. This page does not contain a full list of all Exam Arrangements. It aims to provide additional information on Exam Arrangements where there may be a need for further guidance.
A room with wheel chair 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.
Access Able provide information on the accessibility of the University of Strathclyde's buildings and facilities.
Consider alternative assessment methods
You may find the Teachability resources available at the website below helpful in considering alternative assessment methods for students:
Teachability - Alternative Assessment
Time extension requests
Give sympathetic consideration to requests for an extension of time for submitting text based assignments.
This adjustment is aimed at students who have a disability which impacts on their ability to produce text in a given timescale. It is important therefore that the student is not penalised for requiring extra time to complete their work.
Spelling/grammatical errors
There should be no penalties for spelling/grammatical errors which do not conflict with published assessment criteria.
To identify errors to enable students to improve their work, but not to deduct marks for errors providing the meaning of the work is still clear. Students find it difficult to proofread their own work and for some picking up errors is particularly challenging. The Disability Service usually recommends Microsoft Office Word and Read & Write Gold to assist with this process which improves the quality of most students’ coursework over time, however despite much effort errors often remain. This is particularly true in examination settings where students may not have access to spellchecking and text to speech software and are under the pressure of time.
Working with a Reader or a Scribe
Students may have a requirement to work with a reader or scribe or both. Please see below guidelines for students, which you may find useful for invigilators and exam coordinators:
Accommodating extra time in class tests & exams
Where a student has a requirement for extra time in exams, it is important to ensure that this extra time is also applied to other forms of timed assessments such as 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 and, 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 please email the Disability and Wellbeing Service disability-wellbeing@strath.ac.uk with the Registration Number(s) of the students you wish to remove the role for, please ensure that there is agreement for this within your department, as it will be removed for all classes. We will then update the student's adjustment report to reflect that the department will manage extra time in myplace via user override.
2. User Override
Where a student’s adjustment report includes a requirement for Extra Time then 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, because 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 class tutor:
- can set 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 that the test will time out once the extra time is met. This may remove the need for invigilation which was previously required the class tutor wished the test to stop at the point extra time had been met, but the quiz did not time out (as Ignore Time Limits role applied).
As of 2018/19, the Disability & Wellbeing Service will no longer be setting the Ignore Time Limits role and, as such, new reports should include the ‘user override’ adjustment instead.
User override, Myplace instructional guide with screenshots
myplace staff support includes an instructional guide with screenshots