Yes, Disability Resources is still operating Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.  If you have a questions or concerns, please feel free to call the office at (928) 523-8773 or email DR@nau.edu.

Disability Resources will not be proctoring exams while the University’s instruction remains online only. If you registered with Disability Resources for the semester and notified your professors through AXEss, they have the information about your exam accommodations.  Disability Resources is available to faculty and students to consult about unique circumstances.

• Some faculty may opt for alternative assessments (e.g. essays, projects) which would not require exam accommodations.
• If your instructor is creating online timed exams, they can provide your extended time in BbLearn.

If you have approved exam accommodations such as assistive technology and you are unsure how you will access those, contact Disability Resources at DR@nau.edu or 928-523-8773 and ask to speak with one of our staff members.

Once you have learned from your faculty how they will adapt the course for virtual instruction, please let your note-taker know if you would like to continue receiving notes.

You may find that you no longer need a note-taker due to the course design changes. For example, lectures that are prerecorded videos can be watched at your own pace. On the other hand, some instructors may still opt for scheduled class meetings with real-time communication using Collaborate or Zoom.

Regardless of your decision to continue receiving notes, all established note-takers will receive compensation for their notes.

Completed Attendance Agreements and Assignment Extension Agreements will be honored, though reasonable modifications to the structure of the agreements may be needed with the shift to online instruction. Please contact Disability Resources at (928) 523-8773 or DR@nau.edu to discuss any additional barriers presented by changes to the course format.

If you are not currently registered with D.R., please follow the steps outlined on the Student Eligibility Process page on our website.

If you are a D.R.-registered student, please contact the office at (928) 523-8773 or DR@nau.edu to set up a time to discuss your new requests.

We acknowledge the significant effort required to quickly adapt your courses to online instruction. We want to collaborate with you to ensure that access for students with disabilities is maintained through this transition. Some students may encounter disability-related barriers with online instruction or assessment (e.g. students who use assistive technology, students with medical limitations on screen usage). Disability Resources staff are available for consultation. (Phone: 928-523-8773 or DR@nau.edu)

If you have students in your course who are utilizing alternative format materials or media, the Alternative Format team is working with faculty and students to ensure access to newly selected/created course material. The team is also working proactively with instructors of students who are blind to discuss accessibility strategies for course lectures, documents, activities, etc.

If you have students in your course who utilizing ASL (American Sign Language), CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) or captioned media, we are proactively working with faculty of students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing  to ensure captioning for prerecorded videos and/or arranging interpreting/transcribing services for real-time class meetings via Collaborate or Zoom.

Below are some tips to keep in mind as you are creating virtual course content (adapted from DO-IT):

• Use clear, consistent layouts and organization schemes for presenting content, and make instructions and expectations clear for activities, projects, and assigned reading.
• Offer outlines, scaffolding tools, and adequate opportunities for practice to help students learn.
• When selecting new materials, try to find videos that are already captioned, and articles that are available in a text-searchable format .
• Images can be made accessible to blind and low-vision students by providing captions or inserting alt text into the image. Use large, bold fonts on uncluttered pages with plain backgrounds and color combinations that are high contrast.
• Provide flexibility and understanding as this experience may cause disruption to the student’s home life and available resources – which may negatively impact a student’s disability symptoms.

For more tips, visit:

• Explore Access article “Designing an Accessible Online Course”
• Check out the accessibility tools and tips provided in BbLearn through ALLY

Extended time on exams as an accommodation generally only applies to traditional, time-limited exams. If you decide to offer alternative means of assessment (e.g. essays, non-timed exams, project work), then a student’s extended time may no longer be applicable. We encourage you to speak with registered students if that is the case.

D.R. will not be proctoring exams while the University’s instruction remains online only.  All exams should be administered online or through other remote assessment methods by faculty. Faculty are responsible for setting up extended testing time in BbLearn and can find instructions for Creating Extended Time from E-Learning

Disability Resources is available to consult with faculty if you have a specific question or circumstance. Contact us at (928) 523-8773 or DR@nau.edu

Completed Attendance Agreements and Assignment Extension Agreements will be honored, though reasonable modifications to the structure of the agreements may be needed with the shift to online instruction. Please contact Disability Resources to discuss any questions or concerns you have about a current student’s Attendance or Assignment Extension Agreement. You may reach us at (928) 523-8773 or DR@nau.edu