Frequently Asked Questions - Faculty

A student in my class told me that they have an accommodation to receive notes. Am I required to find the student a note taker?

No action is required on your part. DSP’s Note-Taking Services office will coordinate recruitment of notetakers and delivery of notes to the student. In certain cases, DSP may contact you directly for assistance in recruiting a note taker.

As I’m planning my class, is there anything I can do to make my class more accessible so students require fewer accommodations to participate in my class?

We’re so glad you asked! The more accessible your class is for students with disabilities, the fewer accommodations students will require to participate in your class. As an additional benefit, when your class is more accessible for students with disabilities, it will be more accessible for students without disabilities, too!

The paradigm of Universal Design recognizes that disability is just one facet of an individual’s identity and that disability is neither negative nor an inherent barrier to access. Universal Design asks us to consider for...

Are students required to speak with faculty to initiate accommodations?

We do encourage students to have a conversation with their instructors about their accommodations. These conversations can be helpful for both parties. DSP Disability Specialists can also help facilitate these conversations and assist faculty with setting up an agreement with students about accommodations (for example, Disability Specialists can help instructors and students confirm the parameters for acceptable numbers of absences or timelines for assignment extensions). However, we cannot require students to have a conversation about their accommodations with their...

Do the note-taking technologies provided by DSP use AI?

Yes, each of the note-taking technologies that DSP provides for students utilizes AI to some extent.

Genio Notes:

AI is used for realtime captions and subtitles and for transcription. The program does have an AI outline feature, but this feature is not part of students’ disability accommodation. When they attend their note-taking assessment meeting with Note-Taking Services Office staff, students are told that use of the AI outline feature is not...

A student with no accommodations emailed me to let me know they missed a week and a half of my class because they were sick. Should I refer them to DSP to get accommodations for the class time that they missed?

DSP serves students with disabilities. Short-term illnesses such as colds and flu, COVID, or mono are not in themselves disabilities.

Additionally, accommodations are not retroactive, and any approved accommodations would be valid from the issuance of a student’s Letter of Accommodation forward.

If a student has experienced a short-term illness that has resulted in a disability (such as long COVID), DSP is an appropriate office to determine any needed accommodations. However, if the short-term illness simply takes...

A student with accommodations has not attended my class for several weeks and is not responding to my emails. What should I do?

If you have a significant concern about the well-being of any student in your class, please file a Care Report with the campus’s Center for Support and Intervention (CSI). Filing a Care Report allows a CSI Case Manager to evaluate the concern and to offer appropriate support to the student.

If you have an immediate concern about any...

What sort of note-taking technologies does DSP provide for students who are approved for the accommodation of note-taking technology?

At this time, the DSP Note-Taking Services Office can provide students with three options for note-taking technology: Genio Notes, Messenger Pigeon, and Otter.

Genio Notes:

Students utilize the recording feature in Genio to capture lecture material, transcribe and bookmark the recording, and annotate any lecture slides that they have uploaded into the program. Each of these features aid students in synthesizing the information in their notes....

Furniture: A student in my class told me that they need an adjustable desk. What should I do when students tell me they need accessible furniture?

If the student is active in DSP, ask the student to contact their assigned Disability Specialist. If the student is approved for an accessible furniture accommodation, DSP will coordinate the placement of the furniture in your classroom or will inform the student of appropriate already-accessible classroom seating areas.

If the student is not a disabled student or approved for DSP accommodations, you can submit this Classroom Hotline form to request...

Scantrons: What should I do for a student who has the accommodation of an alternative to Scantrons?

If a student cannot fill in the bubbles on a Scantron sheet due to disability, having the student write the letter of their response on a piece of paper or type the letter of their response on a laptop or tablet would be appropriate in most cases. If you require alternatives to this approach, contact the student’s assigned Disability Specialist directly to determine an appropriate alternative accommodation.

Will DSP Proctoring notify me of my student's DSP proctoring details?

When a student's exam is approved you will receive an email thread notifying you of your students' scheduled exams, including all relevant details. You will receive a separate email for each student in one email thread.