What resources are available – The University Disability Resource Center (DRC) is the primary point of contact for addressing the accommodations necessary for our disabled students. The DRC works with students to provide the services necessary to ensure academic success, including note takers, additional time; etc. However, since the students are not required to register with DRC, it is highly recommended that the course materials and documents are made digitally accessible.
How to make use of this resource – Encourage the student to schedule an appointment with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to discuss the accommodations required to ensure their academic success.
Key contact(s) – Meghan Hearns, Assistant Director at hearnsm@montclair.edu
Where to go – The DRC is located on the first floor of Webster Hall.
<!– Commenting out the Covid time statementstrong>Covid Update – During the period of Covid-19 remote working and learning arrangements, the preferred method to contact DRC is by emailing Marie Tizon at tizonm@montclair.edu.</em–>
What resources are available – Scanners are available for use in Sprague Library.
How to make use of this resource – Content should be legible type fonts that are easily recognizable using OCR. If the quality of the original document is not legible, this can affect the accessibility of the scanned document. Check to see the accessibility of the document using ALLY on Canvas or an accessibility checker.
Key contact(s) – Steven Shapiro, Coordinator of Library Services for Patrons with Disabilities at shapiros@montclair.edu.
Where to go – Scanners are located near the Access Services Desk and in the Reference Area on the main level of the library.
Covid Update – This service is unavailable during the Covid remote working & learning period.
Suggested workaround during resource physical unavailability
The suggested workaround during this period is to scan the physical document into a pdf file format using a traditional scanner or a scanner app on smartphone such as ‘scannable’ or ‘adobe scan’. The scanned document may then be converted to a more accessible version using SensusAccess service.
What resources are available – If you need the text to be magnified, you can save the document as a PDF and open in Adobe Acrobat and use zoom in and out (plus and minus icons) to enlarge text to your preference.
If you have a tablet, you may use your fingers, pinching 2 fingers apart or together to zoom in and out. If you have a laptop, you can use the CTRL + or – keys to zoom in and out of the document or webpage.
If you need assistive technology, 1 laptop with ‘ZoomText’ is available for use in Sprague Library and 1 desktop in University Hall 5007 Student computing lab.
How to make use of this resource – If a student expresses the need for assistive technology in addition to magnifying text, you may refer them to the DRC to register for services.
Resource limitations or other key information – Library resources are generally available during library working hours. The request for the library laptop should be placed through IT ServiceDesk.
Key contact(s) – Steven Shapiro, Coordinator of Library Services for Patrons with Disabilities at shapiros@montclair.edu, for library resources. Marie Tizon, Assistant Director at tizonm@montclair.edu, for DRC services.
Where to go – Reference section of Sprague Library, University Hall 5007 Student computing lab.
Covid Update – During the period of Covid-19 remote working & learning arrangements, the library laptop with ‘ZoomText’ may still be requested through IT ServiceDesk by following the guidelines and process defined for this period.
What resources are available – A CCTV is located in the Graduate and Faculty Reading Room in the lower level of Sprague Library. If you need assistive technology, 1 laptop with ‘ZoomText’ available for use in Sprague Library and 1 desktop in University Hall 5007 Student computing lab.
As an alternate, you can save the document as a PDF and open in Adobe Acrobat. You can then zoom in and out (plus and minus icons) to enlarge text to your preference. If you have a tablet, you may use your fingers, pinching 2 fingers apart or together to zoom in and out. If you have a laptop, you can use the CTRL + or – keys to zoom in and out of the document or webpage.
Resource limitations or other key information – Library resources are generally available during library working hours. The request for the library laptop should be placed through IT ServiceDesk.
Key contact(s) – Steven Shapiro, Coordinator of Library Services for Patrons with Disabilities at shapiros@montclair.edu
Where to go – Graduate and Faculty Reading Room, Sprague Library, Lower Level
Covid Update – The CCTV at the library is unavailable during the Covid remote working & learning period.
Suggested workaround during resource physical unavailability
The suggested workaround during this period is to scan the physical document into a pdf file format using a traditional scanner or a scanner app on smartphone such as ‘scannable’ or ‘adobe scan’. Then use the ‘zoom’ feature on the computer or tablet to magnify.
What resources are available – 1 Laptop with JAWS software is available for use in Sprague Library and 1 Desktop is available in University Hall 5007 Student computing lab.
How to make use of this resource – If a student expresses the need for assistive technology in addition to a screen reader, you may refer them to the DRC to register for services.
Resource limitations or other key information – Library resources are generally available during library working hours. The request for the library laptop should be placed through IT ServiceDesk.
