ACCESS

Faculty Resources

Course Accessibility Checklist

Faculty are encouraged to use the ACCESS Course Accessibility Checklist to ensure their courses have been designed in ways that are inclusive and accessible.

Digital Access in Education

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is proud to announce a video series covering a variety of topics on digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology, applicable Federal regulations, and identifying and remediating barriers to access.  Whether you are in the educational field or not, these videos have wide ranging coverage for those who want to know: What makes technology accessible for individuals with disabilities? And how can I make my site or platform more accessible?

Office of Civil Rights Video Series

YuJa & Zoom Captioning Guidance

YuJa will serve as the primary platform for storing media content across campus, giving faculty, students, and staff the ability to create, upload, and share videos from one location.

YuJa has a similar look and feel to Knowmia with many more capabilities in video capturing, editing, and searchability within video content. ITS is working with YuJa’s technicians to migrate all video content from Knowmia to SIUE’s YuJa library. In preparation for the migration from TechSmith Knowmia to YuJa, users must login to YuJa for an account to be created. Keep in mind that upon the initial login to YuJa, there will be nothing in your video library. The migration of content from Knowmia to YuJa should be completed in mid- to late May. At that time, YuJa will begin replacing TSK links inside of Blackboard courses, a process that will continue into June.

Training for YuJa is available at introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels and will be offered in both self-paced and live formats.

Self-paced training is now available for the introductory and intermediate levels. Advanced training will be available soon.

Live training sessions (via Zoom) are now available and will be offered through the fall semester. If you would like to register for more than one level, the form will need to be submitted multiple times. The details and link to join will be emailed to you the day before your scheduled training.

In addition to training, a YuJa workflow is available as well as many resource articles created to help faculty, staff, and students learn more about and use YuJa. 

Zoom recently announced the addition of live captioning to their product. This feature allows automatic, computer-generated captions to be created in real-time when people speak during a Zoom meeting. Live captioning has been enabled in Zoom for all SIUE faculty, staff, and students so all users can use this feature in their meetings.

Find additional Information on how to use the live captioning feature – both as a host and attendee. 

Additional information is available from Zoom’s site.

Accessible Campus Community & Equitable Student Support (ACCESS) and Information Technology Services (ITS) are working together to share the announcement about the new live captioning feature. Captioning during synchronous Zoom class sessions or meetings can provide a benefit to many attendees, not just those individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. As a result, ACCESS and ITS encourage all users to make use of the new live captioning feature during Zoom meetings for the benefit of all diverse learners.

Contact ACCESS at (618) 650-3726 or via email at [email protected] for questions about captioning or other accommodations. Contact ITS at (618) 650-5500 or via email at [email protected] if you have questions about or need assistance with Zoom.

Interpreter Services

Through ACCESS, SIUE provides qualified ASL interpreters to help students in class by interpreting what their faculty and fellow students say. Deaf students are strongly urged to register early and submit their semester requests to ACCESS as soon as possible to start the process for receiving services for each semester. 

Interpreters also are available for faculty conferences, advising sessions, and at faculty-student conferences. Most major campus events have interpreters, generally at one corner of the stage, or captioning equipment. For smaller events such as a club meeting, students need to contact ACCESS for information about how such meetings can be covered. The SIUE graduation ceremony also features interpreters or captionists. But other events may not automatically plan for interpreters, so students need to contact ACCESS or the organization sponsoring an event to ensure that interpreters or captioning equipment will be available.

Request Interpreters

Recorded Lecture Policy and Agreement

Recorded Lecture Policy

Recording lectures is one of the academic accommodations specifically identified in Section 504, Subpart E, Postsecondary Education, of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as a means of ensuring full participation in educational programs or activities for students with disabilities. Refusal to allow this accommodation to qualified students violates federal law.

Accessible Campus Community & Equitable Student Support (ACCESS) will determine if classroom recording is an appropriate academic modification, auxiliary aid, and/or resource with respect to the individual student’s documentation. Prior to the recording of any classroom activity, a Recorded Lecture Agreement must be signed by the student and filed with ACCESS (linked below). This form will be kept on file for the life of the student's enrollment and can be offered for review by instructor as needed.  These recordings must be disposed of by the end of the semester and the student will not be permitted to re-publish or share these recordings without expressed explicit permission from the instructor. Recorded lectures can be audio, video, or digitized media formats. Permission to use video or other methods for capturing lecture materials other than audio recording should be acquired from the instructor prior to beginning recording. The student will agree to focus on only recording course material and the instructor, and attempt to avoid capturing other students in the course.

