Resources from the National Center for College Students with Disabilities

As part of its mission, the National Center for College Students with Disabilities (NCCSD) is to provide assistance to colleges and universities, including faculty and disability services providers. NCCSD is the only federally-funded national center in the U.S.for college and graduate students with any type of disability, chronic health condition, or mental or emotional illness.

At the NCCSD site you can:
– Find free information for students, parents, families, high school and college faculty and staff in our NCCSD Clearinghouse.** Though not exhaustive, the NCCSD has collected their favorite resources about disability and higher education in one place. https://www.nccsdclearinghouse.org/

The Center’s Coronavirus – Covid-19 and College Students with Disabilities, page is updated frequently and has general information about Covid-19 and information on different topics ranging from mental health, housing, food insecurity, online classes/online learning and much more.

http://www.nccsdonline.org/coronavirus-covid-19.html

**(Higher education faculty and staff with disabilities can use the NCCSD, too.)

A Quick-start Guide to Learning in an Online Environment

If your campus closes and moves to offering classes only online, do you know how to keep in contact with your instructors? Before you get started, here are a few things to think about as you prepare to be an online student:

A Quick-start Guide to Learning in an Online Environment

No matter how far into the semester classes are required to move online, your instructors are committed to ensuring your academic progress. This may require some adjustments in the syllabus, but you can expect to continue to have learning materials and activities for the rest of the semester.

How will you communicate with your instructor?
How will you maintain internet access?
Do you have a device with appropriate video and audio capabilities?
Do you know how to use all of the essential features in Canvas?
Do you know how to attend a virtual Zoom meeting?
Do you know where to go to get help?

Communication

If your course moves online, the most important change is going to be the way that you communicate with your instructor. It is essential that you are familiar with the following modes of communication, as they are the most likely ways your instructor will contact you. Check your syllabus or ask your instructor to see what form of communication they would prefer you to use.

Email: be sure to check your school email multiple times a day
Online learning platform Announcements: check your platform (ex: Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard) settings to ensure you get email notifications for announcements
Platform Inbox: when sending emails to your instructor, it is recommended that you use the built-in inbox feature. The message you send will automatically contain information about what course and section you are in, which will help your instructor answer your email more efficiently.

In addition to the Quick-start guide above, the website, LDAdvisory.com, has posted tips that ALL students learning from home, may find useful. Visit, Crowdsourcing Learn-From-Home Strategies for College Students – Spring 2020

Need a Distraction-Reduced Environment? – At Home

With the transition to online instruction, you may not have an environment at home that is conducive to effective studying or is a ‘reduced distraction’ environment. This mean it may be difficult to concentrate and not be distracted, or complete assignments or tests uninterrupted.

Student support staff from schools around the country recognize this is problematic – especially for students who have the accommodation of a “distraction-reduced” environment. The University of North Texas Health Science Center, prepared a tip sheet for students. (A Word document of the tips from UNT is available at the end.)

Study Tips for Reducing Distractions

Set up an ideal study environment. Study in a location that minimizes both visual and auditory distractions. Try to find a location that you cannot see others moving around and is located in a quiet space.
Remove unnecessary items from your study space that are not needed for studying.
Use noise-cancelling headphones or listen to white noise to reduce auditory distractions. Or try using earplugs.
Remove electronic distractions. Turn your phone on silent and put it where you cannot see the screen. Turn off notifications on your laptop.
Take timed breaks. Know your threshold for focus. When you start losing focus frequently, take a timed break. This will help to remind you to return to your studying.
Reduce internal recurring thoughts. Keep a post-it note or piece of paper to write down your thoughts so you don’t forget them. You can take care of the items on your timed break or when finished studying.
Do not cram. Set a schedule to review material in a timely manner. List out specific goals/a study plan – even hour-by-hour, and use timers to try to stay on track.
Move around while studying. Get up and use the whiteboard or change positions often.
Chewing gum is sometimes helpful for focus, and having a stress ball or other fidget can help when you start to feel restless.
Some students find sitting on an exercise ball while studying helpful with focus as well.
Use mind mapping to help organize your thoughts and create a visual representation of the information.
Chunk the information. If you have a lecture to learn of review, approach the information in chunks instead of trying to learn all the information at one time. It can be helpful to organize the information by learning objectives.
Use highlighting or paraphrasing information as you read it.

More Tips

If you are receiving testing accommodations, perhaps the disability service provider would consider some of these modifications to your accommodation.

Allowing some additional time to complete the test, beyond any time extensions already in place
Allowing you, the student, to take the test at a different time, when distractions may be lessened (such as after a child has gone to bed)

If your school is using a remote proctoring service:

Relaxing testing requirements due to remote proctoring services, such as any penalty for leaving the area, looking away from the screen, etc.
Providing accommodated remote proctoring that is separate from the remote proctoring service for the rest of the class, and that has greater flexibility.

UNT Distraction Tips 2020-03-20