Digital Accommodation Resources

Extending Time on Tests

1. When in the test settings, go to the Test Availability Exceptions and add the learner.
2. Then, add the necessary Test Availability Exception options. Review the Blackboard Test Survey Options page to learn about exceptions.

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Extending Time on Assignments and Activities

1. Discuss the appropriate time extension with the learner.
2. Then if you have a due date selected in the Blackboard assignment, ensure the learner that even if they receive a notification that the due date has passed, the discussed due date is what they should follow.
3. If you include an availability date, the assignment will disappear from view at a given time, you will need to add an advanced adaptive release giving membership to the learner.

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Providing an ASL Interpreter for Videos, Blackboard, and Zoom

Refer to our ASL Interpreter Guide for information and steps.

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Providing Captions for Videos

Panopto, the UTSA supported video platform, provides automatic, machine-generated captions. However, these captions do not meet the required 97% or greater accuracy requirement when captioning is needed as an accommodation. Review and editing of machine-generated captions will be necessary.

The Digital Accessibility Team is here to help! We have resources available to handle caption editing for you. Please email us at DigitalAccessibility@utsa.edu for more information.

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Providing Live Captions for Zoom Sessions

Faculty To Do

1. First, contact Student Disability Services to determine if a captioner is scheduled to attend your live class sessions.
2. When creating a Zoom meeting, be sure to share the link with the assigned captioner or interpreter.
3. If a captioner is assigned, once you start your Zoom meeting, select the “Live Transcript” button at the bottom of your meeting screen.
4. This will open a dialog box that gives you the option to “assign someone to type.”
5. Select the name of the captioner assigned to your course. This will allow the captioner to type the closed captions in real-time.
6. Assign the captioners as co-hosts so they can switch turns during the meeting.

Best Practice Note

As a best practice, we recommend enabling the “Live Transcript” option for all Zoom sessions, even when there is no known captioning accommodation.

Many students benefit from this feature and can use it to reinforce their learning and retention of the material. Select the “Live Transcript” button on the bottom of the meeting screen and when the dialog box opens, choose “Enable.” Please remember, automatic, machine-generated captions are not an adequate solution for students who utilize captioning as an approved accommodation.

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Providing Live Captions for Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Sessions

First, contact Student Disability Services to ensure a live captioner is available. You will need to coordinate times that will work for you and the captioner. When creating a Blackboard Collaboration Ultra session, email the captioner the guest link. You will also need to discuss with the captioner the best way to deliver the captions in your sessions. The caption tool or the Everyone Chat Channel are both options with pros and cons.

Important: Always record Blackboard Collaborate Ultra sessions and allow learners to have access to the recordings. It may take up to a day for recordings to become available.

The captioning feature will allow learners to see real-time captions within the Blackboard Collaborate Ultra session. Learners will also be able to download the captions once the recording is made available. Learners will only see current captions, and there is not a feature to scroll through previous text. If there are multiple captioners, learners will have click to back and forth between different caption channels to see all of the captions provided.

The Everyone Chat Channel is beneficial if there are multiple captioners because they can caption in one area without any issue. Learners will not need to try to follow which captioner is creating captions. Learners will also be able to scroll through previous text – approximately up to 50 messages.

However, if the Everyone Chat Channel is for captions, learners will not be able to utilize this chat channel for discussion. Learners may not have microphones to engage in the session and need to use the chat feature. While learners can use the other chat channels to communicate, only the Everyone Chat Channel saves when a session is recorded, and all learners will not see chats outside of the Everyone channel.

Caption with the Captioning Feature

Once the session begins, open the Collaborate panel, select the attendees’ icon, and find the captioner’s name. Select the attendees’ control button next to their name and select make captioner.

All attendees will receive a notification to view captions. If a learner accidentally selects no, they can go to their settings in the Collaborate panel and check the box Display Closed Captions (when available). Tell attendees captions are real-time and can not be reviewed. Attendees will be able to receive a copy of the transcript after the session recording becomes available. Refer to the Blackboard Caption Feature page for more information.

Caption within the Everyone Chat Channel

Inform all attendees that they should not use the Everyone Chat Channel. Students can chat directly with moderators, use the raise hand feature, or use the microphone to interact. We recommend asking for a learner to be a moderator, as monitoring the chat and speaking can be confusing.

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Additional Accommodation Resources

If the accommodation you are trying to meet is not present on this webpage, review the Student Disability Services: Digital Learning FAQ page for more resources.

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Student Support

Direct students to Student Support for Digital Accessibility or Student Disability Services for student help or guidance.

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