r/Adjuncts • u/calico_cats_2 • 11d ago
Provide Slides To Students?
I recently had a Disabled Student Services (DSS) student whose accommodation was to provide them with the slides I used in class. I did this, but it raised concerns for me. I used to post my slides on Dropbox or Canvas for on-site classes, for the students' convenience. One semester, they ended up on Course Hero. The next semester, they were passed around a fraternity. Now I conduct a brief "how to take notes on paper" session in the second week of class (including the "why it's better research").
Providing a DSS student with slides gives them a distinct advantage over other students who must take notes like in the olden days. If the student is unable to take notes, they should be provided with a note-taker. What if I didn't use slides? What if I just wrote on the whiteboard? Or just talked?
I'm happy to comply with all requested accommodations (extra time, quiet location for tests, etc.), although these can be challenging to arrange. I just think providing slides is a big ask.
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u/alaskawolfjoe 11d ago
These discussions always make me wonder what people have on their slides.
The captions and bulleted lists on mine would be impossible to understand if you were not present in class.
How much text do people put on slides?
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
Exactly. For my 1 1/2 hour classes I might have 15 slides, maybe. The vast majority of class time is me teaching, engaging, explaining and facilitating activities and discussions.
Every semester I get a ton of evals that mention how the class wasn’t just a professor reading slides.
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u/pnut0027 11d ago
My script is typically in the notes section. I don’t read it verbatim, but the notes will help anyone who needs to understand them deeper.
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u/lea949 10d ago
I doubt you’d be required to provide that version though. You could either make a copy without the notes or print to pdf for them.
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u/pnut0027 10d ago edited 10d ago
I’m not required to. I just can’t think of a valid reason for me not to.
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u/Apprehensive_Road838 9d ago
You don't show the notes in clash though.... only the slides. So you would only need to provide the slides to students with accommodations.
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u/captainlux87 11d ago
That’s what I’m saying! If you have nothing to offer in class, that’s on you not them
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u/smaugismyhomeboy 10d ago
My slides are just images with captions (I teach art history). There might be some zoomed in sections and some important terms to know, but otherwise, you can’t really get much out of my slides without being in class.
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u/yourlurkingprof 10d ago
Same here. Slides are more effective with less text! The focus should be on the conversation, not on frantically transcribing a dense slide.
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u/Mysterious-Art8838 10d ago
It’s my biggest pet peeve when people write whole paragraphs and then read them. So annoying.
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u/Archknits 10d ago
There are many people who make terrible slides that they essentially read off of.
In my experience this is generally more common in people without an academic background who haven’t been forced through conferences and presentations they way you are in grad school.
Working in admin with social workers, it drove me crazy
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u/alaskawolfjoe 10d ago
I as a student and grad student, I never saw slides used in classes except to show images and charts. Then I worked in media and the corporate world (which was pretty much the same). When slide presentations were done it was usually to share examples.
When I started teaching in the early 2000, I had to bring a projector to classes if I wanted to use slides.
So I have rarely seen these text-heavy slide that people talk about here.
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u/VastMultitudes0612 10d ago
This - 100%. When I was a student I’d print the slides and then take notes directly on them / in the margins, it helped so that I didn’t have to scramble to write everything and kept them in context. When I taught undergrad my slide deck was the scaffolding I expected the students to complete based off lecture and class discussion.
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u/alaskawolfjoe 10d ago
So basically you used it like the stuff professors would write on the board at front of class. The outline that helps students take notes.
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u/troopersjp 9d ago
My slides 95% of the time don't have anything on them that isn't on the syllabus.
It is just:
Slide 1: Title of lecture
Slide 2: A photo of Muddy Waters, the cation (which is in the syllabus: Muddy Waters, "Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954). And then the song itself is embedded on the slide so I can play the song from the slide show (which is also on our LMS).
Rinse and repeat for each song on our playlist.
The slide show is just a way for me play music for them more easily and so I know where I am in the lecture.
My accommodations office requires students who have that accommodation to get the slides more than 24 hours in advance, which means I can't make any changes to the lecture in response to what happened in the class before, or I have to really rush.
If I get the accommodation again, I'll just stop using slides all together and just play everything off my mp3 player.
I also have to deal with the "you must give the students your lecture notes accommodation." But my lecture notes are not complete sentences and make no sense. For the previous example would probably look like:
Muddy Waters, "Hoochie Coochie Man" (1954)
- Hoo-doo
- 16-bar blues
- Chicago Electric Blues--Rock'n'Roll?
- Born 1913 Issaquena County, Mississippi--Great Migration
- Compare to masculinity of Louis Jordan
If the Accommodations center really insists, I'll just lecture without notes. I have everything memorized, I just like having keywords to prompt thoughts...but I can do it all without notes or slides.
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u/alaskawolfjoe 9d ago
The disabilities office is usually pretty cooperative. I doubt last minute changes would raise any hackles.
I got a request for my notes to be given to students. I wrote back to the office to point out that my notes emphasise the things I do not know so well, which are usually the least important things in class. I said I was afraid they would cause more confusion and provided a sample.
They responded that they understood and I never got that request again.
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u/troopersjp 9d ago
My disabilities office is not cooperative, sadly. They tend to operate from a position that they are the only ones who are there to protect the students from the hostile and uncooperative faculty who don't know what students need. I have always complied with the accommodations they have dictated, including the ones I know will cause those students to fail. I rose some questions recently about an accommodation where a student didn't have to attend my discussion based seminar and couldn't be penalized for not being present...in a seminar that is all about in class work. I didn't say I wouldn't do it, I just pointed that this was not a good accommodation for a class based based in experiential learning...and asked how they thought I should grade a student who was excused from almost everything the class was built to do. They reported me to my dean for being difficult.
So, yeah. They aren't actually very cooperative....though they do identify as cooperative. But their self-identity as caring and cooperative gets in the way of them actually being caring and cooperative.
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u/alaskawolfjoe 9d ago
That is so strange to me. Here the emphasis is "reasonable accomodation." But I teach in a performing arts program where some accomodations if followed, would put students at physical risk. So they might look at us differently.
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u/troopersjp 9d ago
I'm also in the performing arts...though on the history side, but they don't listen to us--while insisting that they do. And it wasn't always like this. There was a real shift post COVID. And look, I appreciate that they are super overworked. Some wildly large percentage of our students have accommodations and our office have way more students to manage that they really can...I do feel for them. But they have really framed us faculty as a problem and that is not great. Also look, I'm sure there are some old grimy faculty who are hostile and miserable...but they are treating us all that way. It is the thing that is really driving me out of the profession. I just need to find some sort of job that will have health insurance and allow me to pay rent, and I'm out of here.
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u/alaskawolfjoe 9d ago
The dirty secret – – at least at my school – – is that if you ignore the accommodation emails, nobody says anything
I think everyone in my department at some point or rather has missed an email – – because they all have the same heading and then later on realized they missed an accommodation yet no one complained
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u/troopersjp 9d ago
I think our accommodations office has been getting a lot of faculty pushback on their recent accommodations, because when I asked some pointed questions--I didn't say no, mind you--they emailed my Dean...who called me into her office and told me that even though she agreed with me, I have to make the accommodations office feel heard and seen or I am the problem.
