Faculty Information & Resources

Faculty, instructors, and other academic department contacts are key partners for Disability Services in helping to ensure students receive approved accommodations in an appropriate way.

Disability Services for Faculty

The Disability Services office partners closely with faculty and academic departments to identify the essential components of courses and programs. We rely on faculty as subject matter experts in course design, objectives, assignments, and assessments. Together, we work to remove barriers in the learning environment and ensure all students have equal access to their educational experience.

Through the Accommodate portal, faculty can securely access accommodation letters for their students each semester. Once a student submits their Semester Request, faculty will receive a notification that a letter is available for review and signature. These letters outline approved accommodations and provide guidance on how to implement necessary supports.

If you have questions or need additional resources, please don’t hesitate to contact Disability Services. We’re here to support your efforts to create an inclusive and accessible classroom.

Access Letters: Faculty can view and download accommodation letters anytime via the Accommodate portal.

Please refer to Faculty Rights and Responsibilities for more information on Faculty's role in implementing accommodations.

Learn More

Universal Design
Engaging with Students with Disabilities
Creating Accessible Materials

Universal Design

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that aims to support students of all levels of ability with effectively learning curriculum material. This framework can be implemented into learning institutions of all kinds and its efficacy revolves around three principles. It is important because it aims to remove barriers to education for all students in order for all students to be successful in a learning institution.

UDL Guidelines (developed by the Center for Applied Special Technology)

Multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge
Multiple means of expression to provide learners alternative ways to demonstrate what they know
Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners’ interests, challenge them appropriately and motivate them to learn

Strategies to Implement Universal Design

Syllabi contain important information such as exam and assignment deadlines, learning objectives, grade calculations, attendance, participation and course expectations. These allow students to have and know the expectations for their course. Syllabi can also include an accessibility statement, with resources to access the Disability Services Office. This encourages students to make an appointment with their professors to discuss accommodations they may need.

The Center for Teaching Excellence encourages one to put this statement on one’s syllabus:

Students with documented disabilities and learning differences who are registered with Disability Services are required to present their accommodation letter to the instructor at the beginning of each semester, or as soon as possible thereafter. Students are encouraged to contact or meet with the instructor to discuss how accommodations can support them in meeting the course learning objectives. Any student who has, or thinks they may have, a physical, learning, or psychological disability may contact Disability Services at accessibility@oxy.edu to learn about available services and support. More information is available at .

Having clear objectives for homework, readings, class meetings, or other study materials allows students to effectively prepare for class, to take notes, and to organize their ideas. While this is important for everyone, it is especially important for students with learning differences that make traditional note-taking difficult.

For a reading:

A template that identifies the main ideas and takeaways along with important vocabulary. It may also include a section to put evidence and analysis in the students' own words. These templates can then be used in class when debriefing the reading. For example:

Identify definitions for each of the three central concepts (X, Y, Z)
Explain in your own words the argument made on page X

For homework/problem sets:

In directions about homework/problem sets, remind students of main concepts that the problems relate to by indicating the class the notes were taken in and the section of the textbook the problems relate to. For example:

Focus on the application of the process studied in class on DATE
Take notes on section X and do problems from section X

Class meetings:

An agenda on the board for each class meeting that indicates the main points and important takeaways or topics covered can help students organize their notes and understand how the material fits together. For example:

Recap from last time: CONTENT
Understanding stigma
Applying X’s theory of stigma to Y.
Assignment for next time

Feedback is provided to students when professors grade and comment on their work. These comments should increase students confidence and encourage their work ethic. Giving growth mindset feedback will motivate students to develop their skills and work.

Tips on how to word feedback:

As a professor, try and relate back to your college experience and share your growth story: your own struggles and how you overcame them.
Give students the opportunity to self reflect on their work and learning.
Praise quality of work but also work ethic, attitude and effort
Use “yet” to state that students have do not have the skills but they are able to attain them
Give a positive reflection of a student’s work, followed by ways to improve.
Ask your students questions that allows them to reflect on their work.

Examples of feedback:

“What is something you can improve on next time?”
“How can you improve the accuracy of X, Y, Z…?”
“You can be more specific about X, Y, Z, here…”
“What is the aim of this paragraph?”
“You should expand on X, Y, Z”

Students’ performance on assessments like tests, papers, and other assignments, and direct forms of feedback like course evaluations and mid-semester feedback, can provide valuable information on how to better support their success.

Tips on how to use student feedback:

If the majority of a class gets test questions wrong, it is advised to throw out that question or reflect on how you can better teach that topic.
At the middle and end of the course, provide an anonymous survey of questions about what was beneficial in the class and what was not.
Use feedback to change your class or teaching styles to better help your students learn in future classes.

Tincani, Matt. “Improving Outcomes for College Students with Disabilities: Ten Strategies for Instructors.” College Teaching 52, no. 4 (2004): 128–32.

