013--The Effect of Accessibility on Grading Disadvantaged Students: What Would YOU Do?
Presented by: Ann Olson, Heritage University

THIS SESSION HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

I find the more I come to know about students’ lives, particularly the sometimes convoluted way they gain access to my online classes, the more my grading of their written work is affected. I’d like to present two composite “cases” of students in my freshmen level research course. In this case-study, the student’s names have been changed and some parts of their stories have been fictionalized to emphasize accessibility issues.

After establishing detailed profiles of two students and their learning situations according to 1) their family interdependence, 2) their support at work, 3) their experience level at the computer, 4) their input into this class (forums, quizzes, chats, and papers), 5) their success in completing the final research project. Participants will be asked to read and compare the two students’ academic “stories,” analyze how they would consider accessibility issues with all their nuances and complexities—including the mission of our institution, and then judge how these issues might affect their final grading. The session will continue with a discussion on what would you consider to be important accessibility issues. What would you take into consideration in the grading process. Do you face similar situations that indirectly involve ethnicity, economic or class distinctions? How would you answer the question: what would you do?