Accessibility Considerations

Please review the following links from the Bob Murphy Access Center (BMAC - formerly Disabled Student Services) for updated resources, tips and strategies for students and faculty:

The CSULB Learning Center has prepared the following page regarding tutoring and online learning: Learning Center Strategies for Online Learning

For Accessibility concerning the BeachBoard Learning Management System, see: Accessibility and BeachBoard

Updated Student Accommodations

As you begin teaching, please remind your students to communicate with you if they are experiencing difficulties within the virtual classroom. If your students wish to receive a review of their accommodations, please direct them to BMAC’s Returning Student Accommodations Form; a Disability Specialist will be in contact with them if updated accommodations are appropriate. 

Exam Accommodations

Since accommodating student exams is a large part of BMAC’s work with faculty, please know that BMAC is available to provide input on exam accommodations within an online format. The BMAC Faculty Resources page will provide additional information on recommended exam format alternatives, such as:

  • Alternative assignments that require research
  • Asynchronous discussion boards
  • Essays that engage students in critical thinking
  • Beachboard exams
    • With extended time, if applicable. If you need assistance in adjusting these time parameters, please reach out to BeachBoard Support at (562) 985-4959.
    • Please refer to Section H of your BMAC student’s test accommodation form in order to determine whether they should receive a time-and-a-half (1.5x) or double-time (2x) extended time accommodation.
      • Support Services will be contacting all faculty with a list of students in their courses as well as their appropriate exam accommodations.
    • For students that require assistive technology software (speech-to-text, text-to-speech, accessible screen readers), some exams will need to commence without Lockdown Browser.

If you have any questions/concerns, please reach out to BMAC-Exams@csulb.edu. Please do not use our general BMAC email account for exam-related inquiries.

Captioning of Multimedia

Additionally, there have been many questions on how to best support students that are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (D/HoH) in your courses. BMAC would like to provide the guidance that all video/audio recorded or live materials posted for students must be captioned in order to be accessible for Deaf/Hard of hearing students.  You may contact BMAC’s AIM Center for assistance; informing them that your content is for a class with D/HoH enrollment. AIM Center will work with ATS to caption your course videos with an expected turnaround time of 2-3 days. If this timeline does not work, please feel free to contact BMAC D/HoH Coordinator Gloria Williams.