E-Learning Instructor Guide
Southwestern Community College is committed to removing barriers and ensuring equal access for all students with disabilities. If you would ordinarily seek accommodations or modifications when taking a face-to-face class on campus, you may find that taking an online class eliminates the need for many adjustments. However, you may find that some accommodations are still necessary to make your online experience fully accessible. It is important that you; (a) make sure that all aspects of this class are accessible to you, and (b) make sure that all the accommodations you would need in a face-to-face class are appropriately addressed in this class.
It is the responsibility of the student to make his or her disability known and to request academic or physical accommodations. Requests should be made in a timely manner to the Disability Services Coordinator, and every reasonable effort will be made to provide services. Some accommodations may take as much as six weeks to arrange, so early contact is important. Services offered to students with disabilities are designed to level the playing field for those students and promote retention and maintenance of good academic standing by providing reasonable accommodations when appropriate. Services are provided when deemed necessary and reasonable for a particular student and are determined on a case-by-case basis through an Educational Support Plan (or ESP). An ESP is a comprehensive plan which specifies appropriate accommodations and is created collaboratively with the student and Disability Services Coordinator.
Each student requesting accommodations must provide current, comprehensive documentation of his or her disability by qualified professional (which may include, depending upon the nature of the disability, a physician, psychologist, audiologist, speech-language pathologist, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, physical therapist, optometrist, or learning disabilities specialist). Please note that information regarding a student’s disability is not obtained through the admissions process. Therefore, all documentation of disability should be sent directly to the Disability Services Coordinator. Disability-related information and records are maintained separately from academic records and are regarded in a confidential manner as outlined in the Family Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
How to contact Disability Services
Location: Jackson Campus, Oaks Hall, Lower Level
Telephone: (828) 339-4000 ext 4229
Toll-free: (800) 447-4091 ext 4229
Web page:http://www.southwesterncc.edu/current_students/disability-services
As you are working on your syllabus, please remember to include the following statements regarding students with disabilities:
For all syllabi, please use the following statement:
If you have a disability and will need accommodations in order to have full and equal access to this course, please contact Peter Buck, Student Disability Coordinator & Counselor, Room G-15 Oaks Hall 339-4243, pbuck@southwesterncc.edu. Modifications or accommodations for disabilities will not be granted without authorization from this office. Accommodation requests can be made at any time in the semester; however, early contact is strongly encouraged.
If you already have an Educational Support Plan from Peter Buck, please get in touch with me soon so we can implement it. Especially if you have testing accommodations such as testing in a reduced distraction room, we need to set up a schedule of when and where you will be taking tests this semester.
Faculty, please be aware that you should not be involved with receiving and handling a student’s medical documentation or diagnoses. Refer all such documentation and accommodation requests to Peter Buck. Academic adjustments and accommodations should only be made in response to a request from Disability Services, unless the same accommodation is given to all students regardless of disability status.