Faculty have the right to protect intellectual property and ensure that the use of recordings is for the sole use of the student as an academic accommodation. Students enrolled in a class where classroom activities are being recorded will be informed electronically by the instructor prior to the first recorded class session. Instructors have the authority to spontaneously, or in advance, prohibit recording of personal student information (i.e. an instructor may tell students in a counseling class that a student’s personal discussion of their own life challenges must not be recorded). The University prohibits the distribution of classroom recordings in any manner. Any alleged violations of the Recorded Lecture Policy will be referred to the University conduct process.

For your convenience, we have also included here a copy of the Recorded Lecture Agreement. Please note, the agreement itself is invalid unless you as the instructor have also received an accommodation letter from our office approving the accommodation.

Intermittent or Extended Absence Accommodations for Episodic Conditions

While class attendance is considered an essential element, we also recognize that the episodic nature of some disabilities may occasionally impede student class attendance or the ability to submit work by deadlines. In such cases, ACCESS may determine that an accommodation related to class attendance and/or participation may be necessary.  Such accommodations are made under exceptional circumstances and must be supported with appropriate documentation.

ACCESS acknowledges that it is the instructor that determines the course requirements and learning outcomes. It should be noted that if a student’s condition forces the student to miss so many classes that it is felt that the student cannot sufficiently meet the learning objectives of the course, other alternatives such as a withdrawal or incomplete could be explored, as any accommodation that fundamentally alters the nature of instruction in a course would not be considered reasonable.

Course instructors can collaborate with ACCESS to determine the reasonableness of the accommodation based on the nature of the course, which may vary in terms of expectations for attendance and participation. The reasonableness of the request should be determined by the nature of the course and how essential attendance is to the curriculum. Performance related courses, (i.e. Dance, Speech, Studio Arts), Clinical Courses, Experiential Learning, Practicum Experiences, and/or Student Teaching are examples of courses in which attendance is integral to the learning experience. Missing several of those classes may not be considered reasonable.  On the other hand, classes that require that most of the content mastery be measured quantitatively using objective assessment methods may be more amenable to missed class sessions.  Given this context, it should be noted that any guidelines are just that, guidelines to provide a starting point for discussing an individualized plan based on the needs of the student and the nature of the class. This interactive process involving the student, the ACCESS office and the instructor should ensure that reasonable accommodations are available to qualified students AND that the integrity of courses are upheld. The ACCESS office will consult with the student and the instructor to explain the unique set of circumstances and/or to establish reasonable parameters. It is strongly recommended that these conversations occur at the beginning of the academic term, before such an accommodation should become necessary.

The U.S. Office of Civil Rights (OCR) states that requests for accommodations for absences due to a disability should be considered on an individual basis. The accommodation should be provided unless the accommodation threatens the integrity of the course as offered. If it is determined that attendance (as defined in the existing course syllabus) is an essential requirement and that a modification to the attendance policy would alter the integrity of the course, the faculty member is not required to make a modification. In such cases, it is important that the student and faculty member discuss the issue so that the student can then make an informed decision regarding alternatives.

Please consider the following guidelines to assess if attendance is an essential part of a class:

1. Is there classroom interaction between the instructor and students and among students?
2. Do student contributions constitute a significant component of the learning process?
3. Does the fundamental nature of the course rely on student participation as an essential method for learning?
4. To what degree does a student’s failure to attend constitute a significant loss to the educational experience of other students in the class?
5. What do the course description and syllabus say?
6. Which method is used to calculate the final grade?
7. What are the classroom practices and policies regarding attendance?

For your convenience, we have also included here a copy of the Intermittent/Extended Absence Form and Essential Abilities Intermittent/Extended Absence Form.  If you have additional questions, comments or concerns regarding the implementation or appropriateness of the IEAF accommodation in your course, please feel free to speak with an ACCESS representative directly or email us at [email protected].

