A letter addressed to UVic leadership expresses concern for students with diverse learning needs
Photo via the University of Victoria.
A number of campus student and employee groups have signed a letter addressed to university leaders regarding concerns about changes to student accommodation services.
The letter, released April 16, addresses growing concerns about UVic’s approach to academic accommodations.
It is undersigned by the UVic Faculty Association, Professional Employees Association, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4163, CUPE 951, Society for Students with a Disability, the Gender Empowerment Centre, the University of Victoria Student Society, the UVic Graduate Student Society, the UVic Campus Community Garden, the Anti-Violence Project, the University of Victoria Sustainability Project, the Pride Collective, and the Native Students Union.
Concerns about accommodations stem from a 2023 decision to divide students requiring academic accommodations, like distraction-free exam environments, into two groups.
The first group, which have more common learning concerns and are seen as easier to accommodate, now take exams monitored by the Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management (OREM).
The second group of students continue to work with the Centre for Accessible Learning (CAL) to address their learning needs.
Previously, all students registered with CAL completed their exams through CAL. This new system of administering exams through OREM is understood to be the university’s response to an overwhelming increase of students requiring accommodation.
UVic reports that around 3800 students are currently registered with CAL, which forms 20 per cent of the student population. According to a UVic spokesperson, approximately 10 per cent of students were registered with CAL prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2980 students were registered in 2021/2022.
The letter notes that, “while the University proudly promotes the 150 per cent increase to CAL’s budget over the past 10 years, they do not mention that the number of students CAL supports has increased by over 200 per cent over these years.”
Marissa Donaldson, education and administration coordinator for the SSD, is concerned about the implementation of OREM exam spaces.
She says that one of the complaints she has heard at the SSD is that the OREM-supervised classrooms are often in academic buildings on campus where there is noise from other classrooms and students nearby — a concern addressed in the letter.
“Those environments are just not conducive to having that distraction-reduced environment,” she told the Martlet.
The letter says that “the undersigned are disappointed at the University Administration’s continued push to treat accessibility as a one-size-fits-all task.”
Another concern addressed in the letter is the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and a subset of this educational practice, called Universally Extended Time (UET).
UDL is an educational strategy that involves a redesign of assessment strategies and an approach to learning that addresses student needs on a more individual basis.
“Universal design of learning is an educational pedagogy that effectively is supposed to make education more accessible and successful for everyone,” said Donaldson.
While the undersigned are not opposed to the idea of incorporating UDL into classes at UVic, they feel that the current strategies of addressing exam needs through OREM “is not a proper or effective implementation of either accommodations or UDL.”
They say that UDL implementation would “require a significant overhaul of the University’s academic structure,” which they don’t feel is being done.
UET involves extending the time designated to complete an examination or test by 1.5 times for all students, regardless of if they require academic accommodation. It is one strategy employed under UDL.
The university conducted a pilot in February 2024 to test a large-scale implementation of universal test taking procedures.
The pilot was largely deemed a failure by students and instructors, according to the letter and student concerns — shared by Donaldson — about the difficulty of reducing distractions.
The university conducted a survey following the pilot, which found that many students were dissatisfied with the process, and as a result, it was not recommended that the pilot be attempted again without “a thorough review”.
“Despite this evidence,” reads the letter, “the University Administration continues to suggest these types of approaches are a path towards accessible education.”
Prior to the Martlet’s knowledge of the letter, we reached out to UVic for comment regarding general concerns raised by students about this new method of administering exams.
Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey, Associate Vice-President Academic Programs, said in a statement that “UVic is not taking steps to implement or adjust a UET-based accommodation system.”
She added that “the university will continue to invest in CAL to ensure the successful delivery of their mandate while also encouraging faculty and instructors to implement strategies to reduce reliance on CAL, including the adoption of access-centred approaches.”
The letter calls for six actions to be taken by the university to address issues related to student accommodations, including a review of testing environments and increased availability of training and support for teaching staff.
