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<p><strong>Counseling Center and Disability Services:</strong></p>

<p>Students who are requesting accommodations can contact the Counseling Center and Disability Services office via email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:disabilityservices@monroecc.edu" target="_blank">disabilityservices@monroecc.edu</a>&nbsp;or call 585-292-2140 to request accommodations. Students can request accommodations with the office at any point in the semester, but accommodations&nbsp;are not retroactive.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Once students are registered with the office, students will be able to access their Accommodation Letter electrically.&nbsp;The purpose of an Accommodation Letter is to notify faculty of the student&rsquo;s approved accommodations.&nbsp;Students are responsible for the distribution of their Accommodation Letters to their instructors each semester.&nbsp; When reviewing accommodations, it is essential that both student and instructor connect to identify the specific accommodations the student will be utilizing for that&nbsp;particular course.&nbsp; This creates a common understanding between the instructor and student.&nbsp;All student accommodations are approved on a case-by-case basis. If students have specific questions about their accommodations, please encourage students to contact our office.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For students approved the accommodation, &ldquo;Assistive Technology&rdquo;, you may refer them to&nbsp;our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.monroecc.edu/depts/ssd/assistive-technology/" target="_blank">website</a>&nbsp;for specific downloading information. Students approved assistive technology may use&nbsp;text-to-speech software, speech-to-text software, screen magnifiers, screen readers and/or writing programs&nbsp;to ensure equal&nbsp;access.&nbsp;Students&nbsp;are strongly encouraged to connect with each instructor to determine how these programs will interface with their exams.&nbsp;To ensure all students can&nbsp;access&nbsp;all&nbsp;course materials, please keep accessibility in mind when you are creating your course.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>If you or students have any questions, please reach out to our office directly via email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:disabilityservices@monroecc.edu" target="_blank">disabilityservices@monroecc.edu</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><br />
<strong>Virtual Campus:</strong></p>

<p>The Virtual Campus supports faculty with their course design needs&nbsp;for&nbsp;remote, web-enhanced, hybrid,&nbsp;HyFlex, and online&nbsp;courses.&nbsp;Our goal is to create high quality, accessible&nbsp;courses for&nbsp;all&nbsp;MCC&nbsp;students regardless&nbsp;of the course modality.&nbsp;We encourage you to check out the research&nbsp;from our&nbsp;friends at Geneseo and Oswego on the challenges that students with&nbsp;disabilities faced&nbsp;during the pandemic:&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_NS66enceIwy3CJ3eOqd27QYMgDlzlt6bdwyO3awsnU/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">A Qualitative Analysis of Remote Learning Barriers Among Students with Disabilities&nbsp;(CIT 2021 Presentation)</a>&nbsp;<br />
<br />
When we offer an online course, we are assuring that all courses comply with the basic tenants of Universal Design, which means that any student, regardless of ability, can take an online course.&nbsp;Course design is one of the key factors in online student success. We use the&nbsp;<a href="https://oscqr.suny.edu/" target="_blank">Open SUNY Course Quality Rubric (OSCQR)</a>&nbsp;to guide online course development which provides 50 different measures that are based on current research.</p>

<p>In the summer of 2018, we added the &ldquo;Blackboard Ally&rdquo; tool&nbsp;within Blackboard&nbsp;to help faculty check the accessibility of documents.&nbsp;Students can also benefit from using the Blackboard Ally tool to download alternative formats of class materials from their course, such as tagged PDFs,&nbsp;HTML, audio files,&nbsp;eBook&nbsp;formats, and Braille.&nbsp;Watch a 1min video:&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/studentallyformats" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/studentallyformats</a>&nbsp;</p>

<p>It is essential to keep in mind all course materials when setting up a course, and this includes other technologies that are integrated.&nbsp;We often don&rsquo;t consider the accessibility of any third-party tools (such as Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Cengage).&nbsp;We encourage you to reach out to your vendor to make sure&nbsp;any new tools&nbsp;you are using&nbsp;are accessible. Many vendors will have a website dedicated to the accessibility of their tool.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>For more information about accessibility for all learners, visit the SUNY Accessibility website:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.suny.edu/accessibility/resources/" target="_blank">https://www.suny.edu/accessibility/resources/</a>. We encourage you to&nbsp;browse the&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qSrNBmyeEgUJgLRUQcEjoAkGmNpNPKN2TVqdGCS7aM8/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">resources for inclusive and accessible classrooms</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>You can contact the Virtual Campus office at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:virtualcampus@monroecc.edu" target="_blank">virtualcampus@monroecc.edu</a>&nbsp;for more support with your&nbsp;accessible&nbsp;course design.</p>

<p><br />
<strong>Testing Services:</strong></p>

<p>The Testing Services department serves students who have approved accommodations. We offer&nbsp;in-person&nbsp;and&nbsp;Zoom&nbsp;testing&nbsp;by appointment only. We can proctor both paper/pencil and web-based exams.&nbsp;First, the student should contact the testing center to make the testing appointment. Then, the student will communicate the appointment time to the professor. Then, the professor should provide testing services with the exam and exam instructions. You may submit the exam by delivering an&nbsp;appointment envelope to 6-207 or submit it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.registerblast.com/monroecc/Professor/Login" target="_blank">electronically</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Many students who are learning remotely will choose to take their test that way. Read this&nbsp;<a href="https://www.monroecc.edu/ArchAnnou.nsf/15a7215dca1c8fae85256c54006dd19b/4fd0f5e37b1323db8525866b005f6495?OpenDocument" target="_blank">Tribune article</a>&nbsp;on how to best support these students.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Library:</strong></p>