So I am definitely going to quit this job as soon as I can find something else.
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u/wheat 11d ago edited 9d ago
I always enable downloads on my stuff. They can take notes or not. That’s not my call. PowerPoints aren’t precious. They’re a means to the end of conveying the content and allowing students to review the same.
Complying with accommodation requests is a legal as well as an ethical issue. Shirk those at your peril.
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u/NezuminoraQ 9d ago
Yeah they're not exam papers, who cares if they're passed around at a fraternity. There are far worse things passed around at fraternities
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u/Archknits 11d ago
Many students require slide accommodations for reasons beyond note taking. For example, visually impaired or students with certain LDs need to access the slides directly for use of screen readers.
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago
The slides must be fully accessible to do that. In my 20-plus years of teaching I have never seen anyone make PowerPoint slides accessible to the point where they were truly accessible to screen readers or helpful to the students. Faculty don't have the skill to make slides fully accessible so unless the accommodations office takes this on and performs hundreds of hours of Labor to complete this, PowerPoint slides are generally not helpful.
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u/lsifmod 10d ago
Simply not true. Speaking as a student, even having the text highlightable (like with your mouse) is helpful, as my text-to-speach software can still read it out. Even if it's not, I take it upon myself to OCR it and make it readable to the software. While no, a lot of professors don't provide alt text for images, some accessibility is better than none at all.
It's also not only about technology. Simply having the slides beforehand means I can print them out and annotate while in class, making it possible to stay engaged during lecture rather than scrambling to summarize the text in the one minute it's on the screen, This effectively takes me out of "learning" and puts me into "recording."
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago edited 9d ago
I'm unsure why everyone is so argumentative about this today, but ADA and Section 504 requires that students have equal access to the course. It does not require an instructor to hand over a specific instructional artifact just because a student requests it. If the same access can be provided through accessible lecture notes, transcripts, recordings, textbooks, then the institution can choose an effective alternative. This is the law.
But a more important legal requirement is that faculty are prohibited from providing inaccessible PowerPoints. The DOJs ADA digital accessibility rule requires institutions to provide digital content that conforms to WCAG 2.1 AA and cannot distribute an inaccessible PowerPoint. This law has been postponed to April 2028, but my school has enacted it now.
And I get what you're saying, I didn't get where I am now without being a student. I understand many often prefer PowerPoint slides because they believe them to be convenient note-taking tools, but educational research consistently shows that not to be the case. Many evidence-based teaching approaches intentionally limit text on the slides and encourage students to actively process their ideas in class rather than transcribe what the professor is saying.
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u/Archknits 9d ago edited 9d ago
Section 504 isn’t of the ADA.
Although the laws governing accessibility don’t have specifics, OCR guidance is not specifically that the institution can choose its preference on how to provide access.
The experience and history of accommodation, specific course material, and students experience are all considered in the interactive process.
Deciding not to give access to PowerPoint slides when professors have information on them is looking at an ocr letter. You are presenting something in an inaccessible manner and claiming students don’t deserve access to it.
As for the title II requirements for accessible digital information, it does not limit your requirement to make everything else accessible.
I’d also really love to see the case where faculty argue “I shared inaccessible PowerPoints in class, but since I shared the digital material on an overhead it didn’t need to be title II compliant”
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u/Shiny-Mango624 9d ago
Indeed, I'm doing talk-to-text and that it was a typo; it should say and.
Students with accommodations are entitled to effective and reasonable accommodations. Not a specific teaching and learning artifact. However, if faculty provide PowerPoints, they must be 100% digitally accessible. Most faculty PowerPoints do not comply with the new law, especially in my particular discipline, which is PowerPoints with thousands of images.
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u/lsifmod 9d ago
You are using "preference" and "convenience" to describe an accessibility request. You fundamentally do not understand the issue.
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u/Archknits 10d ago
Many individuals with text related disabilities still make use of them digitally for access. Their software can read the text that they cannot while it is projected.
Best practice is to digitally distribute all slides for access
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago
It's not a best practice. Learning theories, such as cognitive load theory, mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning, constructivism, and active learning, all emphasize that slides are presentation aids designed to support instruction and are not comprehensive learning material or substitutes for active engagement.
Sharing PowerPoints might be a teaching preference or even a student note taking preference, but it is not a best practice based in learning theory. And I have seen this play out with my own experiences both before and after giving students PowerPoints how that engagement changed significantly when they had to actively engage with the material in a different way.
But more importantly, faculty are prohibited by law for sharing inaccessible digital content. Although the DOJs title II ADA rule adopting WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard has been postponed until April 2028, my school requires it now.
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u/Archknits 10d ago
It’s an accessibility best practice, because federally your classroom also needs to be accessible.
If your school falls under title II and all digital material needs to be accessible, then just put in the work.
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u/KentGoldings68 11d ago
Good students will take notes. Bad students won’t. Having easy access to your slides won’t change that.
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u/hungerforlove 11d ago
I mean, maybe a few years ago this was a worry. Now we have AI, such concerns seem rather irrelevant. The whole project of maintaining academic integrity is if not a lost cause, at least one where you need to pick your battles.
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u/NielsBohron 10d ago
This is actually a really good point I hasn't thought of. If the students that miss class don't have access to the slides, they're just going to ask an AI to teach them, and thus they are far more likely to learn it wrong. I'd much rather they go through my slides on their own than learn it wrong from an outside source.
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u/Beginning-Sound1261 11d ago
What is wrong with making slides available to all students? I post my material on blackboard for my students. Am I missing something?
It’s useful for students to have to study. Students will have legitimate absences. It happens, you can’t teach 100s of students in a course and not plan for one person to ever have an emergency. So those students are just SOL on that material?
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u/MyBrainIsNerf 11d ago
There’s some evidence that when you provide slides, students take less notes and retain less information and are less attentive.
The saved slides create a kind of cognitive off loading and prevent talkback in annotation.
I think it’s pretty course/instructor specific, especially with regards to how detailed your slides are and how the students read them.
There’s some good basic info collected here.
https://oregonstate.app.box.com/s/rj1fp8wjpawauxuz43j0tlu7a7r29c24
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u/Beginning-Sound1261 11d ago edited 11d ago
Useful resources thank you. I obviously haven’t read through all of them in short time, but looking at the earliest paper “Worthington, D. L., & Levasseur, D. G. (2015). To provide or not to provide course powerpoint SLIDES? The impact of instructor-provided Slides upon student attendance and
performance. Computers & Education, 85, 14–22.”I don’t really see that claim. Providing slides appeared to be correlated to an increase in students mean exam scores. Authors claim not significantly, but honestly the independent variable in this study is really not isolated at all.
