Please review the guidance below as you make arrangements for providing exam accommodations on final exams for your students with approved exam accommodations:

Policy 1331, Section 7.9 

1. If you need a reminder of your students’ approved exam accommodations, review the Accommodation Letters that have been sent to you from Disability Services for this semester in the Accommodate Faculty Portal.
2. If you have not already established and agreed upon accommodation arrangements for final exams with each of your students who has approved exam accommodations, a good place to begin is to email those students with the options you have available for providing their exam accommodations on your final. We have provided guidance below if you are unsure of your options: 
   1. If you do not have readily available resources (e.g. space, proctor, etc.) to provide basic exam accommodations (e.g. extended time and reduced distraction environment) for students approved for those accommodations, please contact your department head or dean to inquire about resources available within the department/school. 
      1. Note: If any of your students are approved for a specialized exam accommodation (e.g. braille, large print, text-to-speech, scribe, etc.), direct them to follow the Instructions for booking a space for a specialized accommodation in ODS before the April 26th, 2024 deadline. 
         1. ODS does not have the operational capacity to provide exam accommodations for all of the thousands of final exams that students who are approved for basic accommodations will be taking during the last weeks of the semester. A growing number of departments/schools have made arrangements for providing basic exam accommodations (extra time and reduced distraction environment) for students taking exams administered in courses provided by that department/school. We highly recommend this approach and have listed some of the reported benefits for faculty members: 
            1. Faster access to completed exams for grading 
            2. Proximity to students taking your exam  
            3. Exam materials are kept within the department/school 
   2. If your exam can be administered online, consider providing basic exam accommodations in Canvas. Extra time can be provided via Canvas exams/quizzes and you can check with the student to make sure they have access to a reduced distraction environment to take the exam. Please contact Learning Technology Support for questions or assistance on how to convert your exam to an online format or add extra time in Canvas. 
      1. If your exam is online or can be administered online and you prefer to have it proctored, consider using Respondus Monitor, the approved online proctoring system through JMU. Please contact Learning Technology Support for questions or assistance.
   3. If you have explored all of the above options and do not have a means of providing exam accommodations for all of your students, direct those students to follow the Instructions for booking a seat for taking an exam in ODS before the April 26th, 2024 deadline. 
3. If you established and agreed upon accommodation arrangements for final exams with each of your students who has approved exam accommodations, consider emailing them to confirm these arrangements prior to final exams. 

If you are unable to accommodate your student's final exam and you are choosing to utilize our space and proctoring services, please read the following information about:

A. Scheduling
B. Space
C. Exam Delivery to ODS

[A] SCHEDULING

The LAST DAY for students to make a request to take their Final Exams in the ODS Exams Facility is April 26th, 2024.

• April 26th, 2024 is the deadline for students to request a seat for their exam to be proctored at the ODS Exams Facility.
• This deadline exists because ODS Exams Staff needs adequate time to prepare for Final Exams Week.
• Students will be sent multiple reminder emails regarding this deadline.

Students with scheduling conflicts

• Due to the length of some final exams, some students will have overlapping exams. Students with scheduling conflicts are being instructed to talk with their professors to find appropriate alternative times.

 ODS Room Scheduling blocks

• ODS exam scheduling will look slightly different than official JMU final exam schedule. This is to account for extra time accommodations and maintain a reduced sitraction envrionment. We will have 2 blocks that students will be allowed to choose from:
  • 8:00 am-12:00 pm
  • 1:00 pm-5:00 pm

[B] SPACE

We have limited seating and may reach capacity.

• There are a set number of seats available.
• If students are trying to make a request (before the April 26th, 2024 deadline) and they're finding that there are no available seats for the day/time of the exam, students will be instructed to talk with their professor to discuss possible alternative times when ODS does have availability.

For classes that are being given online exams:

• As mentioned above, we highly encourage the use of Respondus Monitor to proctor your students' online exams.
• Please note that Respondus Monitor and Lockdown browser are often not compatible with certain assistive technology, such as text-to-speech software. If you have a student with this accommodation, they may need an in-person proctor.

ODS Computers/private rooms are very limited.

• ODS computers and private rooms are going to be reserved for students who have specific accommodations that require the use of an ODS computer.
• If you wish to have students take exams only on approved computers, consider the following options:
  • Requiring lock-down browser on exams for students to take on their own laptop
  • Requiring Respondus Monitor to monitor students while they take their exams.
• Any seats outside of the main ODS testing center will not have computers available. Students will be required to bring their own laptop for all online exams. 

Many seats will be outside of ODS.

• We are reserving classroom space outside of the ODS Exams Facility in order to provide back-up space for students to take their final exams with their exam accommodations.
• All seats will be considered "reduced distraction environments".
  • Sound machines will be on during exams
  • Earplugs will be provided
  • Classrooms will not be filled to capacity

[C] EXAM DELIVERY TO ODS

Adding exam information + uploading/delivering exams in a timely manner

• Late exam submissions (exams submitted after office hours the day before exams or exams submitted the morning/day of) cause various issues with exam bookings.  During final exams week, these issues become even more significant due to the volume of exams. Please add your exam information and upload/deliver your exams at least 48 business hours in advance of the scheduled exam. 
• Exams that need to be converted into an accessible format (i.e. large print, braille, audio format, text-to-speech, etc.) require additional staff time to convert. Please send in your exams for students who have these accommodations as an electronic file at least 3 business days in advance. 

As a reminder, our website contains instructions on how to use Accommodate (for approving requests and adding exam information) as well as the Faculty Testing Agreement (our policy and procedures). If you would ever like more in-depth guidance on navigating Accommodate, please reach out to odsexam@jmu.edu to set up a phone or Zoom meeting with an ODS Exams staff member. 

We thank you for your continued partnership in promoting equal access to learning by providing JMU students with their ODS exam accommodations during this very busy time. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.