from the Teaching & Learning Center and the Office of Educational Accessibility

Accommodations can sometimes feel difficult to navigate, particularly when they require changes to a course that is already underway. Planning for flexibility before the semester begins can reduce the number of adjustments needed when accommodations are presented. Inclusive pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provide a framework for doing exactly that by encouraging instructors to anticipate learner variability and build flexibility into course design from the start. Many accommodations center on a few common course design elements. The four questions below can help you identify opportunities to build flexibility into your course. 

Accessibility-minded course design complements, but does not replace, the accommodation process. Students seeking accommodations must work through the Office of Educational Accessibility (OEA), which reviews documentation, determines appropriate accommodations, and helps ensure that students receive consistent accommodations across their courses. 

Assessments: How Many Ways Can Students Demonstrate What They Know? 

Assessment design is often at the center of accommodation conversations. Some accommodations focus on how students demonstrate their learning, while others, such as extended testing time, focus on the conditions under which assessments take place. Exams, presentations, papers, and performances are all effective ways to assess learning. As you review your assessments, consider both the format of the assessment and the role that factors such as time constraints play in measuring student learning. 

Ask yourself this question as you review your course assessments: What evidence of learning am I looking for in this assessment, and are the format or time requirements essential to that evidence? 

• What learning outcome is this assessment designed to measure? 
• Is the format of the assessment essential to that learning outcome? 
• Is the time limit essential to that learning outcome? 
• Would a different format change what students are being asked to demonstrate? 
• Are expectations and grading criteria clearly communicated? 
• This may be the traditional way to assess learning, but is it the most effective way for students to demonstrate what they know and can do? 

Try one small change: Build flexibility into an assessment by providing a clear rubric, adding a draft or checkpoint, offering opportunities for revision, allowing students to demonstrate learning in different formats, or reexamining whether time constraints are essential to what is being assessed. 

Attendance: How Flexible Does My Attendance Policy Need to Be? 

Attendance often supports important learning experiences such as discussion, collaboration, practice, feedback, labs, clinical work, or performance. As many disabilities may impact a  student’s ability to attend class, accommodations often address attendance. The goal is not to remove attendance expectations. Rather, it is to clarify what is essential and where flexibility may be possible without compromising course outcomes. 

Ask yourself this question as you review your attendance policy: If any student misses class because of circumstances beyond their control, what would I want them to do to remain engaged with the course? 

• Why is attendance important in this course?  
• What learning opportunities are lost when a student is absent, either for the student or for their classmates?  
• Are there aspects of the course that require students to be present because they cannot be replicated outside of class?  
• How can students reconnect with course content and learning after an absence?  
• Does the policy clearly explain the purpose of its attendance expectations?  
• Are attendance expectations connected to course learning outcomes, professional standards, or departmental requirements?  
• If the policy limits the number of absences a student may have, what educational rationale supports that limit? 

Try one small change: Explain the learning purpose of attendance, identify ways students can reconnect with missed learning, or create a simple process students can follow when they miss class. 

Course Deadlines: How Do My Deadlines Support Learning? 

Deadlines serve important learning and instructional purposes. They help students make progress toward course goals while helping faculty manage grading and provide timely feedback. Accommodations related to deadlines are among the most common that faculty receive. Taking time to think about which deadlines are truly fixed and which allow for some flexibility can make those requests easier to navigate. 

Reflect on this question: Which deadlines are essential to learning, and which primarily help manage the flow of the course? 

• Which deadlines need to remain fixed for students to achieve the course learning outcomes, and why? 
• Where could limited flexibility be built into the course structure? 
• Would breaking larger assignments into smaller milestones improve student success? 
• Do students understand any flexibility that already exists? 

Try one small change: Build a checkpoint into a larger assignment, provide feedback on a draft before final submission, create a modest grace period for lower-stakes work, or distinguish between deadlines that are essential to the learning process and those that are primarily administrative. 

Note-taking: If a Student Misses Something, How Do They Get Back In? 

Note-taking support is one of the most common accommodations requested by students, which can raise questions about how students access information, engage with course content, and stay connected to learning. Students process information differently, and taking effective notes while listening, participating, and thinking can be more challenging for some. 

Consider this question: What would I want a student to review if that student needed to reconnect with today’s learning? 

• Are slides, outlines, or supporting materials available when appropriate? 
• Are key concepts, learning objectives, and expectations clearly identified? 
• Are videos captioned and digital materials accessible? 
• If a student misses part of a class session, what resources would help the student reconnect with the material? 

Try one small change: Share slides or guiding questions before class, use summaries to highlight key takeaways, create a simple catch-up pathway students can follow, or provide one additional way for students to access course content outside of class. 

Start Small 

Reading a list like this can make accessibility feel like a course redesign project, but it does not have to be! In TLC and OEA workshops, we often encourage a “plus one” approach: identify one change that could improve access, clarity, or flexibility, and start there. Small adjustments made before the semester begins can reduce the need for more substantial adjustments later.  

The Teaching and Learning Center and the Office of Educational Accessibility are here to help. You can schedule a TLC consultation or visit the Office of Educational Accessibility website for more information.