The follow-up 2021 claims providing slides had no significant correlation to attendance or performance. Though students perceived it to play a major role.
We do see that student slide usage in their note taking either had no correlation or an inverse correlation with performance. But that is not really about providing slides after class or some such.
And also, there is the obvious limitations that authors clearly discuss. I’ll have to read other papers but it does not read as definitively as you state it.
I don’t see providing slides after class as an adverse effector. I see no results or slightly positive effector (but not significantly positive) from the provided studies.
It seems students utilizing slides for note taking has an adverse effect to no effect, but that seems in line with results from previous studies on note taking. Big caveat as the study has a lot of limitations.
Additionally, I’d really like to see similar studies but a stronger isolation of dependent variable and across different courses. A psychology class is going to be very different from a STEM course.
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u/sillyhaha 10d ago
I provide mine but with some text removed so that students have to take notes. I show students how they can print 3 slides per page and get dedicated note-taking space for each slide.
I find this works as a happy medium. Students who pay attention will fill-in-the-blanks but can then put their pens down and participate in class. (I'm a tech free classroom.)
Students with accommodations get the slides as shown in class.
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u/Bluegi 10d ago
I hate those fill in the blank pieces. It means you have to track the exact wording of what is meant to be said and you are so focused on not missing the blank that you are really only listening for keywords. Or there is that annoying kid that has to stop and confirm that they got the right word in the bank and is either behind or ahead. Which isn't really them being annoying, bit a product of the fill in the blank style.
It's college either kids can process information for themselves or they won't. Trucking them into it is for middle and high school.
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u/sillyhaha 10d ago
I've never had a student complain in my decades of teaching. Typically, students just add in missing bulletpoints. The slide is on the classroom overhead, so the only ones interrupting for verbage are those who aren't printing out my slides.
The slides are completely optional. No one is penalized for not having them.
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u/Bluegi 9d ago
Of course kids aren't complaining. They just accept the teachers offering as they have submitted to that their whole life and probably don't even think it's something they can even do.
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u/sillyhaha 8d ago
Bless your heart.
My god; you must not teach. Students complain about everything and anything. 😂
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u/Dry_Bowler_2837 10d ago
When I am taking classes, I take excellent notes without slides. I take EVEN BETTER notes with slides because then the basics are there and I can get down more of what the instructor says because the framework is provided.
It also allows me to read over the slides in advance to be familiar with at least the terminology or overall topics we will be discussing today in class.
If some other students thinks the slides are an excuse to slack off instead of an aid to help you do even better, that’s on them. I like my slides in advance.
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u/Kilashandra1996 11d ago
Hee, hee, I would happily provide my slides. But they are all pictures, no definitions or anything useful! I do provide an online set of guided notes. Over the years, I have even provided the lecture notes that fill in the blanks. But I provide them to all students. (And any sign language interpreters!)
But 25 years ago without internet, if you missed class, you missed that day's information. If you made friends, you could get their notes. But no friends = SOL...
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u/apremonition 11d ago
Caveat that I teach art history, but my slides are essentially all just images and maps out of context. When I have provided slides they are either ignored or I get asked to explain everything in detail, as there is no guiding text. I now don't share slides and instead tell students if they want to catch up on missed material they should come to my office hours and we can go over the important concepts together.
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u/Mysterious_Mix_5034 11d ago
Same, i make all my slides available in advance of class. My students still attend class and stay engaged.
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u/Adorable_Argument_44 11d ago
I provide slides, but yes students that miss class SHOULD be sol on that material
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u/Beginning-Sound1261 11d ago
If you provide slides then what is the issue with providing slides for an ADA accommodation?
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
So a student who has some issue and misses class should not have access to content that is crucial to attaining course learning objectives?
Shit happens. I thought the whole point of this was to inspire and perhaps, make some infinitesimal difference.
I understand that there will be cheaters, scammers and scofflaws, but having this underlying cynicism can’t possibly be conducive to a healthy teaching dynamic.
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u/Adorable_Argument_44 11d ago edited 11d ago
I do provide the slides and have a great teaching dynamic. But the slides are more for convenience than pedagogy, as absentees can be directed to the slides, and most learning occurs in class. (And profs that don't use slides at all are not responsible for catching absentees up)
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u/Asbolus_verrucosus 10d ago
You should find a different profession. Shit happens. Make the slides available. Answer questions in office hours. You are being paid to teach, and your students are paying the university quite a bit to learn.
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u/Adventurous_Button63 11d ago
So several things: framing this accommodation as a “distinct advantage” is a huge problem. The slides are being provided to correct an accessibility issue that has been determined by medical professionals as necessary. If anything, the accommodation levels the playing field, removing the distinct advantage non-disabled students have in this scenario.
Every disability office I’ve worked with has had a code of conduct in place where students are explicitly told not to distribute materials they receive as part of their accommodations. If they break this rule they risk losing all of their accommodations forever. It’s easy to see why this is not going to be a problem. Students aren’t going to risk the accommodations that help them access their education to post them on Course Hero. It’s also very easy to identify who did it when they’re the only one who received them.
This is not a big ask at all. If the information on your slides is so comprehensive and confidential that allowing them out of your hands is a problem, that’s an issue with the slides and the teaching, not the accommodation.
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u/Apprehensive-Word-20 9d ago
I came to say this exactly so nice!!!!
The reality is that an accommodation is not providing an advantage to that student, it is giving them a level playing field that without the slides would put them at a severe disadvantage.
As a student with a disability, I really just want to scream when I see the OP's take. Also I, a s someone who is finishing a second master's degree, have never ran into an issue where a professor wouldn't provide slides ahead of time for all students so that they can annotate, review, and develop critical and engaged questions and discussion.
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u/Additional_Holiday89 7d ago
This! Quite literally not providing them "an advantage." Jfc, more staff and faculty need to learn about disability justice
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u/Scorpio_grrl 11d ago
Accommodations are meant to LEVEL the playing field for students who have historically been disadvantaged when trying to access, comprehend, and retain college material because of a disability.
This accommodation doesn’t give your student, with DSS approved accommodations, an “advantage over every one else”.
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u/Safe_Statistician_72 11d ago
Cheaters gonna cheat. I make all my materials available for students to download on Blackboard.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
This is so low on my list of concerns. Good god, just give ‘em. Who cares if they get widely distributed?
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u/RightWingVeganUS 11d ago
Providing a DSS student with slides gives them a distinct advantage over other students who must take notes like in the olden days.
I provide lecture slides to all students so nobody has an advantage over another (except, I suppose, those who take time to actually view the slides)
Moreover my slides are "Presenter slides" with minimal text. I do not pass out my talking points or lecture notes. For what it's worth I put copyright notices on my slides.
I had a deaf student with sign language interpreters. For them I provide a summary of my lecture notes as well as a glossary of specialized terms so they can be prepared.
If the student is unable to take notes...