<p>Housed within Library Services,&nbsp;<a href="https://libguides.monroecc.edu/OERsources" target="_blank">MCC&rsquo;s OER Initiative</a>&nbsp;provides support&nbsp;to faculty developing and using Open Educational Resources (OER) in their courses.&nbsp;OER provide&nbsp;alternatives for students who&nbsp;can&nbsp;benefit from&nbsp;different&nbsp;teaching and learning material&nbsp;options.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Physical versions of&nbsp;digital materials can be placed on reserve&nbsp;and a scanner is available for faculty and students to create versions of&nbsp;a&nbsp;text&nbsp;with Optical Character Recognition (OCR).&nbsp;The library can also provide&nbsp;limited&nbsp;scans of text (adhering to copyright restrictions) for anyone unable to&nbsp;visit the library in person.&nbsp;Library staff are&nbsp;able to&nbsp;help students within the library space who need&nbsp;help&nbsp;when using assistive technology, such as screen reader software.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://libguides.monroecc.edu/accessibility" target="_blank">Accessibility Resources in the Library</a>&nbsp;guide for further information.&nbsp;MCC Libraries can be reached at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:libraries@monroecc.edu" target="_blank">libraries@monroecc.edu</a>.&nbsp;</p>

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Accessibility Resources

Since accessibility in an important component of every course, we want to highlight a couple of resources as you plan and create your courses. Below you will find accessibility resources from the Counseling Center and Disabiltiy Services office, Virtual Campus, Testing Services and the Library. 

Counseling Center and Disability Services:

Students who are requesting accommodations can contact the Counseling Center and Disability Services office via email at disabilityservices@monroecc.edu or call 585-292-2140 to request accommodations. Students can request accommodations with the office at any point in the semester, but accommodations are not retroactive.  

Once students are registered with the office, students will be able to access their Accommodation Letter electrically. The purpose of an Accommodation Letter is to notify faculty of the student’s approved accommodations. Students are responsible for the distribution of their Accommodation Letters to their instructors each semester.  When reviewing accommodations, it is essential that both student and instructor connect to identify the specific accommodations the student will be utilizing for that particular course.  This creates a common understanding between the instructor and student. All student accommodations are approved on a case-by-case basis. If students have specific questions about their accommodations, please encourage students to contact our office. 

For students approved the accommodation, “Assistive Technology”, you may refer them to our website for specific downloading information. Students approved assistive technology may use text-to-speech software, speech-to-text software, screen magnifiers, screen readers and/or writing programs to ensure equal access. Students are strongly encouraged to connect with each instructor to determine how these programs will interface with their exams. To ensure all students can access all course materials, please keep accessibility in mind when you are creating your course.  

If you or students have any questions, please reach out to our office directly via email at disabilityservices@monroecc.edu.  


Virtual Campus:

The Virtual Campus supports faculty with their course design needs for remote, web-enhanced, hybrid, HyFlex, and online courses. Our goal is to create high quality, accessible courses for all MCC students regardless of the course modality. We encourage you to check out the research from our friends at Geneseo and Oswego on the challenges that students with disabilities faced during the pandemic: 

A Qualitative Analysis of Remote Learning Barriers Among Students with Disabilities (CIT 2021 Presentation) 

When we offer an online course, we are assuring that all courses comply with the basic tenants of Universal Design, which means that any student, regardless of ability, can take an online course. Course design is one of the key factors in online student success. We use the Open SUNY Course Quality Rubric (OSCQR) to guide online course development which provides 50 different measures that are based on current research.

In the summer of 2018, we added the “Blackboard Ally” tool within Blackboard to help faculty check the accessibility of documents. Students can also benefit from using the Blackboard Ally tool to download alternative formats of class materials from their course, such as tagged PDFs, HTML, audio files, eBook formats, and Braille. Watch a 1min video: http://bit.ly/studentallyformats 

It is essential to keep in mind all course materials when setting up a course, and this includes other technologies that are integrated. We often don’t consider the accessibility of any third-party tools (such as Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Cengage). We encourage you to reach out to your vendor to make sure any new tools you are using are accessible. Many vendors will have a website dedicated to the accessibility of their tool.  

For more information about accessibility for all learners, visit the SUNY Accessibility website: https://www.suny.edu/accessibility/resources/. We encourage you to browse the resources for inclusive and accessible classrooms

You can contact the Virtual Campus office at virtualcampus@monroecc.edu for more support with your accessible course design.


Testing Services:

The Testing Services department serves students who have approved accommodations. We offer in-person and Zoom testing by appointment only. We can proctor both paper/pencil and web-based exams. First, the student should contact the testing center to make the testing appointment. Then, the student will communicate the appointment time to the professor. Then, the professor should provide testing services with the exam and exam instructions. You may submit the exam by delivering an appointment envelope to 6-207 or submit it electronically.   

Many students who are learning remotely will choose to take their test that way. Read this Tribune article on how to best support these students.  
 

Library:

Housed within Library Services, MCC’s OER Initiative provides support to faculty developing and using Open Educational Resources (OER) in their courses. OER provide alternatives for students who can benefit from different teaching and learning material options.  

Physical versions of digital materials can be placed on reserve and a scanner is available for faculty and students to create versions of a text with Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The library can also provide limited scans of text (adhering to copyright restrictions) for anyone unable to visit the library in person. Library staff are able to help students within the library space who need help when using assistive technology, such as screen reader software. 

Visit the Accessibility Resources in the Library guide for further information. MCC Libraries can be reached at libraries@monroecc.edu

Stephanie Lee
Counseling Center & Disability Services
06/09/2021