The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) provides faculty and staff support and education for working with students who have disabilities. Below are important links to bookmark, in order to ensure accessibility to all of your course curriculum.
We also encourage faculty and staff to review the Universal Design Checklist for Instructors, provided by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). By incorporating Universal Design into course design and curriculum, faculty and staff create a more inclusive learning environment that benefits all students.
PROFconnect
PROFconnect is an online and secure accommodation management portal for instructors at UWM. With PROFconnect, instructors can:
- View a list of students with accommodation requests in their course.
- Upload media and submit requests for captioning.
- Complete, view, and edit testing agreements.
- Securely upload exams and see when students have scheduled and/or taken exams.
Media Accessibility
When an instructor has a student in their course, who is approved for Captioned Media or Interpreted Media — and the instructor is using media as part of the course curriculum, it is the instructor’s responsibility to ensure all media is fully accessible. ARC offers a way to request media accessibility services, asking that instructors allow 5 business days for ARC to complete the request.
Alternative Testing
With alternative testing accommodations, students registered with ARC may take their quizzes, exams, and finals in ARC’s testing center.
ARC offers testing during business hours only, and students are unable to schedule exams until an instructor completes an Alternative Testing Agreement. See Alternative Testing FAQs for general questions and answers about testing hours during the semester and during Final Exam Week, the accommodations specific to testing, and the process of meeting those accommodations.
Accessibility Training for Instructors
While ARC does offer presentations on services for students with disabilities, faculty and staff may also take a self-paced course through Canvas.
The Accessibility Training for Instructors was developed by the Accessibility Resource Center and the Center for Excellence in Teaching to provide faculty and staff the resources they need to support students with disabilities and to make their course accessible for all students. The training and resources on accommodations includes education about Universal Design.
In addition to finding important resources in this Canvas course site, instructors who complete the course will also earn the UWM Certificate in Accessibility for Instructors. This certificate is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and formally verifies that you have completed this training. Earning the certificate is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to teaching and to our students at the university.
Enroll in the Accessibility Training for Instructors
Glean Notetaking Tool for ARC Students
Students with Disabilities, who are registered with the Accessibility Resource Center, may have notetaking tools as an approved accommodation. One notetaking tool ARC offers students is Glean. Often, faculty and staff want more information. Answers to commonly asked questions can be found on our page dedicated to Glean.