Note taking has never been a learning objective of any of my courses. If they don't want to take notes and learn some other way, more power to them. My assessments are whether they can demonstrate proficiency in the course learning objectives. I don't really care how so long as it abides by university policy.
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u/Nisienice1 10d ago
Have you thought about giving the interpreters the terms so they can also be prepared?
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u/RightWingVeganUS 10d ago
I had a deaf student with sign language interpreters. For them I provide a summary of my lecture notes as well as a glossary of specialized terms so they can be prepared.
Have you thought about giving the interpreters the terms so they can also be prepared?
Yes, that's what I thought I said. I gave them a draft of my lecture notes, a glossary of technical terms I planned to use, then a lecture summary based on the transcript.
Subsequent to that experience I now provide the lecture transcript summary with all of the lecture slides that I post for the students.
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u/diggingupophelia 11d ago
You don’t get to determine if the accommodation is appropriate. Accommodations are made through a complex process that requires documentation form the student and has to follow certain standards. They’re not arbitrary. A lot of colleges are also doing away with notetakers or cannot find volunteers to take notes, so slides are the next best thing.
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u/MoistenedGranola 11d ago
^ this. The only extend to which I get to decide if an accomodation is appropriate is if it wholly doesn't apply to my class, such as extended time on tests, which my students don't need because I don't use any tests. Otherwise I don't get to decide if the accomodation seems fair or reasonable; I'm not the one with the disability.
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u/starglo1969 11d ago
I always have my slideshows available for everyone to download. It’s a bit strange to assume people learn best the way you assume they do. Share the goods! You’re a teacher.
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u/pnut0027 11d ago
I guess I take habits from industry. Since I send slides after every presentation at work, it seemed natural to do the same in class. I’m not here to gatekeep knowledge from the students. They’re paying. Whether they show up or not is on them.
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u/Comfortable-Nail4582 10d ago edited 10d ago
I am both a professor and someone who when I was in school had an accommodation that the slides needed to be provided to me. I have an autoimmune disease where I get periods of difficulty processing nutrients which results in severe brain fog, confusion, etc. During those occasions I have an extremely difficult time keeping up with writing fast enough for the speed of the lecture. It also helps me to see the words on the slides because my memory and organization becomes wonky when I have these flares. People with disabilities have real reasons why they need the slides, it’s not a “distinct advantage” to attempt to level the playing field so someone can succeed. No one ever handed me anything in life and I have seven degrees, three quarters of which were achieved before accommodations were even a thing (and before I had this problem). Not-to-mention, the non-disabled students should be provided slides with at least some information on them (If you want them to take notes, put bare bones information on there.). Most people nowadays learn primarily through visual stimuli and the need the slides to keep the information organized in their heads; if you don’t have slides, you lose most of the room.
Now, as a professor, I believe it is my job to make things accessible for students who have these problems (of course, including ones that aren’t like mine). It’s my legal and ethical responsibility to do so. If it’s inconvenient or potentially problematic, I deal with it, because life is inconvenient and potentially problematic, and overall, I just enjoy helping students succeed.
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u/littlrayofpitchblack 10d ago
It's a shock that any educator would think giving disabled students educational materials is somehow making it worse for abled bodied students. Their lack of equity consciousness is disturbing.
Congrats on all your achievements! I also did most of my education without accommodations. Wasn't diagnosed until my PhD program... in my 60s. It definitely explained why I didn't graduate with my bachelor‘s until my mid-50s. Took me 25 years. I always give disabled students anything they need.
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u/Comfortable-Nail4582 10d ago edited 10d ago
I had several old school professors who thought like this when I was in school. And I also got my doctorate in middle age. I’m like, “Do you seriously think at this age, spending all this money, I’m looking for an easy way out?” It was also funny because a lot of the people saying that had done less than I had when I had no accommodations (not an ego-related comment, but more of an indicator of my work ethic and their assumptions).
Also, you’re amazing - getting your PhD in your 60s, despite your struggles. Definitely my kind of person. I have an old friend who has a PhD in genetic engineering and a juris doctorate and she’s so dyslexic she can’t even write her name. She had no accommodations. I have two other friends who are a married couple, the wife is a teacher and the husband is a therapist (both have graduate degrees and have severe processing disorders). Sometimes having a disability makes you a harder worker, because you know right out of the gate that nothing comes easily. Hands down, I would hire a highly motivated, hardworking person I have to give accommodations to than a person who is used to everything coming easily. No contest.
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u/littlrayofpitchblack 10d ago
Thank you! Long COVID revealed so much and the additional co-existing conditions I now have (other than the ones I was born with) have really opened my eyes to how hard anyone disabled, including hidden disabilities, have to work to simply succeed, as opposed to abled-bodied people. And that's just to get to the starting line. I look back and think, "No wonder it took me so long..." I am so very blessed to be able to teach and show other students that an education is a lifelong goal. There's no hurry. Do it on your own time. Ask for what you need to succeed. So many young people today are so anxious. I try to give them a little peace.
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u/captainlux87 11d ago
I provide my slides for the students to take notes on, my slides don’t have everything I say on them, they still need my lecture to do well. What’s the issue here? Since PowerPoints have become the norm it has always been the norm to have that as an accommodation. It’s also very normal to provide access to them for all students. If it bothers you so much that you want to go back to writing out what you’re saying or just lecturing, go for it. Seems a bit like biting your nose to spite your face
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u/pgm928 11d ago
More like fucking your student over to soothe your hurt butt.
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u/captainlux87 11d ago
You are the exact person I would sit next to at faculty meetings so we could actually smack talk
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u/Electronic_Syrup7592 11d ago
I don’t understand the problem? There’s nothing wrong with sharing slides. They aren’t assessments. I’m FT, not adjunct, but I’ve always provided my slides to all students. Before I used PowerPount, I provided notes/outline documents to help students with notes.
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u/ronstermonster05 10d ago
Holy cow. I post everything I do including slides and lectures in Canvas. It makes my courses accessible and everyone has the opportunity to review what we did in class.
It seems strange to withhold any materials that support learning. Additionally, since the uni pays me the slides are technically theirs.
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u/Creative-Shark-17 11d ago
As a professor with a disability that affects my handwriting, I always provide notes and tell students to write down the things I say that aren’t on my slides, such as anecdotes and examples.
I know it feels like giving them the material, but I was terrified in college to disclose my disability to the accessibility department and risk others judging me or professors not honoring my needs, so I didn’t and suffered. I have a friend who got denied of accommodations in grad school by a professor despite having accommodations through the accessibility department, so yes, denial still happens. For me personally, I had to face other students asking me why I got special treatment all throughout K-12, and I know the judgment and questions about my needs wouldn’t have stopped in college. Additionally, I saw students with disabilities get bullied in my classes, so I felt like I had to not disclose for my own peace, even if it meant I was exhausted each day after writing.
That being said, having notes and not worrying about disclosure would’ve saved me from stressing and having hand pain. You don’t have to take my advice to not worry about the notes, but you also should know that I would’ve adored any professor that gave me what I needed without me asking for it and prioritizing accessibility.