Key contact(s) – Steven Shapiro, Coordinator of Library Services for Patrons with Disabilities at shapiros@montclair.edu, for library resources. Marie Tizon, Assistant Director at tizonm@montclair.edu, for DRC services.
Where to go – Reference section of Sprague Library, University Hall 5007 Student computing lab.
Covid Update – During the period of Covid-19 remote working & learning arrangements, the library laptop with JAWS may still be requested through IT ServiceDesk by following the guidelines and process defined for this period.
What resources are available – ITDS/DRC offers the following accessibility training classes throughout the year. Filter by category as ‘Accessibility’ to view the actual schedules.
– Accessibility Policies & Awareness (1 hour)
– Supporting Your Students in Canvas with More Accessible Content (1 hour)
If there is a need for a more specific or 1:1 training, it may be requested as well.
Resource limitations or other key information – Please note that the average lead-time for arranging a 1:1 training is 1 week.
Key contact(s) – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) team at itds@montclair.edu.
Where to go – ITDS Course Registration website
Covid Update – During the period of Covid-19 remote working & learning arrangements, all training will be conducted through video conferencing sessions.
What resources are available – Canvas provides an Accessibility Checker and Ally, as solutions to create accessible alternative content for visually impaired students.
ITDS offers a training classes on ‘How to Create Accessible Materials’ (1 hour) and ‘Supporting Your Students in Canvas with More Accessible Content’ (1 hour).
ITDS also offers an accessible course syllabus template.
How to make use of this resource – The following file formats are supported by Ally: Images, PDF, Office (Word and Powerpoint), OpenOffice/LibreOffice (Writer and Impress), and HTML files.
Resource limitations or other key information – The output from the tool will improve accessibility and provide instructional recommendations. Please follow the recommendations to make further improvement to the document.
Key contact(s) – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) team at itds@montclair.edu.
Where to go – Ally tool is built into Canvas. Additional documentation on Ally can be found on the ITDS Ally (Accessibility) page under section ‘Instructional Technologies’. The Accessible course syllabus template is available for download.
What resources are available – Detailed guides are available on the ITDS Accessibility page. These guides assist in creation of accessible documents consisting of text, tables and images.
Resource limitations or other key information – More complex documents that include formulas and complex content may require additional training support.
Key contact(s) – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) team at itds@montclair.edu.
Where to go – ITDS Accessibility website
What resources are available – SensusAccess is a self-service solution that is available to all members of the University community that converts simple Word and PDF documents into more accessible versions.
Additionally, the Accessibility Checker tool in Office software and Adobe Acrobat pro finds accessibility issues in your document. The tool generates a report of issues that could make your content difficult for people with disabilities to understand. Accessibility Checker also explains why you should fix these issues and how to fix them.
How to make use of this resource – The following file formats are supported by SensusAccess: (DOC, .DOCX, .PDF, .PPT, .PPTX, .TXT, .XML, .HTML, .HTM, .RTF, .EPUB, .MOBI, .TIFF, .TIF, .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .BMP, .PNG, .PCX, .DCX, .J2K, .JP2, .JPX, .DJV and .ASC).
Resource limitations or other key information – The file must be no greater than 60MB. The output from the SensusAccess tool will improve accessibility. Please review using the accessibility checker tool to make further improvement to the document
Key contact(s) – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS) team at itds@montclair.edu.
Where to go – More information on SensusAccess and how to access the service is located on Montclair State’s SensusAccess page. More Information on Accessibility checker tools can be found on Montclair State’s Accessibility page.
What resources are available – Panopto is an all-in-one video platform. It provides desktop lecture recording and automatic captioning services, and is integrated with Canvas.
ITDS offers training on Panopto
Resource limitations or other key information – The captions generated by the tool needs to be further reviewed for accuracy and edited as required.
Key contact(s) – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS)team at itds@montclair.edu.
Where to go – More information on Panopto and how to access it is located on Information Technology’s Panopto page.
What resources are available – SensusAccess is a self-service solution that is available to all members of the University community that converts simple Word and PDF documents into more accessible versions, including an audio file.
Ally, an accessibility tool in Canvas, can also convert simple documents into audio files.
Resource limitations or other key information – Please note that the quality of the audio file will depend on the quality of the file. Please review for quality and readability of the file.
Key contact(s) – Instructional Technology and Design Services (ITDS)team at itds@montclair.edu.
Where to go – More information on SensusAccess and how to access the service is located on Montclair State’s SensusAccess page. Ally tool is built into Canvas. Additional Documentation on Ally can be found on the ITDS website under section ‘Instructional Technologies’ and ‘Ally’.