Hi all,
To follow on this thread about accommodations, but taking it in a different direction: changes in instructor workload because of CAL practices during the pandemic.
For students whose accommodations require longer times for tests, in the past, they would write their test at CAL under invigilation of someone hired by their office. I just received my first accommodations
letters this term, and I have learned that as instructor, I am now responsible for invigilating these tests. Naturally, this creates some logistical issues for those of us invigilating synchronous tests. For example, do I have most of the class end their
test on Zoom at one time while some students remain on the call? Or have separate Zoom calls for CAL students? If the latter, who will invigilate? But more importantly, this is another instance of additional time / workload for instructor, where we are
asked to take on tasks that previously were done by another unit on campus.
Has anyone heard why this invigilation has been “off-loaded” to instructors? My understanding was that in the past, CAL would employ students as invigilators; why could they not continue to do this
(I’m sure there are many students needing part-time jobs!) and run tests via a Zoom room that students could enter / exit as their test time started and ended? I have not had time to follow up with CAL myself – I am feeling very overburdened with flipping
a large course this term, but would welcome comments from colleagues about this issue (and about any creative solutions you might have come up with to deal with staggered times for tests and online invigilation).
Thanks,
Nancy
From: Ronda Arab <ronda_arab@sfu.ca>
Sent: January 22, 2021 8:08 AM
To: Oliver Schulte <oschulte@cs.sfu.ca>
Cc: academic-discussion@sfu.ca; Michael Sjoerdsma <mhs@sfu.ca>; SFUFA Office <sfufa_executive_assistant@sfu.ca>
Subject: Re: Administering accommodations in on-line quizzes - has CAL changed its policy?
Don’t the accommodations vary from student to student? Perhaps it has to do with this particular student’s needs?
Ronda
I wonder if anyone else has experienced this change. I’ve been using short on-line canvas quizzes (15 min or less) for some years now. The Centre for Accessible Learning
never required accommodation for students with special needs. Exams yes, on-line quizzes no. But this year the very same quiz requires accommodation that it did not require in 2019. Has there been a change in policy, or am I confused about something?
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