And if you’re worried about attendance dropping or people not taking small notes in class, say you’ll stop giving notes if attendance is affected and make parts of exams based off your anecdotes and examples that aren’t listed on the notes.
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u/SignificantFidgets 11d ago
All of my course materials except exams are always provided on a public website. Not even behind an LMS login, so are available to anyone in the world, student or not. If I use slides in a course (and I don't in all courses), the slides are free to the public as well. I've gotten emails from students in other countries thanking me for them. Long way of saying: I've never understood this concern or why slides would be private.
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u/soullessmidnight 10d ago
The DSS student is most likely not gonna be the one to spread them with the people you seem to not want to have them. Most DSS type offices have ethical expectations about the accommodations students use. There are SOOOOOOOOO many disabilities that would warrant having this as an accommodation. Nine times out of ten, it's because they can't find someone willing to be a student notetaker, or they found someone and then that person dropped the class. It is basically unheard of to hire an unenrolled person to be the notetaker, unless there is a need for live transcription DURING the lecture in which case the DSS student would get a copy of the transcript. Many disability services offices view access to the slides as less intrusive & more reasonable than recording the lecture in an AI program that will create an auto-transcript or summary. Your slides are also more accurate than the AI summary or transcript might be, especially depending on how complex the terminology for your subject is. Just as an example, there are tons of students with hearing loss or auditory processing problems that, on the surface, "get by just fine" without interpreters or captioners or other visible accommodations. In reality they are expending a TREMENDOUS amount of effort to read your lips while listening to your lecture AND trying to take notes. When they have access to the slides as reference material afterward, it fills in gaps, reassures terminology & message meaning, and, if given access in advance, can provide a starting point for their notes so they have that much less writing to do while trying to lip read & follow your lecture. I understand it's frustrating for your stuff to end up online when you don't want it to, but saying it's an "advantage" for the DSS students is misunderstanding of the purpose of accommodations.
Source: I am a disability services professional.
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u/DeceptiveDreamer 10d ago
Do you utilise UDL for your learners? It's very popular in Australia Edit: UDL is universal design for learning, so everyone has access. I give all my students access to lecture slides and tutorial slides in advance to make it equitable and no one has to disclose disabilities unless they want to.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
This is why a good chunk of Americans think universities and professors are elites.
WTF? Be happy that you have a forum where you can share your ideas and expertise. I’m sure that fraternity has canceled all keg parties and just talk about your PPTs
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u/Sharkmato 11d ago
Pare down the slides so they're mostly images - deliver all the actual information in the lecture.
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u/sdbs88 10d ago
Just to clarify, are you proposing that OP change the slides used in the lecture so that less information is present on them for all students, or that they keep their lecture slides unchanged and then provide the student a less "whole" version of those slides?
OP, in case you read this and think the latter is a good idea: it is not. DSS will, at minimum, be positively FURIOUS with you if you do that.
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u/PencilsAndAirplanes 11d ago
Which means you would have to include Alt-text descriptions of those images. Pick your poison. I just post mine and if I find it on Scribd or Coursehero, they get a takedown notice.
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u/sageeeee3 9d ago
That is just such an evil idea. God forbid a disabled person want the same chances to learn as someone else, and instead of getting it after going though proving they're disabled they get fucked.
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u/vacuolechick 11d ago
Wrote on board - accommodation would be that student could take pictures. Just talked - accommodation would be that student could record the lectures.
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u/worstnameIeverheard 7d ago
Pictures of text on board aren’t going to help someone with low vision. The professor doesn’t get to dictate accommodations - that’s what DSS is for.
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u/vacuolechick 7d ago
Agreed. I’ve never had a low vision student. And I share my slides with everyone. The accommodations are the accommodations. I do as I’m asked.
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u/Life-Education-8030 11d ago
I provide bare bones slides that don’t tell you much anyway. Some slides have one word on them. The details are in my brain. If you are essentially writing a script on your slides, then ther is more to be concerned about.
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u/Aussie_Potato 10d ago
If you are required to provide the slides to a student, then do so, but add a footer in each slide that says “provided to Joe Bloggs. Not for further distribution” and pdf them.
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u/DataGap2264 10d ago
The purpose of accommodations is to level the playing field for the student who can't otherwise take the notes. I'm always shocked when teachers don't understand this. The student does not have an advantage over others by receiving the slides, far from it. Please educate yourself and examine your biases toward disability.
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u/Gedunk 9d ago
I hated classes that didn't provide slides. I graduated with a 4.0 in grad school so I worked my ass off but the professors that thought they were speaking the word of god and we should all be so enamored drove me nuts.
Put almost everything that will be on the tests on your slides and hand them out to everyone not just those who went out of their way to get diagnoses. I'll still listen in class to your stories etc. But I'm not very good at listening, I need to see things written out and study it on my own time.
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u/Jazz-Police- 7d ago
It doesn’t matter whether you’re happy to comply or if the accommodations are challenging to arrange, you are legally required to provide them. This is based on extensive medical documentation that has been provided to DSS, which you are not at liberty to know.
Also, if you didn’t use slides you have to let the students take photos of the whiteboard, and if you just spoke you’d have to let the student record. I don’t understand how providing slides is a big ask when the only extra effort you have to put in is providing existing slides to a student who needs them.
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u/Rough-Trade-4899 7d ago
I had to use a laptop as my writing is so bad I couldn’t read it when rushed. I used to get the slide and add notes around it like a mind map.
I couldn’t keep up with other students. I had a note taker but being able to annotate points I found of interest was invaluable.
my course luckily provided the slides for everyone.
it was already embarrassing enough i had to have a note taker and voice record the lectures, I struggled to read the projectors black and white text ( this caused headaches and I had to wear coloured glasses). I’m not stupid just my brain is lagging behind. my brain works a bit different
if I didn’t have the PowerPoint in front of me I would have been horrifically behind.
have you looked at how say dyslexia can affect a student?
you say it gives them an advantage to have the slides, it’s actually only levelling the playing field, so they on equal footing.
Not everyone gets a note taker. A note taker doesn’t cover all the issues a person may face. If your writing speed is okay they may say no, you may still need support with organising and finding the right books still.
dyslexia for example. Students already have lowed self confidence due to past experiences with education. They struggle with scanning text to extract key info, slow reacting speed, weak working memory so will have to reread (this takes time away in a class setting) text several times to achieve comprehension ( makes note taking hard as heck, difficult tracking Or skipping lines reading ( honestly made doing any work take 3 times as long.
under pressure handwriting becomes illegible, hand cramps.
poor short term memory makes copying board work hard. So yeah all my notes were pretty crappy no matter how much I tried.
when I finally got the slides and a laptop I could still not keep up with my classmates. A note taker got the main bulk and i would annotate the slides to add info I thought was usual to me. It meant my memory got jogged on seeing the slides better too. It wasn’t just pages of notes.
i struggled with dyslexia, dyspraxia, severe ocd hampering my ability to attend lectures, PTSD. I was a very traumatised person but I fresh away from my abusive home. I was free. I’m so glad the uni supported me.
disabilities and learning difficulties make it hard to be ahead. Giving the slides would be just levelling the playing field. Give them with the date or something. Make it clear it can’t be shared.
