>>CHACHULSKI: Greetings. This is Patrick Chachulski, and I'm the testing center coordinator for Disability Support Services at Towson University. I'll be going over with you today the process for students taking exams in the DSS Testing Center. The slide presentation that I'm going to be going over is policies and procedures for faculty submitting a test to the Testing Center. What we do, the Testing Center's a resource for faculty in providing test accommodations to their students with disabilities. Some of the more typical accommodations that are administered through our office are extended time, which can be time and a half or double time, minimal distraction spaces, computers, use of assistive technologies, for example, screen readers, screen magnification, and also trained readers and scribes. Student test responsibilities, Disability Support Services, in general, is a very student-driven office, so it would actually be the student that would be coming to you in order to begin this process. First, they should be giving you a memo from our office. It does not disclose the nature of the disability, but it does indicate that they are indeed registered with us, and you will see a list there of the accommodations they receive. After that takes place, the students are to submit a test accommodation request form to you for each test to be taken in the Testing Center. This could be tests. It could be quizzes. There would only be one memo that you would receive at the beginning of the semester, but you would receive a request for each exam or quiz. It is up to the students to email you with the online form at least five business days in advance of the test date, and the business day - days excludes weekends. Students are also asked to make an appointment with the Testing Center. They would contact us so that we make sure that we have them on our appointment books. On the test day, the student's expected to arrive on campus with their photo ID, their Towson OneCard. If the student does not follow procedures in a timely manner, she or he may not have the opportunity to be accommodated. As I mentioned, we're very student-driven. As far as you, the professor, faculty test responsibilities are concerned, make sure that you have the DSS memo and test accommodation request from the student. As I mentioned, you should be receiving that DSS memo at the beginning of the semester or at least soon after if they registered late in the semester. If you are receiving a request from a student and you've not received a memo, that should be a red flag to you, and you should contact the Disability Support Services office to verify registration. You should check your Towson email regularly for student online test accommodation requests. When you review the email request, you can approve and submit the form electronically. Approval or disapproval message is sent automatically to the student and the Testing Center email drop box. You also are responsible for providing scantrons or blue books to the Testing Center if you are indeed providing them to your class. You are to submit tests to the Testing Center at least 24 hours in advance of the test time. You can send test via email attachment to DSS Testing. That's d-s-s-t-e-s-t-i-n-g@towson.edu or deliver in person to the Administration Building. That's room 228. Inner office mail delivery may take longer, and it is something that we do not encourage. As far as completing the test accommodation request form that you would receive via email, there are some important things that you should pay attention to as you're completing it. First of all, indicate the standard amount of time granted to students in the classroom, the reason being it's from that time that we factor in their extended time. Also please be sure to note anything that they are allowed during the exam. This could be calculator, open notes, open book, periodic table, even Internet access. If applicable, please provide a phone number or email address that you can be reached if the student has a question during the exam. Indicate the manner in which you wish the completed exam returned as well. Filling out this information is very helpful, so this way we don't have to be contacting you at the last minute to verify any information. As far as the Testing Center responsibilities are concerned, when we receive exams, we record the date of the arrival and secure them in a safe place. When a student comes in for an exam, their ID is reviewed, and then a student is directed to sign in and place any personal belongings in a safe area. The student is then escorted to a testing space. The student is proctored, and the test session is recorded to ensure academic integrity. If a student is allowed a computer, for added security, monitoring software is installed on all testing computers. On the completion of the exam, the test is sealed in an envelope and delivered to the appropriate department by a test center courier. The tests are only left in your academic department after they've been received from the administrative assistant in your office. On a request, you can pick up the test from the Testing Center, or you can have the exam scanned and emailed to you if you'd like. Keep in mind that the Testing Center, as I mentioned previously, is in the Administration Building, room 228. The Testing Center can only accommodate students who are registered with DSS and are approved for testing accommodations. We're not a general testing center. The Testing Center is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Testing Center contact information that I have illustrated here listed includes my name, my phone number, email address, the Internet site for us, and the best ways to contact us, obviously. Patrick Chachulski, Testing Center Coordinator Telephone: 410-704-2304 E-mail: pchachulski@towson.edu DSS Testing E-mail: dsstesting@towson.edu Web Site: www.towson.edu/testing If you're ever interested in having a tour of the Testing Center to see how exams are proctored and monitored, you're always welcome to do so. It's the integrity and the mission of our office to not allow anything that you wouldn't allow otherwise in your classroom. So we would abide by the same rules that you do and take the testing situation monitoring, proctoring procedures very seriously. If there ever are instances in where it appears that cheating may have taken place, we'll record those observations and contact you immediately to let you know. You can review any film footage that we have and also any monitoring pictures that we are able to take if student was using a computer. So that concludes my presentation. Thank you much for your attention.