Faculty Information

The OAR uses the Accessible Information Management System (AIM).  AIM is an online accommodation management portal that facilitates interaction with the OAR, faculty, staff and students. Students will independently coordinate their accommodations. The system protects confidential information about the students and allows for streamlined communication between students, faculty and staff.

Faculty can access their AIM account through the Accessibility Resources app on their MyWCU page. To add Accessibility Resources to your apps, click on ALL APPS and “pin” Accessibility Resources. You can also access AIM from the AIM Faculty Portal. For help, please contact the OAR office. 

AIM Faculty Instructions

Students registered with the OAR should send you their approved accommodation letters through AIM. AIM will then email you the approved accommodation letter. You can then sign into the AIM Portal to access your students' approved accommodations. Approved ccommodations will be clearly stated in AIM.

Students are asked to follow-up with you regarding their accommodation request.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office. 

The OAR encourages but does not require students to meet with faculty at the beginning of the semester to discuss their accommodations.

Student can register with OAR and make request accommodations at any time during the semester. Accommodations are not retroactive, and you are under no obligation to allow a student to re-do exams or work for which they did not request accommodations in advance.

If a student requests an accommodation, you are only allowed to ask them for the approved accommodation (Faculty Notification) letter. Documentation describing and supporting a student's diagnosis is considered confidential information. Faculty should not receive, evaluate or maintain documentation of a disability. When you recieve a Faculty Notification Letter from AIM, the student's accommodation request has been completed and appropriately documented. The approved accommodation (Faculty Notification) letter should be the only documentation you require. 

More information on our documentation guildines

The OAR does not provide testing or diagnostic evaluations. However, we can refer the student to on- and off-campus resources for assessment.

Talk privately with the student to discuss your observations. Do not diagnose or assume that the student's problems are due to a disability. Talk only about what you observe. Ask questions. If appropriate, refer the student to the OAR or other campus resources (such as Counseling and Psychological Services, the Writing and Learning Commons or the Math Tutoring Center).

Students with disabilities have the same rights as other students, including the right to fail. Work produced by a student with a disability should be of equal quality to that of their peers and students with disabilities should be held to the same standards as all students. Accommodations are not a guarantee for success.

Talk to the student as you would any student who is struggling in your class.Talk about what youobserve. If appropriate, refer the student to the OAR or other campus resources (such as Counseling and Psychological Services, the Writing and Learning Commons or the Math Tutoring Center).

No. You are not required to provide accommodations without the Faculty Notification Letter or a formal request in your AIM Faculty Portal. Please refer the student to the OAR for assistance with their request.

No. Academic Accommodations are intended to remove or reduce institutional barriers so that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to learn, to demonstrate learning, and to participate equally in the programs and activities of the university, despite barriers that might exist in course policies, course materials, or course design. Students are responsible for fulfilling all course and program requirements with or without accommodation.

Academic accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis through an interactive process that considers each individual's functional limitations, disability history, request, and the essential elements of WCU programs, services, and activities.

You will not be asked to lower standards or alter critical academic requirements of your classes. Students with disabilities are expected to meet all course requirements.

If you feel that an approved accommodation constitutes a fundamental alteration of course or program standards, please contact the OAR.

Test accommodations mitigate barriers to access, allowing students with disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge of the course content. Accommodations may relate to the time limit but may also potentially include changes in administration and/or format.

Test accommodatons are a common request and support equal access for students with different types of disabilities. Requests for additional test time, testing in a distraction-reduced testing environment, and assistive technologies are all common accommodation requests provided by the OAR. 

Ultimately, you as faculty are responsible for all student testing for your class, including accommodated testing. You may work with the student to administer the test within the student's accommodations. However, the OAR Testing Centeris available to proctor tests with accommodations for students if needed.

The OAR makes every effort to maintain the integrity of exams. Students are required to leave all belongings and unapproved materials in our office during testing. All testing sessions are video monitored and recorded. Exams are secured until administered, and completed exams are shredded once we receive faculty acknowledgement of receipt.

Any violation of the Academic Integrity Policy will result in the termination of the testing session, and our office will contact the faculty member regarding the incident.

Students are responsible for following the procedure for arranging accommodated testing through the OAR. 
HOW STUDENTS SUBMIT A REQUEST ON AIM

OAR TESTING ACCOMMODATIONS WEBPAGE

The student should request test proctoring three or more business days in advance on their AIM account. Once the student submits their request, you will recieve an automatic email from our system notifying you of the students request. This email will include the student's name, the class, the date and time that they are requesting to take the exam, as well as their approved test accommodations. You then have the choice to either provide us with the exam file (applicable if the exam is on paper) and exam instructions using the link in the email, or dispute the exam request using the link in the email. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROCEDURE

Once a student has completed the test, an OAR staff member will send you an email to confirm test completion.

Paper tests may be scanned and returned via email, but you will need to confirm receipt. Also, you must acknowledge the legibility of the document before our staff shreds the original copy.

Kurzweil 3000 is a program available by the OAR to not only support accessible features to students but also to allow faculty the ability to support their classroom functions online (document sharing, testing, etc.) Faculty and students can now register for an account.

Students and faculty who utilize Kurzweil 3000 will benefit from assistive technology tools that make documents, websites, and other platforms more accessible, including but not limited to: text-to-speech in 31 voices, text-to-speech in 11 languages, translations for 100+ languages, speech-to-text, note taking tools, word prediction, writing templates, accessibility for testing accommodations, text magnification tools, multiple dictionaries, synonym/thesaurus tools, multi-color highlighters, 7 color overlays, talking spell checker, read the web extensions for chrome and Firefox, integrated reading/writing/study skill tools, etc.

1. Think through questions you need to ask and answer: What considerations and information will you use to answer the questions asked by students concerning their accommodations? Utilize on and off-campus resources.
   
   
2. Work with campus technical support who specialize in the learning management systems you are using, with consideration of students who may also use assistive technology. Students with vision impairments, blindness, hearing impairments, deafness, and other processing and print type disabilities may be faced with new challenges with online instruction and changes to how content is now provided.

1. Revisit student accommodation requests in your courses.
2. Invite students to talk with you if they have a concern and reinforce their right to accommodations. Discuss possible changes to the accommodations (i.e., testing) in an online environment. Develop a plan and provide supportive communication with the students about their accommodation to know what to expect.
3. Outreach and collaboration with campus partners. No one individual, department, or unit can be everything to everyone; use campus offices and colleagues to address and support issues.

 Typically, a student with Attendance Policy Adjustment accommodations has a disability which is a chronic condition with random or cyclical acute episodes having functional impacts on class attendance and/or participation. 

Test accommodations

• Most learning management systems (LMS) have an option for setting extended test time. Work with the online support and technology staff to be sure that you know the necessary functions and accessibility features.
• As noted in authorized student accommodation letters for students with test accommodations, the OAR provides a reminder:
  • As applicable, faculty and instructors add extended time in platforms used for testing/quizzes.
• Consider students who frequently test with the OAR may need attention, and problem-solving as the method for how you provide timed tests to all students may need to differ for students with accommodations. For example, a discussion or plan may be helpful for students to take paper-and-pencil tests if an online test cannot be made accessible.
• Remember the OAR uses and provides free Kurzweil 3000 accounts to all faculty, students, and staff. Kurzweil 3000 supports accessible features, testing accommodations, document sharing, text to speech, speech to text, and many other assistive aids that can help during this period of change. Faculty, students, and staff can access their personalized Kurzweil 3000 Account.