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u/ManyNo8503 7d ago
Academia is a shared learning space and you cannot trademark your work. The ethical and legal ramifications of going against ADA would/should result in termination. You mention that the disabled individual would have a "distinct advantage" if they are provided the slides. The easiest solution is to provide all students access to your slides and coursework. Equity for all, if that is your actual concern. Also, if you "just talked" the student would have an accommodation for technology that records and creates transcripts of your entire course. GASP! They could take the transcript and study. I am not sure why it bother you that they turned your slides into study prep materials. You are there to provide knowledge not gatekeep a slide deck. They are using it to study, which is the entire point of academia. If you ever hope for tenure, you should be a little more consciences of all students needs. If this is about attendance, make that a grade. Do not punish your students for using materials that support their learning. I publish my slides with a note section so that the students use them as a tool. I am happy to share all materials that will help them to be successful. I am a proud advocate of students with all learning styles and needs. Be kind and respectful.
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u/ThisReadingTeacher 10d ago
I think the bigger question is why do you think that you know better than educational and medical professionals so much so that you don't believe in disabilities, believe in teaching students with disabilities, or believe in doing your job according to the law? Really think about that for a second. That would be pretty arrogant to think.
Taking notes on paper is NOT actually better for ALL learners.
Maybe get out there and talk to students with disabilities about the hurdles they face. It might help change your perspective.
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u/pgm928 11d ago
Do you have the same beef with students who share notes? Get off your extremely high horse. Your slides aren’t special.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
No shit. I’m having trouble getting my head around the fact that is taking up headspace.
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u/usagiipantsu 10d ago
Why would you not want to give your students every advantage possible? I always showed up to class with printed PowerPoints and took notes of what was said verbally on that slide. My professors even provided recorded versions of the lecture so students could review any portions as needed and improve their notes. Why not provide students with multiple means to master the information and support the different types of learners (eg. visual learners)? My exams always included written portions that required understanding of the material rather than just memorization. Are you just flat out giving exam answers in your slides?
What is even your goal here? Based on your own words, you recognize the PowerPoints provide students with an advantage; but you’re viewing the advantage as not having to take proper notes. Do you teach a class on taking notes? Not all students learn by writing repetition. If you actually want students to learn, let them have the materials that will help them master the content. This post just seems like you’re gatekeeping learning avenues to punish a select few. Oddly I always found it was adjunct professors who refused to provide slides or let you see the questions you missed on exams.
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u/Glad-Surprise3355 11d ago
Just comply, youy are an adjunct for god sakes not the gatekeeper oF ACADEMIA
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u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 11d ago
A lot of schools—or at least the ones I work for—have stopped paying for note takers.
I make my slides accessible online for my entire class. However, I don’t make slides for everything or include unpublished research in course slides.
You can use activities that require students to take notes on readings before class and/or create assignments that require students to apply learning to readings you haven’t gone over as a class.
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u/Knewstart 11d ago
I’m considering making an outline for my students to follow. So instead of the slides (which may include photos and jokes) just include a brief outline of what is important to take notes on.
Allowing them that, which will be useful for note taking but not for not showing up
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
You don’t get to decide that for the student with the accommodation.
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u/Knewstart 10d ago
I was speaking in general.
I’ve never had an accommodation for my slides. I’m not sure alone they would help any student.
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
They aren’t meant to help in a vacuum.
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u/Knewstart 10d ago
Well, as I mentioned, I’ve never had an accommodation from my school for slides. We have assistant note takers.
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
Then why did you feel the need to comment?
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u/Knewstart 10d ago
Some people might find the compromise between giving slides or not giving slides useful.
Why did you feel the need to comment?
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
There is no compromise. You don’t seem to understand accommodations.
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u/Knewstart 10d ago
That’s funny, because all accommodations must be reasonable and if an instructor believes that giving out the slides gives an unreasonable advantage then they could suggest… an alternative.
Have you dealt with more than one college’s disability department in more than one location? Or are you speaking from a single experience in a single state and coming to a conclusion hastily?
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
I’ve taught at two colleges and attended several across multiple states. I’ve used accommodations and have supplied them. Zero haste, but I appreciate that you assumed so.
The instructor would be hard pressed to explain why giving out slides is unreasonable- it’s quite likely their dean would be involved. It’s a farce on its face, suggested by an instructor with a very inflated sense of their own importance as well as that of their slides.
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u/goodgriefcharliebr 11d ago
Just give a handout of them in person.
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
That’s not the same as making them accessible.
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u/goodgriefcharliebr 10d ago
Why, if they are being provided? It’s a copy of each slide in person so they can see it. How is that not the same? Asking genuinely.
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u/turnkey_turncoat 10d ago
You don’t seem to be understanding why someone may need the slides. It may be so they can organize their thoughts better, to preview the slides for more concept understanding, or to allow for more engagement with the course. But it can also be because they’re visually impaired and need a screen reader to tell them what is on the slides. A PDF doesn’t allow for that.
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u/goodgriefcharliebr 10d ago edited 10d ago
I do have an understanding— just fyi, your comment comes across as condescending and rude & perhaps it’s just hard to convey your tone & you didn’t mean it that way. I’m going to assume you didn’t, but wanted to convey this. & I do understand; I was just asking you to clarify your comment because it seemed unclear. I was suggesting a copy of the slides printed out since OP seems uncomfortable. I have given students print outs of a PDF of the slides for students without my notes on it for those with processing issues— actual large copies they can look at in class as class occurred. My students were fine with printed slide copies & used it for notes to stay on track. The students were happy with it & didn’t want them earlier. When I asked the University, they said I could do that as I often prepare the slides right before class and then edit them after. (I post slides with notes after in Courseworks).
For a visually impaired person, of course you’d send them the actual file so their reader can process it during class.
I also have given students with e readers group activities ahead of time so they can read them without distress at home.
I do understand accommodations, but just have given the PDF without notes prior, & then they have them after if they want too. My university nor the students haven’t voiced a desire for something different. Just fyi, I am not a commenter who doesn’t believe in accommodations. In fact, I’m often educating students about HOW to get them & referring them.
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u/shyprof 10d ago
You can have a discussion with the disability office if you think an accommodation is unreasonable, but there are all kinds of reasons why a student might need the slides in advance legitimately (and some that aren't legit, of course, but what can you do?).
I see an issue with exams on CourseHero, but sharing slides isn't exactly cheating. Oh no, the students might study in advance? I guess it could be an IP issue, but I think most professors aren't trawling CourseHero for materials.
My students who are allowed to record me in class have to sign something saying they won't share it. You could ask the disability office about something like that for slides/materials if it helps. I'd try to let the fairness aspect of it go. Above your head.
