Academic Accommodations

Reasonable academic accommodation requests are considered on a case-by-case basis. They are approved and provided based on the supporting documentation provided, as well as the individual experiences of the student.

Students with disabilities use an online portal called Accommodate to easily access disability services.

The Accommodate portal manages and provides access to accommodations including scheduling appointments with staff, test room booking, and note-taking services. Students use their Washington College login credentials (the same they use for email, Canvas, WebAdvisor, etc.). Accommodate is 508-compliant and fully accessible to all students, faculty, and staff. Students can log in to Accommodate using this link - https://washcoll-accommodate.symplicity.com/students/index.php.

Here are some of the most requested academic accommodations:

Extended-time and distraction reduced testing are accommodations for some students with disabilities. Students can schedule a quiz, test, or exam through the Accommodate portal. Instructions can be found on the Alternative Test Room Booking page under the Accommodate portal.

Alternative Test Room Booking

Login to Accommodate.
Select Alternative Test Room Booking tab.
Here, you will see Pending Booking Requests and Approved Booking Requests.
From this screen, you will be able to double check your booking requests. If you notice a mistake with your booking request, please email the OAS to make a change.
To book a new exam, select “New Booking Request.”
From the drop-down menu, select which course for which you are booking your exam or quiz.
You may leave the Date and Time Ranges at the preset, or adjust if you need to see more available dates and times.
If you have an exam accommodation other than, or in addition to, extended time and/or distraction-reduced, please select it from the accommodation type. This is to help us ensure that we have enough space/resources for each student scheduling an exam. Based on your approved accommodations you may see different available rooms. The Standard Testing Room is for extended-time and/or distraction-reduced. The Computer Testing Room is for if you have an accommodation for the use of a computer for an exam. The Reader/Scribe Testing Room has extremely limited availability due to staffing. If this is one of your approved accommodations, which you will be using on that exam, you should select it from the “Accommodation Type” drop-down menu.
Once you have filled in this information select, from the right-hand column, the appropriate room (in most cases Standard Testing Room) at the CORRECT TIME. Please note that the current day’s availability is listed first, so you will need to scroll down to see more dates. You must start the exam at the time the rest of the class is starting it unless you have made prior arrangements (due to back-to-back classes, etc).
Once you select a time, you will get a pop-up, much like when booking appointments. One this form you will see the information you selected, and may also need to include more information. “Additional Accommodations” only include pre-approved accommodations. If you need additional testing accommodations, you need to contact the OAS. If your professor has approved the use of an additional tool to complete the exam (calculator, note card, etc.), you must include this information under “Approved Testing Aids.” We may not allow you to use a testing aid if you do not include this information on your form. There is a section for comments if there is further information we need to know.
Once everything is entered, hit “submit request.”

Students who have been approved for note-taking services as an accessibility accommodation can access copies of class notes digitally through the Accommodate portal.

Using the Note-Taker Network

Login to Accommodate.
Select the “Note-Taker Network” tab located at the top of the screen.
Search through your notes by entering a keyword or using the Course drop-down menu (to the right) and clicking “Apply Search.”
Select a document from the list to view that set of notes.

Students with certain disabilities requiring instructional materials, such as audio or digital books can request alternative versions of those materials. For instructions, please follow this link.

Students with qualifying disabilities may record class lectures for their personal study use only. The student will be asked to submit a Recorded Lecture Agreement, which must be submitted to the OAS prior to using this accommodation.

We have several types of assistive technologies available to students with disabilities while they are attending Washington College.

Read & Write Gold

Read&Write Gold Software is a flexible Read&Write literacy software solution to help with reading, writing, studying, and research on the Desktop, in the Cloud, or on an iPad.

This software is available for use by all Washington College students, faculty, and staff. RWG is currently installed on all the computers on the first floor of Miller Library including the Newlin Room. Students can take their computer to the HelpDesk to have RWG installed.

Livescribe Echo® Smartpens

Smartpens record everything you hear and write. It lets you capture words, diagrams, scribbles, symbols, and audio - syncing everything you hear to what you wrote. We have a smartpen loaner program for students with disabilities who request this accommodation.

JAWS (Job Access With Speech)

JAWS is screen reading software, developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing screen content or navigating with a mouse. JAWS provides speech and Braille output for many PC computer applications. JAWS can be requested as an accommodation for students with vision loss.

Dragon® NaturallySpeaking

This speech-to-text software package has three primary areas of functionality: voice recognition in dictation with speech transcribed as written text, recognition of spoken commands, and text-to-speech: speaking text content of a document. Students with certain disabilities can request the use of Dragon® NaturallySpeaking software as an accommodation.

Individuals with disabilities may request auxiliary aids and/or services as reasonable accessibility accommodations.

Colleges are not required to provide the most sophisticated auxiliary aids available; however, the aids provided must effectively meet the needs of the individual with a disability. An institution has flexibility in choosing the specific aid or service it provides, as long as the aid or service selected is effective. These aids should be selected after consultation with the person who will use them.

Examples of Auxiliary Aids

Some of the various types of auxiliary aids and services may include:

taped texts
notetakers
interpreters
readers
computers/laptops
smartpens
iPads/digital devices
videotext displays
television enlargers
talking calculators
electronic readers
Braille calculators, printers, or typewriters

telephone handset amplifiers
closed caption decoders
open and closed captioning
voice synthesizers
specialized gym equipment
calculators or keyboards with large buttons
reaching device for library use
raised-line drawing kits
assistive listening devices
assistive listening systems
telecommunications devices for deaf persons

Students with disabilities can request materials in alternative formats so that they can have better access to course content. If you are requesting alternative instructional materials (AIMs) for your courses this semester, please note that there is a new process:

Purchase instructional materials for the semester
Login to the Accommodate portal (https://washcoll-accommodate.symplicity.com/students/)
Complete your semester request (a separate email has been sent with these instructions)
If your semester request is complete, you will see a tab at the top of the screen titled “Alternative Format”
Click the “Alternative Format” tab to submit a new request
Enter the book information as completely as possible and attach a copy of the receipt

We recommend that students submit their requests as far in advance as possible of when they need the materials. In some cases, it can take some time to receive the alternative versions. Due to copyright laws, students must purchase the original instructional material and may be required to produce the original receipt.

You will be notified once we have your texts in alternative format. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Types of Alternative Formats

PDF - retains the same layout as the print textbook and includes bookmarks for navigation, synchronized highlighting of text and audio.
MS Word Doc - This format is best for students who use screen reading software such as JAWS and also need alternative text descriptions added to images.
Audiobook format (Learning Ally) - audio only, plus headings for navigation.
Other specialized formats are available including MathML and DAISY.

Some students who have a language-based disability can qualify to substitute two courses to satisfy the foreign language requirement. Students who are approved for this accommodation must then meet with their Advisor to complete the following forms:

Foreign Language Exemption Form

Foreign Language Substitution Approval Form

The list of possible substitution courses can be found in the above forms. Once these forms are complete, please submit them to the Registrar's Office.

If you need to request any documents on this webpage in an alternative accessible format (Braille, digital, audio, or large print) please contact the Office of Academic Skills at 410.778.7860 or oasFREEwashcoll.

If you have difficulty accessing any portions of this page with adaptive technology, please contact Evelyn Ebert at 410.810.5860 or eebert2FREEwashcoll.