Timed Tests
When deploying, you have the option to identify if you want the test to be timed and how long students can have to write the test. Tests are the only timed assessment that can be used for grading purposes in Blackboard and can provide a detailed log of saving questions throughout the duration of the test.

Additional Time
According to their accommodation plan, some students may require time and a half (1.5x) or double time (2x) on tests and exams. On campus, this accommodation is delivered through Student Accessibility Services' invigilation of in-person exams. For online exams and tests, the additional time needs to be set-up by the instructor.

• Test exceptions can be set based on the settings that have been enabled for your tests (Timer, Number of attempts, Availability, Auto-Submit). The exceptions override the test settings for specific students or groups in your course.
• For more information around Test Options including Test Exceptions, review the following resources:
  • Tests Best Practices article: a UWindsor Blackboard wiki article that reviews best practices for instructors when building, deploying and troubleshooting tests.
  • Blackboard's Test Options article,
  • CTL Sprint Session - So you Still Want to Have a Blackboard Test... with Mark Lubrick, who reviews recommended test options.
    • (If you do not have an active UWindsor account, you will need to view the original Blackboard Collaborate Ultra recording.)
• The same approach to meeting accommodations for students who require additional time can be used to support troubleshooting access during the exam. To learn more about this, view Mark Lubrick's Troubleshooting a Test video.

Deferral of Exam
Students with disabilities may experience a flare up of their disability that significantly impacts their ability to participate in any academic activity for a period of time including when an exam or test is scheduled. Students with disabilities who are registered with SAS and experiencing this situation may request permission to write a missed exam or test on a different date (SAS,2020).

While this article is targetted to supporting instructors with meeting accommodations that may arise as a result of accommodations for students with disabilities, these exceptions can be helpful for students who may have extenuating circumstances that do not allow them to write the test at the same time as the class.

• As mentioned previously, Test exceptions can be set based on the settings that have been enabled for your tests including Availability. Using the test exception to set an alternate availability will allow the specific and individual availability for the student and override the availability settings for the test in general.
• In order for the availability exception to be honoured, certain settings need to be enabled. First, using the Limit Availability feature (Display After/Display Until) requires the test to be made available to students. Otherwise, the Limit Availability date(s) will not be honored. Make sure that the test is made available to students.
• Second, Test Options allow instructors to set a due date and an additional option that prohibits students from taking the test after the due date has passed. If this option to prohibit test taking after the due date is checked off, students will not be able to begin an attempt and even students with test exceptions will not be able to begin. Ensure that if you are setting exceptions, you uncheck this box.

Adaptive Release of a Make-Up Assessment

• Alternatively, a different version of the assessment can be created for students who are unable to write on the scheduled date and time. Rather than allow all students in the course to access or to write the test, you can set Adaptive Release of the make-up assessment for the individual student or multiples students who require accesss.
• Adaptive Release allows for the creation of availability rules on single or multiple criteria/criterion for content or assessments in Blackboard: Date, Membership,Grade, and/or Review Status. For more information on using Adaptive Release or the related Advanced Adaptive Release, visit Blackboard's Release Content article .

Submission Marked Late
When creating an assignment, you have the option to set a due date, which includes a date and time that students are required to submit their attempt by. Attempts that are submitted after the due date are marked as Late.

Limit Availbility
Some instructors choose to Limit Availability of assignments after the deadline when editing the assignment. Limiting Availibility sets a window of time that an assignment is accessible to students. If the window has elapsed, students with extensions may not be able to submit their assignment through Blackboard.

• Use the Grading Notes features to identify private comments among the grading team when a submission that is marked Late is an approved extension on assignments. For more information on Grading Notes, review Blackboard's Assign Grades article.
• Be sure to limit the amount of information as it pertains to the extension being granted as a part of an accommodation plan or commentary on the student's disability. Remember, instructors have a responsibility to "maintain the student's dignity and privacy in relation to the disability" (SAS,2020).

Consider Flexible Open Access to Assignments

• While the Limit Availabilityfeature can be helpful, it also acts as a barrier for students to submit the work past the deadline. While tests have the option to easily add exceptions and extend the availability window, the process to extend availability for assignments is rather complex and requires using the Adaptive Release: Advanced Function to create multiple rules of available criteria.
• Rather than have an assignment be hidden from students, consider leaving the window open to avoid struggles with submission for students with extensions due to academic accommodations or exceptional circumstances.

Access to presentations prior to class is necessary for students with accommodations, but would be beneficial to a wider range of students in supporting their learning.

• As previously mentioned, Adaptive Release can be used to allow for the creation of availability rules on single or multiple criteria/criterion for content.
• Advanced Adaptive Release allows for the creation of multiple rules. This could be useful for having two separate release times for content: prior to class for students with academic accommodations and following class for the remainder of the class.

Universal Design for Learning

• Instructors should consider incorporating access to material for all students when pedagogically possible in an effort to support creating accessible learning environments.
• For more information regarding tips for accessible classrooms, review Student Accessibility Services' Information to Support Instructors with Accessible Design article and Accessibility and Blackboard Wiki article.

• By recording synchronous sessions, it allows students the opportunity to engage in the lecture in real time and return to the lecture after the class to make any additional notes. For more information regarding recording sessions in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (Virtual Classroom), review the article on Recording in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. For more information on recording a meeting in Microsoft Teams, review Microsoft's Record a meeting in Teams article.

Captioning Pre-Recorded Content

• Ensure all pre-recorded content is shared using an accessible video streaming platform that includes at minimum automatic captioning. For a specific overview of current technologies available to support captioning, visit Captioning Videos Wiki article.
  • YouTube and Microsoft Stream are examples of two available and accessible video streaming platforms for UWindsor faculty, staff, and students.
• Review automatic captions to check that the text matches the audio to ensure that all students have access to the correct information.
• Consider creating transcripts of videos to share with students to augment video lectures and to aid in notetaking for students.