Guidance on Trigger Warnings

Content warnings are verbal or written notices that precede potentially sensitive content. These notices are intended to flag the contents of material that follows, so readers, listeners, or viewers can prepare themselves to adequately engage or remove themselves from the environment for the benefit of their own wellbeing. Trigger warnings are a specific variety of content warnings that attempt to forewarn audiences of content that may exacerbate physiological and psychological symptoms in those students with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other anxiety based diagnoses. These mental health diagnoses which are “triggered” by stimuli, forces an individual to recall an experience of trauma. These individuals have no control over what actually triggers them, but they may have coping mechanisms or personal strategies that they utilize when encountered. The importance of trigger warnings lies in the ability to forewarn individuals requiring them so as to be prepared in advance of the encounter. Considering these strategies/mechanisms are most effective when the trigger is expected, it can allow them to make best use of their strategies to decrease the harmfulness of the triggering material or content.

Within the classroom, content warnings may be provided on the syllabus, articulated during lecture, sent out in emails or posted on Blackboard. Forewarnings of challenging or difficult moments in assigned readings, lectures, videos or topics that may come up in discussion are also helpful in facilitating such an accommodation. Know that as a result of the warning, students may mitigate by meditating, seeking a counselor or therapist’s assistance, or simply require more time to process the material under controlled conditions. This may also require a student needing to disengage fully from the classroom while the material is being discussed or to simply skip the pages where that particular topic is being discussed.

While it is understandably difficult to foresee all potential triggers, we have found the most common triggers include depictions of sexual violence, oppressive language, blood, gunshots and instances of self-harm. Additional tags that may prove problematic are issues of abuse, pedophilia/incest, miscarriages/abortion, racism and racial slurs, sexism and misogyny, islamophobia, transphobia and trans misogyny, homophobia and heterosexism, eating disorders/body hatred/fat phobia, etc.

Obviously this list is not extensive, but intentional inclusion of these specific concerns will illustrate to students that their concerns are taken seriously and are being addressed absent of judgment. The inclusion of content/trigger warnings is an acknowledgment that the lives, histories, and struggles of individuals do not disappear when they become students, and that instructors value accessibility as well as the mental health and wellbeing of others.

If there are any questions, comments or concerns about how designated learning objectives can be achieved regarding particular content or triggers associated, please feel free to contact us directly.

Additional resources on why trigger warnings matter:

• “My Students Need Trigger Warnings—and Professors do too” by Aaron R. Hanlon
• “I use trigger warnings—but I’m not mollycoddling my students” by Onni Gust
• “This powerful comic perfectly explains why we should all use trigger warnings” by Evette Dionne with a comic by Madeleine Slade

Accommodations for English Language Learners

International students with disabilities are provided equal educational opportunities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which is the law that defines disabilities and the general principles that guide accommodations. Under the ADA, international students who have disabilities are entitled to general accommodations in school, such as wheelchair access to school facilities, service and support animals and personal devices (e.g., hearing aids) to help overcome a disability.

For testing accommodations, this is also true. There are many diagnoses for which extended time may be approved or assistance such as a reader or scribe may be warranted. However, language proficiency is not sufficient rationale for accommodations to be extended through ACCESS.  ADA Accommodations are not to lower expectations but to level the playing field for students with disabilities. If you are an international student and have appropriate documentation justifying the need for accommodation under the ADA, please proceed through the intake and accommodation process.   

International students who have questions or concerns about academic issues may review resources at the Office of International Affairs. International students may also request an appointment with the International Student Program Advisor for additional academic and campus resources by contacting [email protected].

Evacuations and Students with Disabilities

When reviewing your syllabus, announce that in the event of an emergency, all persons who may need additional help should ask for assistance. Please know that persons with disabilities, either unobservable or observable (i.e. medical conditions, learning differences, etc.) who may be self-sufficient under normal circumstances, may still need assistance in an emergency situation. If a student self-identifies, set aside a time to physically show them the evacuation route and discuss how you might be able to assist them in emergency scenarios. The level of assistance or need may vary depending on the particular limitations:

• Visual Impairment
  • Describe the nature of the emergency.
  •  Offer your arm for guidance. Do NOT grasp a visually impaired person's arm.
    • As you walk, inform the individual of any obstacles in their path and tell them where you are as you go. If possible, someone should follow from behind to protect the individual from being pushed down in the event of crowding.
    • When you reach safety, ask if there is any need for further assistance.
•  Hard of Hearing
  • Know that persons who are deaf or Hard of Hearing may not be able to hear an alarm go off. An alternative warning technique may be needed to gain the attention of such individuals (i.e. turning the lights on and off or using hand gestures)
  •  Once you have the person’s attention, continue to use appropriate communication (this may include the assistance of an interpreter, or writing a brief note with evacuation instructions, time permitting). This may also require offering the individual materials to write with and communicate if possible.

