We asked a student in need of accessibility accommodations to describe their experience at Texas State University.

Where are you in your studies at Texas State?

I’m about to graduate, and then after that, I plan on going to graduate school. I’ll be applying here at Texas State and hopefully I will get in!

What class format works best for you?

I find lecture and small classrooms to be better, mainly because I have that chance to really communicate with the professor, unlike in large lecture classes of 300 or so. And even in those large lecture classes, I try to sit up front so I can at least get my face shown and show that I’m active, want to learn. I’ve had my fair share of hybrid classes and online courses beforehand, too. I don’t think it really works for me as a learner. For other people, who don’t have the freedom of time that I do, it is definitely a great resource, but I personally just find it more cumbersome. You have to be persistent and motivated all the time when you’re working on those classes to stay on top of everything.

What could your instructors have done to give you a better experience in your online courses?

There was this interesting format that my philosophy professor used in my second semester here. She held group sessions where we would meet on Zoom to talk about everything we did in the reading and the activities.

She would also try to post video lectures going over the material, which is very helpful. It was more than just reading and submitting assignments. In that format, the instructor’s grading your assignments, but you don’t really get to see them, so it feels like they’re not really there if you don’t have that lecture time. I feel like video lectures are a really good resource for students that have an easier time listening for specific words and phrases. You can create videos which are very, very good. She used videos and interactive websites to facilitate learning and to make you feel like you’re a part of it and doing it yourself, too.

Do you find it easier to listen than read?

Yes. But that just stems from my dyslexia. I never really enjoyed reading. I do it and I know how to do it, it’s not my favorite pastime. I never say, “Oh, I’m going to sit down and read for three hours.” I just don’t really have the motivation to do that. At college, though, you’re going to end up doing it anyway.

Is audio with video better than audio on its own?

Audio on its own can be useful, but you have to have it playing over slides or something so students can follow along. That way, it compounds the information and therefore you can have more cues for remembering the content when it comes time for tests or discussions.

How do you go about managing your time to get through the reading you do have to do?

Usually it’s a lot easier to read earlier in the semester than later, because I have more motivation at the beginning because everything has just started. I’m thinking specifically about my reading intensive and writing intensive courses, like U.S. literature and U.S. history, where you had to read and if you didn’t you were going to fail. Other classes you can get away without reading a lot as long as you go to class, you listen to the lecture, take good notes and prepare yourself for the quizzes and the test. Reading is always a very good, useful tool. I know that ODS has audio books for many textbooks, which is very helpful.

I don’t use audio books myself because then I’d still be reading the book while I listen to the audio. I prefer to just put on music. I do that a lot actually if I have a lengthy reading or writing assignment. I put on concentration music on YouTube and then go through it. There’s other reading strategies, too. For example, if you’re reading an open, plain book, you can always use incentives like allowing yourself a gummy bear at the end of each paragraph. It makes it a better overall time.

Do you use any technology to help you with reading, like screen readers?

The closest thing to that is a really good app on my laptop that I use. It’s an app like AudioNote, and records lecture as you’re taking notes. I prefer the handwriting option. It’s a really good study habit to take lecture notes with AudioNote. It makes it easier to come back later and review what you learned.

What is most important to you in terms of accessibility?

The most important aspect to me is that, if you have time and a half or double time for exams and quizzes, you should use it. You can guess and finish in five minutes, but if you do it properly and only have 20 minutes to get 20 questions done, and it takes you two minutes to read each question, you’re not going to get it done in time. It’s really important that, if you have those accommodations, you should use them. I just turned in my accommodations list today, actually, and was glad to see some new people going in to ODS to request their accommodations.

What’s the process for getting accommodations?

There are usually reminder emails at the beginning of the semester or when summer courses wrap up. If you don’t check your email, then it’s on you. You also have to be your own advocate, because we’re all adults and we need to be able to fight for our accommodations and make sure that they’re known by the professor in advance. Face time with the professors is important. And the professors have to accommodate you, if you need an accommodation.

I do have some accommodations that I don’t use, like going to the testing center for testing. That’s mainly because I don’t want to schedule time beforehand to go take a test elsewhere. I’ve also had classes where only half the time was for the test and the other half for new material, and I don’t want to miss that.

I find it really helpful when lecturers (I have one now) record their lectures while they’re speaking. It makes it easier to go back and revise and is great for people who had to miss the lecture for whatever reason. Accidents happen, and slides are not enough on their own. Perhaps professors are concerned about intellectual property, but I think that having recordings would be helpful for all students, not just those of us who have accommodations.

I feel that it’s important that professors are able to adapt to how students learn best because if you’re teaching in a certain way and only 50% are achieving the knowledge that you’re trying to provide, then you’re not really teaching efficiently. We’re at the college level, efficiency is the name of the game.

Have you ever had trouble having your accommodations acknowledged in a class?

Professors are really good about keeping to our accommodations. Sometimes, I do wish that the professor was able to go a little more slowly so that I can capture everything. They only have 50 minutes to go through the whole lecture so I don’t want to hold everyone for three minutes to ask, “Hey, can you slow down one second? Can I finish writing my notes?”

I take a lot of detailed notes because if I see words on the screen, I want to write them down, so I have that info in my book for studying later. It would be great if all professors had the time to do that.

What are some things professors can do right now to make their courses more accessible?

Try to have a variety of teaching materials to spread the same knowledge. Videos specifically are very helpful because you get that info in a compact, concise way. However, I know that there is some content that is just too detailed or in-depth to be covered in lectures or videos, so ultimately I have no real issues with how professors really bring it all together because it’s up to them. Just keep in mind that there are many different ways to distribute knowledge. And make sure your videos are closed captioned! That’s useful for a lot of students, too.

Think about using the [built-in] PowerPoint option of overlaying audio on your slides so students can listen to that. It’s great to get the slides after the lecture, but it helps to also have the context that goes with them.

I’m glad that a lot of professors are making their courses accessible. I have great respect for the people that are doing their best to help as many individuals as they can, but I know that efficiency is also part of this because it is business. There’s plenty of money being going into this, I want my education to be efficient and I want people to be able to learn the best way they can.