Best Practices

Accessibility Statement 

A well-crafted syllabus statement can accomplish two key goals: 

• It signals to students that you are invested in working with them to ensure their access needs are met.
• It can ensure that students who have not yet registered with the Disability Resource Center know who to contact to discuss possible accommodations. 

Below is a sample syllabus statement faculty can use/adapt to accomplish both goals.

This course is built with accessibility and full participation as guiding principles. With or without documentation, it is my intention to make our learning experience as accessible as possible. If you are already registered with the Disability Resource Center (DRC), please connect with me to schedule a time to discuss your academic accommodations and how we can work together to ensure your access needs are met. My goal is to explore what works best for you in terms of reducing access barriers and to partner with you over the course of the semester to support your success. If you are not already registered with the DRC, please reach out to the office ada@middlebury.edu for more information about the accommodations process. All accommodations-related conversations (with faculty and the Disability Resource Center) will remain confidential. If you are experiencing academic barriers but do not have a diagnosis or documentation from a medical professional, please reach out to the Disability Resource Center. Provisional accommodations might be possible on a temporary, one semester basis. 

Framing Access in Class

In addition to the printed statement included on the syllabus, it is helpful to verbally highlight your commitment to fostering a relationship with students where you work with them to ensure access. 

The anxiety some students feel about approaching faculty to discuss accommodations can be greatly alleviated by an invitation to meet and work together toward the shared goal of student success. Students who feel cared for are more likely to reach out early on and be less guarded about talking with faculty about their access needs and what works best for them as learners.

Pinned Sections on Course Platform

Along with the start-of-semester communication via the syllabus and the verbal invitation on the first day of class, it is helpful to have a pinned section on the homepage of your course platform that is always visible and functions as a standing invitation into conversation and collaboration. 

This can be as simple as a heading that reads, “Disability Access and Inclusion,” with a link to the syllabus statement above. This is particularly helpful for students who enrolled late and therefore missed the verbal invitation on the first day of class.

Email Reminders 

Once the course enrollment period ends and your class roster is finalized, it is helpful to send an email to all students inviting anyone who hasn’t yet done so to connect to explore how you can work together over the semester to ensure their access needs are met.

Proactively Identify Access Needs

Before class begins, proactively gather information on all students’ access and equity needs rather than in reaction to individual accommodations or after a sticky situation arises. 

• Invite students to complete an Access & Equity Survey (3 simple open ended questions) a week before classes begin and keep it open for the first few weeks of class. A few faculty currently use this approach and have found it to be invaluable information.
• Consider these Framing Questions for conversing with students:
  • How have you learned successfully in the past?
  • Are there ways in which the classroom is arranged that are overly distracting?
  • What types of feedback are most effective for you?
  • Is there anything I can do to make our classroom a more vibrant learning space?
  • Are there any barriers you’re experiencing in the classroom, assignments or assessments ?