• Mobility Impairment
  • If located on an upper level floor, individuals may be assisted to an area of assistance located in a stairwell landing to await evacuation or further instruction from first responders or rescue personnel.
  • Ask specifically how you can best assist them, there may be individuals with specific limitations and ability for whom lifting and or moving may be dangerous to their well-being.
    • If a person with a mobility impairment cannot be lifted, they should move to an identified Area of Rescue.
    • Know that if the individual cannot be lifted or has difficulty communicating clearly or easily, it may be necessary for someone to stay with that person to assist in communicating with first responders or rescue personnel. 
    •  If a person prefers to be removed from their wheelchair, always ascertain their preference in terms of how they will be removed (i.e. whether to extend extremities, whether a seat cushion or pad must be used, being carried forward or backward on stairs, etc.)
    • If in immediate danger and cannot wait in a designated area of rescue, it may be necessary to evacuate them using a carry technique or evacuation chair where available.  Please only attempt rescue evacuation as a last resort if you have had training or if the person is in a life-threatening situation and cannot wait for assistance.

What to do in the event of an evacuation:

• Check the intended evacuation route for obstacles, if possible. Remember: smoke, debris, flooding, loss of electricity, or other impediments may be present.
• Move people who are unable to leave the building to a designated or identified area of rescue. An area of rescue is a building location where people can wait for emergency assistance when evacuation may not be safe or possible. Emergency exit corridors and smoke-protected stairwells are resistant to fire and smoke for approximately 2 hours. They are the safest areas during an emergency evacuation. Rescue personnel are instructed to check all exit corridors and stairwells first for any stranded persons.
• Possibilities include:
  • Most enclosed stairwells
  • An adjoining building behind fire doors
  • An office with a closed door, located a safe distance from the hazard
  • Exit balconies and corridors
• Assist individuals who are able to leave the building, following your planned evacuation route, if possible. Do not use elevators unless authorized to do so by police or fire personnel.
• Report to your designated assembly area for a head count.
• Notify emergency responders immediately about the location and condition of any people remaining in the building.
• Do not reenter the building until authorized to do so by an appropriate authority such as police, fire department, etc.

Disability Grievance Policy & Procedure

The Grievance Procedure is established to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which states in part, that "No qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subject to discrimination by any such entity." (42 U.S.C., Section 12102 et. seq.) This procedure may be used by persons who believe they have been subject to discrimination. Those persons may file a complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of disability in employment practices and policies or the provision of services, activities, programs, or benefits by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Click the following link for more information on the SIUE Americans with Disabilities Act Grievance Procedures.

If you believe that your grievance involves a violation of state or federal law, you should immediately contact the Office of Equal Opportunity, Access & Title IX Coordination. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of using ACCESS' procedures or you wish to pursue an alternative approach, you may also contact the Office of Equal Opportunity, Access & Title IX Coordination. You can learn about the OEO complaint process from the document "How to File a Discrimination Complaint with the Office for Civil Rights" which you can obtain by visiting the U.S. Department of Education online. 

Additional Resources:

• Care Reporting -The purpose of submitting a Care Report is to share mental health concerns or concerning behavior about a student, staff, or faculty member with the Dean of Students and Counseling Services for them to review to see what, if any, steps should be taken.If you need to report an incident of sexual misconduct or relationship violence please submit a Sexual Assault, Sexual Misconduct and Relationship Violence Incident Report using: https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SIUEdwardsville&layout_id=4 .
• Starfish - Starfish is an early alert, retention and advising system that replaces GradesFirst. Instructors and advisors can use many of the tools within Starfish to keep track of students who might be at risk of not succeeding, academically. They also might use Starfish to send kudos to students whom they feel are excelling. Starfish is also used to schedule appointments with students, keep a digital history of all meetings and notes from those meetings, track attendance and more. To get started, sign into Starfish with your e-ID and password at: https://siue.starfishsolutions.com/starfish-ops/session/casLogin.html or login to Blackboard and click the Starfish tab.
• Blackboard Ally - Blackboard Ally is an accessibility tool that helps faculty identify and remove potential content barriers that can get in the way of learning. For example, Blackboard Ally alerts faculty when documents are missing headings or other formatting styles that make it easier for students to navigate content, especially students relying on screen readers to access Blackboard. Using a "stoplight" indicator system, Blackboard Ally measures course content against industry standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). If you click the red, orange or green icons in your course, Blackboard Ally will guide you through steps for improving content.