Please know that we are committed to ensuring that all students have full access to all aspects of their courses. If you encounter a barrier to your full participation please contact us at accessibility@bates.edu or 207-786-6222.

Academic Accommodations

If you receive academic accommodations through the Office of Accessible Education and Student Support, your accommodations will remain in effect whether courses are offered in-person, online, or as a hybrid.

Students who are not currently registered with Accessible Education and Student Support can request accommodations by following the process to request an accommodation.

Information Regarding Specific Accommodations

The below are considerations for online learning with regard to the most common academic accommodations at Bates. If you have concerns or questions about these or other accommodations please contact us at at accessibility@bates.edu or 207-786-6222.

Exams: Extended Time and Breaks

• If students are given a timed assessment via Lyceum, the instructor will adjust the allotted time according to the your approved accommodation
• Exams do not need to be scheduled via AIM but students are encouraged to contact their instructors prior to their exams to ensure that a plan is in place
• Breaks will depend on the student and their needs. Please consult with your instructor about how this has worked for you up to this point. Typically, we start with a 10-minute break for every hour, or similar, and see how that works. Again, students may have varying needs, so this could look different for each student. If students are able to start and stop the clock, there is no issue. If not, their time will need to be an adjustment to include time for breaks.
• If students are given a window to complete an assessment online (for example a 24-hour period), generally no accommodation is needed. Contact Accessible Education with specific questions or concerns.

Electronic Text

• Use SensusAccess for accessible document conversions.
• If you need assistance locating electronic versions of assisnged texts, please review this information regarding text in alternate format.

Notetaking Assistance

• The Office of Accessible Education will work with students to provide note taking assistance either via peer note taker or assistive technology. Please note that this is a classroom accommodation which applies to live or recorded lectures only.

Captions (Accessible Audio/Visual Material)

• Accessible Education staff will reach out to faculty who have a student with this accommodation directly to offer assistance.
• Required closed captioning on all films, video clips, streamed or recorded lectures, DVD’s or media with an audio component that is used for any class purpose

Resources

SensusAccess

Available to all Bates community members, this tool converts documents to an accessible format. This will allow students who are using technology such as text-to-speech or screen readers, or who may need to manipulate text size or contrast, to access documents. The process is quick and user-friendly. 

Read & Write

Read & Write is a literacy software that is available to download by any Bates student. Read&Write offers text-to-speech capabilities for eBooks, websites, emails and documents. Contact our office at accessibility@bates.edu so we can activate your account.

Accessibility and Lyceum

Overview of built-in accessibility features in Moodle (Lyceum).

Support

Staff are here to support you. If you have concerns regarding access or accommodations at any point, please email accessibility@bates.edu. Accessible Education staff will be available to meet with students remotely through Zoom and/or work over email and phone.