Making Extended Time, Multiple Attempts, and Assignment Accommodations in bCourses Quick Guide

Students with Letters of Accommodation (LOAs) from the Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) will need to have their documented accommodations provided for all exams, quizzes, and assignments administered via bCourses. There are several features in bCourses that allow for these accommodations to be applied. If you have general questions about LOAs and accommodation requirements, review DSP’s Faculty overview, FAQ for Faculty, and Resources for Faculty pages. For questions about how to apply accommodations listed in a specific student’s LOA, contact the student's DSP Specialist, listed at the bottom of the LOA.

Quizzes and Exams

Extended Time

One of the most common accommodations is extra time on quizzes and exams, usually described as getting "time and a half (150%)" or “double time (200%).” In bCourses, you can adjust the time on a quiz for a specific student by "moderating" it. The following article from Canvas explains how to moderate a quiz to give extra time.

When you give a student extra time, you should also review the "Available Until (lock) date” for that student, and create an extended availability window if necessary to support their accommodations. In many cases, you will need to give students extra time and provide them with an alternate “Available Until (lock) date”:

Please note: Quizzes have an auto-submit feature tied to the Until (lock) date, which may affect student submissions. When using availability dates, please ensure they are longer than the extended time limit. See this Canvas Guide for more details on how the Until (lock) date applies to student quiz access. 

Explaining Extended Time

You will need to explain to students how they receive their extended time. When they first click on the quiz, it will not be obvious that the time has been extended. You can add an explanation by editing the quiz instructions, explained in the following article from Canvas.

Here is an example of an explanation you can add to your quiz instructions.

You can start this [exam/quiz] anytime between [beginning of availability] and [end of availability] by clicking "Take the Quiz" below. Once you start this [exam/quiz], you will have the amount of time indicated as "Time Limit" to complete your [exam/quiz]. Make sure to start in enough time so that you will be finished by [end of availability]. (If you are still taking the [exam/quiz] at [end of availability], the [exam/quiz] will auto-submit even if you have not taken the entire amount of time you have been given.)

Multiple or Additional Attempts

In some cases, you may want to give a student an additional attempt on a quiz (e.g. their extended time wasn’t added properly) or support the requirements in their LOA by giving multiple attempts on a quiz. You can also do this by moderating the quiz, as explained in the following article from Canvas.

Assignments

Extending Deadlines

Another common accommodation is extended due dates on assignments. These accommodations are not standardized and it is the responsibility of the instructor and GSIs to work with the student to determine an appropriate extension window. The extension length will vary by student and assignment. The following article from Canvas explains how you can choose to leave an assignment open so any student can submit after the due date.

Note that if you leave the assignment open so students can submit past the due date, students who received permission to submit at a later date will still be flagged as “late” in the Gradebook. To ensure the student is not accidentally penalized, you can adjust their status in the Gradebook, as explained in the following article from Canvas.

You can also adjust an assignment due date for a specific student or group of students.