Accessibility at Bard
As many of you may know, faculty, staff, and students have been hard at work this summer addressing concerns presented by the Bard Disabled Student Union last semester. Accessibility at Bard is a large working group that will continue its efforts over the course of the academic year, welcoming participation and input from all members of the community.
One major step forward has been the formulation of a model syllabus statement for faculty reference: please consider including this language (or some version adapted to the specific contours of your class) in course materials shared with students this fall.
Model Syllabus Statement
Bard College is committed to providing equal access to all students. If you anticipate issues related to the format or requirements of this course, please meet with me. I would like us to discuss ways to ensure your full participation in the course. Together we can plan how best to support your learning and coordinate your accommodations. Students who have already been approved to receive academic accommodations through disability services should share their accommodation letter and make arrangements to meet as soon as possible.
Have a learning difference or disability - including mental health, medical, or physical disability - and are not yet registered? Please contact Disability Support Services at disabilityservices@bard.edu. The Coordinator will confidentially discuss the process to establish reasonable accommodations. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and require advance notice to implement.
Accessibility at Bard is committed to supporting inclusive pedagogy with tools such as the attached universal design checklist for digital materials. In the coming months, the working group will continue to share resources as faculty prepare course offerings for Spring 2020.
Administrative Assistants and Program Managers for academic programs received essential training in early August to support faculty in creating more accessible course materials: I want to thank these dedicated professionals for their energetic efforts in support of Bard's institutional commitment to creating inclusive learning environments. The College will provide ongoing training in the coming months to help program support personnel master these new practices.
You may wish to familiarize yourself now with Bard SensusAccess, a new, on-demand file conversion service that helps Bard students, staff, and faculty convert digital materials into alternate formats, such as audio books, e-books, digital large-print and Braille. This service improves the accessibility and readability of your digital documents. You can find SensusAccess here: moodle.bard.edu
or via this link: sensusaccess.com/web3/bard.
Finally, the College is inviting a consultant to meet with faculty, administrators, staff, and students to identify next steps and to formulate a comprehensive action plan for Accessibility at Bard. Stay tuned for more information about dates and how to get involved this fall.
Please join me in thanking Amy Shein, Disability Support Coordinator, Leslie Melvin, Academic Technology Services, Nancy Smith, Campus Accessibility Project Manager, and Juliet Meyers, Web Service Manager, for their tireless efforts to make Bard College more accessible to all members of our community. The leadership of Vice President for Administration Coleen Murphy Alexander '00 and Vice President of Student Affairs Erin Cannan has been vital to all efforts and advances made to date.
We very much appreciate your ideas, suggestions, and cooperation in implementing these important change.