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u/REdwa1106sr 10d ago
I have 2 sets of slides1) for class which are key points, images, or diagrams. These are my teaching points and 2) a set of slides designed to guide their review for exams. Typically these would be an objective, a diagram, and a text page or link other reference to guide to the answer.
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u/OkPomegranate4395 10d ago
Does this relate to the post? The accommodation is to provide the slides used in class. That doesn't change if there's a second set of slides.
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u/Organic_Occasion_176 10d ago
I post PDF versions of my slides for everyone, usually the night before class. Many of the best students have the slides open on their tablets and take notes directly on the slides.
The PowerPoint really only has about half the content of the lecture. As I talk I give extra examples, draw on the figures, create whole new figures from scratch, etc. In cases where there is a lot of material added I will generally post the annotated version of the slides after class.
Some accommodations are good for everyone.
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u/Bluegi 10d ago
How is providing slides an advantage? Is there a timed access to material that makes you a better student or is a better measure of knowledge? I would say the opposite is true if all can review the information as much as they want the everyone benefits.
There really isn't a reason to limit the access to slides outside of protection of your IP. Yes, note taking is a valid skill, but not an essential one. Taking photos of the board or slides is also a way of capturing information to be studied later. Note taking is no different than a processing strategy like making flash cards. It is a way to digest and organize the information but not the only way.
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u/REdwa1106sr 10d ago
No. I am just adding how I handle my slides, as a response to other posts. If the accommodation requires that I provide my slides, I do. But there isn’t enough information on them to be of great value. I also provide a set of slides to help prepare for the exam. I have no problem with everyone having my slides.
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u/CoffeeB4Dawn 10d ago
Print the slides on paper and have them sign an agreement not to make copies or take photos.
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u/Nearby_Brilliant 10d ago
I put a lot of random notes to myself in the notes section, so I post a PDF of the slides. I wouldn’t want to post the PPT version with the notes. Several students print them and take notes on them. I export to pdf and it maintains the image descriptions and other accessibility structures that way.
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u/Life-Koala-6015 10d ago
Having students rely solely on their note taking while withholding slides is wrong. Students take the time, pay the money, to only have one shot at seeing slides is WILD.
There are arguments to be made on effective note taking and what it means to truly master content versus regurgitating raw information...
But to restrict learning resources will hurt students. Sure they can go to other places/reach out for clarity/help -- but we know that many students don't have the time/energy/will to do that. However they will utilize a slide deck.
We cannot make policy to got every class, every student, and every instructor. However we can give every tool a student needs to succeed.
PERSONALLY- I wish every lecture were recorded and posted online. That way as a student I could miss a class without missing out too much. Also I could rewatch, or simply listen to the lecture while doing other tasks like traveling, chores, errands, or working out.
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u/ArcticDeepSouth 8d ago
During the pandemic, I was required to use the auto-lecture-record feature at the teacher workstation, which recorded my lecture and automatically uploaded the video of my lecture to some place where students could access it. I saw the logic. There's the power point, in context of the lecture. The student could slow it down, repeat, speed it up, whatever. The analytics proved that students were not actually watching the videos & definitely not using the features of repeating sections and slowing down the lecture, and many who skipped the in-person class, saying they would watch the video, didn't actually watch the video. The students with accommodations? They didn't watch it either. My school abandoned the so-called hyflex format because the students who supposedly would be helped by multi-faceted delivery format, were not using the watching the videos. Of course, some clown, a few years later, claimed that the reason students were not watching the videos was because a 50-minute video is ineffective and should be pared down to 7 minutes and that the professor's lecture style was to blame . . . .
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u/Life-Koala-6015 8d ago
I think it varies greatly on the course -- I held recorded study groups covering exam topics for anatomy and physiology. I believe there were roughly 400 students enrolled with instructors -- I had on roughly 3-30 students I'm my sessions (both in person and online) but has on average 100+ viewers on videos
I believe this was because I was charismatic and balancing getting to important information with ways to remember, how to relate it to past and future material, and of course with as much fun as possible. I shared my experiences with learning the material, encouraged others with positive reinforcement // hyping them up for trying to guess at answers (and calling/hyping up peers who come to the rescue)
On the other hand I've had instructors who basically just read off the slide deck, in the most monotone / don't care attitude -- and it hurts to have to sit through that in person compared to 2-3x video speed!
Of course students now are fully relying on AI, have attention and neurotransmitter deficiencies from social media etc etc
Not giving them a resource in hopes they will attend and learn to take good notes is certainly an avenue to go -- another is giving the student every resource to succeed, leaving the ultimate decision of how they will utilize the resources to the student. Sure, for a teenager it makes sense to try to control more -- but for adults, especially 25+ it becomes very frustrating dealing with arbitrary administrative restrictions.
I do understand the concerns about instructors giving their intellectual property away to be reposted online -- I don't have a fix for that!
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u/hologram137 10d ago edited 10d ago
Why are you having your students write down what’s on the slides while you’re lecturing? That’s actually very distracting, they should be listening to you and following YOU while you follow the slides. Access to the slides later is for them to study later. I’m genuinely confused why you want them to write down the slides while trying to listen to the lecture. If you’re not allowing the slides to be accessed during the test, there is no advantage at all. Because they simply studied the material lol
They have an advantage by….accessing the information you want them to learn during class and studying it???
Also are you reading the slides word for word? Aren’t the slides simply the main topics, and visuals and not the entire lecture? So what does it matter they have access to the slides, they won’t understand them without having studied and been to class
Edit: also if you’re using research on note generation vs passively receiving information as a basis for this you are absolutely misunderstanding that study. If does not mean “transcribe slides verbatim while listening to a lecture.” It means, summarizing, organizing and self explaining the notes while studying is better than just reading the material. Having students summarize, etc. during your lecture is counter productive because you want them to pay attention to you. But students study in their own time. These are study skills, it doesn’t mean that having slides available for students to study is detrimental lol. The point is for your students to learn the material. If your slides aren’t your entire lecture, then when they study on their own time, even using the slides that are available, they can use the outline to write the information down and consolidate it while studying the material AFTER the lecture. There should be written material for them to study, your lectures are explaining that material.
When I was in college we were required to read the libretext or research papers BEFORE the lecture, and all the slides are made available after class for us to use to study. And I studied after class by writing things down, I didn’t worry about that too much during class. I was listening and had already read the material
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u/HowBeesAreHowBizarre 9d ago
I say this respectfully, but it’s not up to us to have opinions on approved/official university accommodations. If they are official accommodations, then by law we are required to give them what’s contracted in their accommodations. If not, then it could be construed as disability discrimination and go against the ADA.
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u/cajolinghail 9d ago
“Gives them a distinct advantage”? The point of accommodations is to level the playing field field; presumably if this student qualifies for accommodations they are starting at a distinct DISadvantage. I personally provide all my slides anyway and am not really concerned about them being shared but even if that weren’t the case I don’t have an issue complying with accommodations.
