Academic accommodations provide students with disabilities equal access to educational opportunities and allow them to demonstrate their learning. Academic accommodations do not compromise the essential elements of a course or curriculum, nor do they weaken the academic standards or integrity of a course. Rather, they simply provide an alternative way to meet the course requirements by eliminating or reducing disability-related barriers.
Please note that the below is a summary of the process to activate approved academic accommodations. For detailed information, see The College of Idaho’s Student Disability Accommodation Policy.
How to Set Up Academic Accommodations
Beginning of Each Semester/Term: Once a student has registered with DALE, the student must take the following steps to activate their academic accommodations each semester/term:
- STEP ONE – REQUEST FACULTY NOTIFICATION LETTERS
- Complete the Faculty Notification Request Form each semester/term at least two weeks prior to the start of each semester/term. Upon receipt of the completed form, DALE will send electronically Faculty Notification Letters to the student and the student’s faculty for each course of the semester/term for which academic accommodations are activated. Academic accommodations become effective as soon as letters are sent to the faculty, but they will not be activated retroactively.
- STEP TWO – MEET WITH FACULTY MEMBERS
- Immediately upon receipt of the Faculty Notification Letter, the student and faculty member should arrange to meet in-person or virtually during the faculty member’s office hours or by special appointment to facilitate a private discussion regarding implementation of the accommodations.
- The accommodation process is an interactive, individualized process, which requires a conversation between the student and the faculty member for each course the student is activating their academic accommodations to determine how the requested accommodation(s) can be implemented within the course. During this meeting, the student is not required to disclose their disability diagnosis or symptoms to their faculty member; however, students are encouraged to communicate how the faculty member can help facilitate their equal access to the course requirements. This discussion also gives the faculty member an opportunity to set clear expectations regarding how the faculty member and student will work together.
- STEP THREE – RETURN FULLY EXECUTED LETTER TO DALE
- Upon receipt of the Faculty Notification Letters, each faculty member and the student must acknowledge receipt of the letter through digital signature.
End of the Semester/Term Deadline: DALE requires students to initiate all new accommodations (i.e. not previously approved through the original initiation/registration process as outlined in Section II above) by the last day to withdraw from classes for the current semester/term. If a student has not met with DALE by this date, DALE will not be able to provide accommodations for the current semester. In the case of an emergency, this process may be abridged on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the Director of Institutional Equity.