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MCC Daily Tribune

Faculty: How to Support Students with Testing Accommodations

Now that classes for Spring 2021 have begun, your students may begin reaching out to you to let you know that they have an accommodation letter.  The accommodation letter describes what kind of accommodations the student has access to, both in the class environment (remote or not) and during exams and assessments.

Testing Services (now part of Advisement, Transfer, Testing, and Veterans’ Services) is available to assist you in providing students with their approved testing accommodations.

Since much learning is remote during this time, many students will choose to access their testing accommodations from home. Here are some tips for remote testing accommodations:

 

  • For students who have the accommodation “Tests Read,” Kurzweil Read-the-Web is a text-to-speech extension for Chrome browsers that will read content in Blackboard.  Here is a link to a quick-start guide to Kurzweil Read-the-Web: https://www.kurzweiledu.com/files/pdf/2018shared/rtw_getting_started_guide.pdf
  • If you are using Respondus Lockdown Browser with or without Respondus Monitor, Kurzweil will not work. 
  • NVDA is a free screen reader that will read text in Blackboard using Respondus Lockdown Browser. It is not as user-friendly as Kurzweil, but it will work. Download NVDA here: https://www.nvaccess.org/download/
  • For students with the accommodation “Extended Time,” a time extension (either 1.5x or 2.0x) can be programmed into most testing software, including Blackboard.
  • For students with the accommodation “Reduced Distraction,” often a conversation with the student is the most helpful solution, since most assessments are given remotely. However, some students may have a situation where they cannot access a reduced distraction location remotely. Testing Services has limited on-campus hours to accommodate these students. Please email me for more information.
  • For students who do require use of the on-campus Testing Center, arrangements must be made a week in advance due to staffing limitations.

Visit Disability Services on the MCC website to learn more about assistive technology available at MCC.

 

We are here to help! Reach out to Testing Services or Sarah Pantaleo at any time for assistance.

 

 

Sarah Pantaleo
Testing Services
02/03/2021