Engaging with Students with Disabilities

Professors are key to engaging with all students, including those with disabilities. Here is a guide on how to better teach and better communicate to those with disabilities.

Disability: An individual with a disability is defined by the ADA as ‘a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment.’

Title III of the ADA specifically addresses educational institutions, as well as Section 504 (of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973), which prohibits discrimination based on disability in programs or activities receiving federal assistance.

What Should/Can you ask?

Feel free to say:

“I notice you’ve been struggling (with exams, speaking participating in class, taking notes, etc.)”
“Have you struggled with this in the past?”
“What aspects of the course might be challenging for you?”

What should you not say:

“Do you have a disability?”
“I can’t help you”
“You don’t look like you have a disability”
- Most students at �� have invisible disabilities, don’t make assumptions.

Having a disability does not automatically qualify a student for accommodations.
Having a disability does not mean students can engage in inappropriate and disruptive behavior, conduct violations will be addressed.
Accommodations are not meant to fundamentally alter the curriculum and learning objectives.
Accommodations are not meant to be retroactive. A student should make their professor aware in advance, as much as possible.
Disability information is protected by FERPA. Only those with an ‘educational need to know’ will have access to a student’s information, in certain circumstances, that may be the faculty member.

Academic Success Coach (academiccoaching@oxy.edu)

‘I’d like to connect you with the Academic Success Coach, they can work with you on study strategies, time management, and organizing your schedule, would you be open to that support?’

Disability Services (accessibility@oxy.edu)

If a student says they have a disability, you suspect they may have an underlying disability, or they mentioned they’ve had accommodations in high school, you can refer them to DS office hours or make an email introduction to discuss support.

Dean of Students Office (deanofstudents@oxy.edu)

If a student is experiencing an acute crisis, or family/personal emergency, you should refer them to the DOS office to discuss support (i.e., short-term academic flexibility).

Creating Accessible Materials

Many student accommodations require accessible materials and faculty can easily make their class materials available to students with disabilities by these straightforward “how to” guidelines.

The Disability Services Office supports proctored exams for students with approved testing accommodations. Make sure students know they need to schedule a proctored exam 7 calendar days in advance and have the time to do so. When you are prompted to, send in the test to the testing center for your students.

Also known as: OCR (optical character recognition), “true pdf format,” text recognition

Accessible pdfs allow students to listen to a document. When a pdf is in “true format,” students can highlight the text and put it into a text-to-speech program (i.e. NaturalReader) so that they can listen to the document. Any document where this cannot happen is a scanned document or image. It is important to have accessible pdfs so that students with learning differences, such as dyslexia, or visual impairments, can access their class material. All faculty should make sure their class documents are in an accessible format.

How to make an Accessible PDF:

Open Adobe Acrobat (must have Acrobat Pro)
1. Your department services coordinator/administrator assistant has access to Adobe Acrobat, and they can remediate the documents
Click “Tools” > “Create PDF”
Select the file type you want to create a PDF from: single file, multiple files, scan, or other option
Click “Create” or “Next” depending on the file type
Follow the prompts to convert to PDF and save to your desired location

Captioning videos/audio

Captioning videos, audio, and media allow students to read along as they listen to the audio. It is important to have captioning so that students with learning differences, such as hearing impairments, can access their class material. All faculty should ensure their class audio is in an accessible format one week before they plan to use it in class. Faculty can either contact Michelle Obergfoll, or they can use YouTube to access captions.

How to get captioning through YouTube:

Make a YouTube account and sign in
In the right top-hand corner, there is a button that says “create video” click that button and then press “upload video”
Select the video file you would like to upload
Once uploaded, you can play the video and turn on the captioning so that you have accessible video/media

Tips	Targets Learners
Adding in additional images, audio, videos, and multimedia content	Helps those with visual learning styles or print-related difficulties
Readable font size and typeface	Targets learners with dyslexia, and those who are partially sighted
Color and brightness contrast	Targets learners with dyslexia and color blindness
Emphasizing text	Helps learners with visual impairments and dyslexia
Use of appropriate words, sentences, alignment and justification	Targets learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia
Numbers, arithmetic and math simplification	Helps learners with poor memory and dyscalculia
Lecture Handouts 5-7 bullet points covering the information, not in-depth Use of graphics, tables, and charts And pictures/real-life examples Comprehensive Lecture Notes Detailed lecture notes Covers topics in depth Use of terminology, definitions, explanations, simplified mathematics, diagrams, tables, and charts. (149)	Helps all learners with learning differences Some students with learning disabilities may have trouble with handwriting, reading, and hearing impairments, so more detailed lecture note handouts may benefit.
Physical action, expression, and communication	Helps all learners with learning differences

Nitin Naik (2017) Dual PowerPoint presentation approach for students with special educational needs and note-takers, European Journal of Special Needs Education, 32:1, 146-152, DOI: 10.1080/08856257.2016.1254970

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