Viewing Student Accommodations (Instructors and Faculty)

Welcome, instructors and faculty! At Student Accessibility Services, we’re here to help you support students with disabilities.

All instructors are required to view and implement accommodations for students registered with SAS in their courses. You have two options to access this information in MySAS Portal:

  • Pull a list of students with accommodations in your courses that can be exported as a simple Excel file. Information provided includes student name, student number and course accommodations.
  • Access individual student accommodation letters for program coordinator contact information and a timestamp of when the accommodations were approved.

Visit the Accommodation Definitions page for more information on accommodation types. Use this page to guide accommodation implementation in your courses.

View/Export Lists of Students with Accommodations 

Instructions

  1. Log in to MySAS Portal.
  2. Click “Courses” in the menu on the left.
  3. Search for your course under “Course Catalog.” There are two ways to do this:
    • Use keywords or filter by term.
    • Scroll down to find a specific course.
  4. In the course subtab, click “Enrolled Students.” These are all the students with active accommodations in your course.
  5. Export the list as an Excel file:
    • Click “Batch Options.” Click “Save as Excel.”
    • Click “Entire List” to download.
  6. The Excel will contain the following information: student name, student number and course accommodations.
Red box highlighting the “Faculty” user button
1. Log in.
Red box highlighting the left column “Courses” tab
2. Click “Courses.”
Red box highlighting the courses
3. Select your course.

Visual instructions: Click on the screenshots to expand.

View Accommodation Letters 

Instructions

  1. Log in to MySAS Portal.
  2. Click “Accommodation Letters” in the menu on the left.
  3. A list of all accommodation letters for all students in your courses will appear. 
    • Click “More Filters” to filter by term and course.
    • Type student names or numbers into the keywords field to search for specific students.
  4. Notice the timestamp at the bottom of the letter of accommodation. This helps you identify the date and time when the student received accommodation approval.
  5. Click on the accommodation letter you would like to read.

Optional: You may sign to acknowledge student accommodations. However, this is no longer required. If you choose to do so, type your name under “Recipient Acknowledgement.” The letter’s status will change from “Requested” to “Signed.” This may be helpful to track which letters you have already reviewed.

Types of Accommodation Letters

  • Letter of Accommodation: The student received an accommodation plan for the first time at McMaster.
  • Accommodations Activated: The student carried over an accommodation plan from previous terms.
  • Additional Accommodation Request Approved: The student has had an accommodation added to their plan during the current term.
Red box highlighting the “Faculty” user button
1. Log in.
Red box highlighting the left column “Accommodation Letters” tab
2. Click “Accommodation Letters.”
Red box highlighting the Filter search and a Letter of Accommodation
3. View, filter and search accommodation letters.

Visual instructions: Click on the screenshots to expand.

Letters of Accommodation

Letters of accommodation are used to communicate accommodation plans with programs and instructors for all undergraduate and graduate students registered with SAS. The information below outlines the content of these letters.

  • Letter Heading
    • Distinguishes whether this letter is for an undergraduate or graduate student
    • Student name, ID number, and email
    • Date the letter was sent
    • Student’s case file number (for internal SAS use)
  • Program Coordinator Information
    • Name of the student’s assigned Program Coordinator
    • Name of program coordinator who sent the letter (if different from the assigned program coordinator) and their contact information
  • Introductory Information
    • Identifies the student the letter pertains to
    • Confidentiality statement
    • Role of McMaster and Student Accessibility Services to support students with disabilities
      • Link to the university’s policy on Academic Accommodations of Students with Disabilities
  • Statement on Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
  • Accommodations
    • Link to webpage containing all accommodation definitions
    • Accommodations are listed based on category:
      • In-class
      • Test/exam
      • Clinical placement (graduate only)
      • Clinical exam (graduate only)
      • Comprehensive exam (graduate only)
      • Thesis (graduate only)
      • University accessibility planning
    • Individual accommodations contain the following information:
      • Accommodation name
      • Description clarifying the accommodation (if one does not appear, refer to the accommodation definitions web page)
      • Course(s) the accommodation has been activated for
      • The date the accommodation expires (if applicable)
  • Statement on Roles in the Accommodation Process
  • SAS Testing Centre Information (undergraduate only)
  • Additional Resources