Accommodations Basics (How To)

What is an accommodation?

An accommodation is an adjustment or modification for disability to ensure equal access to course materials for a person with a disability. Examples of accommodations might include extra time on tests, preferential seating, notetakers, or alternate formats such as digital text, audio, or braille. Some information about common accommodations is available below. All accommodations have a description in the accommodation faculty notification letter sent through MyASC. If you have any questions about a specific accommodation, please don't hesitate to contact the ASC office Links to an external site.. 

Requesting/Receiving Accommodations

Students need to request accommodations for every new class they start. To facilitate this, we host drop-in at the beginning of every semester for students enrolled in the ASC: the first two weeks of Fall and Spring and the first few days of Summer. Students do not need an appointment, they can just drop by our offices during normal business hours, meet with us via Zoom, or call the front office to request a phone call from us. Details including Zoom links are available on our homepage Links to an external site. during these drop-in periods. We will then meet briefly with each student and send their accommodations to their instructors via MyASC. Students can also send their own accommodations through the MyASC portal without meeting with ASC faculty. They are only able to request/send accommodations that they have already been approved for in their assessment meeting with ASC faculty. If a student is new to ASC and hasn't met with a counselor to establish their accommodations yet, they will need to have a new student appointment before getting their accommodations. They can make an appointment by contacting our office or filling out an online application Links to an external site. to get started. 

Accommodation Letters

Accommodation letters sent from MyASC to your email include descriptions of the specific accommodations being requested including customized notes from ASC faculty where appropriate. Please take the time to read through these descriptions. We've invested a lot of effort in trying to make sure that they clearly state both faculty and student responsibilities, so if any of them are confusing to read, please let us know! We want them to be helpful for you. For example, here is the accommodation description for reasonable deadline extensions: 

All accommodation requests for deadline extensions must be due to a disability-related reason. 

Student and instructor must meet to discuss a communication plan and flexible completion dates of specific assignments, i.e., How much of an extension is appropriate? What’s the best way to communicate if I need an extension? 

Once the instructor has approved this plan, the agreement must be documented in writing (e.g., confirm through email) and you may upload it to your MyASC account.

Students must communicate clearly and before deadlines whenever possible with your instructor every time you are requesting an extension. Instructor approval for a reasonable deadline extension is considered on an assignment-by-assignment basis. 

The ASC is here to assist you. If you have questions about this accommodation process, please request assistance from ASC faculty: asc@cabrillo.edu.

MyASC

MyASC is the software system both faculty and students use to access accommodations. You will receive email notification of accommodation letters from this system and can log in to access a list of who in your class has accommodations. You can find MyASC on the ASC homepage right at the top Links to an external site.. There is an orange button for students and a blue button for faculty. We also have a training page with both videos and written instructions Links to an external site. for faculty on how to navigate MyASC. 

A note about accommodation notification emails from MyASC: they may end up in your spam folder. Please check regularly and if you see them there, mark us as a "safe sender". We're working with IT and MyASC to rectify the issue. Remember that you can always check the MyASC portal directly and we do encourage students to let their instructors know when their accommodations have been sent. 

Proctoring

The process for faculty who are teaching students who are using the Proctoring Center can be broken down into the following steps: 

  1. Get accommodation letter from student/MyASC.
  2. Fill out Testing Agreement on MyASC (more info below). 
  3. Student will schedule exam with Proctoring Center to reserve their seat via MyASC. 
  4. Send test/quiz/exam to Proctoring Center a minimum of one (1) business day before the exam. This is essential so that the Proctoring Center is prepared and so that any alternative media needs can be addressed before the student arrives for the exam. Exams can hand delivered to our offices or emailed to testforproctor@cabrillo.edu. 

Testing Agreements

You'll need to use MyASC to fill out Testing Agreements for students using the Proctoring Center. If a student is using the Proctoring Center, you need to fill out testing logistics information so that we can facilitate the exam/quiz/test. The sooner you can do this, the better - it has an effect on how your students enter and request information in the system. You don't need to have the test written in order to do this part, you can always upload the test closer to the exam date. This is just where you let us know dates, times, and parameters (e.g., whether notes or calculators are allowed). We recorded a brief training video Links to an external site. to orient you to this process and hopefully make it easy.  

Note Taking Assistance

There are several note taking assistance options, due in large part to the variety of assistive technologies now available for students. 

Peer Note Taker

The analogue note taking assistance is a peer note taker. This is when a student who is already enrolled in your class volunteers to take notes for their classmate who has been approved for a peer note taker accommodation. Your role as instructor is to help recruit a note taker. Most instructors do this by announcing to the class that a note taker is needed without disclosing who needs the note taker. It's helpful to mention that the note taker will receive a stipend from the ASC for doing so if they fill out the paperwork to get a check. There is an online application available for note takers to complete this process. Currently, peer note takers can receive up to $100 at the end of the semester as a thank you for providing the service. Please briefly review the volunteer's notes to ensure they are good, accurate notes. You can then ask the note taker to stay after class so that you can connect the two students and they can arrange between themselves how to exchange notes. Alternatively, if the ASC student would like to remain anonymous, the note taker can upload their notes directly to MyASC where the student with the accommodation can then access them.  

Assistive Technology Options

We have several assistive technology options available for students that involve recording lectures. Students who are approved for this type of note taking accommodation are given free software licenses or are able to borrow equipment from our offices.

  • Otter AI Links to an external site. is a an artificially intelligent live transcription software in which students can add their own notes.
  • The smart pen Links to an external site. is an ink pen with a recording device that a student can use to write on specialized notebook paper. Students take their own notes and then are able to play back specific parts of the lecture by tapping the pen on their notes. 
  • Glean Links to an external site. is a software program that works much like Otter AI, but records sound instead of transcribing the lecture. 
  • Note Taking Express Links to an external site. is a paid service wherein students record their lecture and then upload it to the app. A professional note taker then takes notes on the lecture and sends it back to the student within a couple of days. This is only used as a back up for when a peer note taker is not available. 
  • Students may also use other apps like Notability, Microsoft OneNote, or Evernote. 

A note about recording lectures: students are only allowed to record lectures for personal use and sign an agreement with ASC when they are approved for these accommodations wherein they agree not to share the recordings with anyone including posting it anywhere on the internet. If you have concerns about recording in your class, please talk to a faculty member at the ASC. 

Alternate Media Links to an external site.

Students may need media in various formats. They can work with our Alternate Media Specialist to obtain course materials in e-text, audiobooks, braille, tactile graphics, or enlarged print. Once approved for this accommodation, students are able to request the materials through the MyASC portal. They can also meet with our Alternate Media Specialist one-on-one to discuss their options. 

What if I disagree with an accommodation or it's not appropriate for my class? 

Please talk to us! Before denying a student's accommodation, please get in touch with the ASC so that we can discuss it. There is usually a very easy solution! This is part of what the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Links to an external site. calls the "interactive process" and doing so will help to protect you. More about this in Legal Requirements & Reporting.