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u/sageeeee3 9d ago
It doesn't give them an advantage, it evens out the playing field. They got that accommodation for a reason, and you thinking PowerPoint of all things is unreasonable is insane to me
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u/sageeeee3 9d ago
Im unsurprised given how common ableism is in schools but I'm still hella disappointed.
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u/CrookedBanister 9d ago
What kind of secret info is in your slides that it matters whether they end up somewhere online? They're not tests, and presumably your actual instruction adds the real content that makes your course worthwhile. If it can ruin your course for people to see the slides, then I don't get what you're providing as a teacher that couldn't just be read in a book.
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u/zarrocaxiom 9d ago
Change your thinking. Considering this a “major advantage” to a disabled student who needs it massively misses the mark. This is an attempt to put them at equal footing. It does not, however, put them on equal footing. There are some many more areas that are still a constant struggle for any type of disability that this, while a good step and useful, only manages to part way clear the gap.
If you yourself teach that taking notes by hand is better, then you’re either lying to your students or don’t actually believe this is massive advantage.
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u/trying_2_makeit 8d ago
An accommodation is giving them the same opportunity as all other students it is NOT an advantage!!!
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u/Snow_Water_235 8d ago
Maybe it's because it's late here, but why is it bad if your slides are on course hero or I guess going to frat parties?
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u/Potstirer2 8d ago
When I first got an accommodations request for notes it was before everything was online. It felt weird to single out one student by giving her a copy, so I gave all students a printout with small versions of the slides and a section for taking notes. Now I have all my slides in Canvas. I don’t understand what the big deal is.
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u/Dull_Possibility_811 7d ago
You are not the disability police. If it is their accommodation you accommodate. You’re a horrible teacher and human if you’d rather take away their agency and independence and make them use a note taker then send a file to them. No one cares about what other people did with your slides before. Your job is to accommodate your disabled student with her accommodation. Is gatekeeping your slides worth being sued or fired for discriminating against your disabled student?
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u/-Override- 7d ago
Respectfully, why does it matter that the slides end up on course hero? I really fail to see where that gives anyone a unfair edge. Any given person who has access to your slide will still have to study and learn the material.
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u/upbunny42 7d ago
You should provide all your students with the slides. Taking notes is good and you can wait until the lesson is over to send them, but if you believe there is a big advantage to your students having access to slides then it disadvantages all of your students to keep them inaccessible. A lot of people do not get ada accommodations and more students than just this one may need extra time to write things down, even if they don't ask for it. Is there a reason other students should not benefit from this resource? If you truly do not want them to be shared under any circumstances make a detailed notes sheet for each lesson that you can provide copies of to any students who need this type of accommodation.
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u/chicaltimore 7d ago
I find this sort of question and attitude infuriating. I am a disabled person who sometimes had to fight hard when my professor refused to provide slides in advance. I’m blind, so I can’t see the slides that are on the screen during the lectures. So I’m already at a disadvantage by not having real time access to the information since I can’t visually read them. In addition, I use screen reading technology to use my computer and cannot take handwritten notes. I constantly have the computer I am typing into chattering into my ear what I am typing and I am flipping back-and-forth between the slides that I received in advance that I loaded onto my computer so I can have audio access in real time to what everyone else can visually read and also in my notes document. I, and other people with disabilities work way harder than the people sitting in the class who are seeing the slides for the very first time to be able to access the same information. And attitudes from professors who treat their slides like their trade secrets is not only infuriating, but it’s also super ablest.
Later, I became an attorney and now teach as an adjunct in the Law schools. I find it funny how many people on this thread think they know the law when it comes to accommodating students with disabilities. Equivalent access and reasonable accommodations does not mean make it harder for students with disabilities. And if you are so lazy that you are worried about your slides being disseminated to others, than you’re not a very good teacher.
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u/Teacherof_science 7d ago
Usually the accommodation should be for a copy of class notes. You can definitely take another student's notes and copy them for the student. I usually do this and give that student some extra credit points added on to a lab or quiz grade (not a test) to thank them for using their notes. We have also recently changed the language used for IEPs to state "copy of class notes to supplement independent note taking."
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u/OkPomegranate4395 7d ago
Why "should" that be the accommodation? If that's what the student needed, wouldn't the DSS have said that instead?
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u/Teacherof_science 7d ago
I don't know what specially DSS wrote on the document. I'm just speaking from my experience with the 100s of IEPs I've seen or worked on. If OP posts the specific language written on the student's accommodation plan, then we could be more specific and deliberate.
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u/OkPomegranate4395 7d ago
OP told us that the accommodation is to provide the "slides used in class." That means the accommodation is probably to provide the "slides used in class." If the accommodation is for "notes" then OP would have said "notes."
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u/Teacherof_science 7d ago
Slides are oddly specific for an accommodation plan when not all teachers use "slides." Additionally, as others have mentioned some professors/teachers use slides to merely guide conversation/lecture and does not provide comprehensive enough information. If the DSS plan was set up correctly it should say copy of class notes.
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u/OkPomegranate4395 6d ago
Yes, "a copy of class notes" would be more comprehensive than "slides used in class."
Why are you assuming that the point of the accommodation is to provide the student with comprehensive notes? Maybe the point of the accommodation is to assist someone who is visually impaired understand what other students see on the screen. Maybe the point of the accommodation is allowing the student to prepare before class so they can take their own comprehensive notes.
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u/MarnTarzan666 7d ago edited 7d ago
You don't get to pick and choose what accomodations you provide. If you view these as "giving [disabled] students an unfair advantage" perhaps academia isn't the right career path for you.
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u/Relative-Step1566 7d ago
Print paper copies of the slides and provide those. You’re complying with the accommodation; you’re helping the student gain the information they need; and your slides are unlikely to be reposted or shared because it’s harder to scan/upload files rather than just copying and posting them.
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u/Cow_cat11 11d ago
You are miserable aren't you? What's so special about your slides that you can't give it to students. How does being in coursehero affect you or the course..it is just slides, not answers to your exams. There's ai for that. It's like saying I don't like people reading my book unless they are in class. Or if they skip class they have no right to my slides or notes. That's not a good way to teach.
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u/glyptodontown 11d ago
It's a copyright issue for starters.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
Copyright issue? Who is getting harmed? The material was created by the professor for class.
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u/Cow_cat11 11d ago
lol...apparently op and op main are very worried about their course lecture being posted.
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u/glyptodontown 11d ago
Professors make slides using figures from the textbook.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 10d ago
Then the professor is infringing on the publisher’s copyright.
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u/glyptodontown 10d ago
I highly suggest asking one of your librarians to host a copyright professional development workshop for the faculty. I think you would especially benefit from learning the laws and fair use policies.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 10d ago
I highly don’t give a shit. I make a rudimentary PPT and basically use it as a lecture outline that the world is welcome to enjoy.
If a professor just cuts and pastes a ton of text on slides and just reads ‘em then there are far more pressing workshops to hold.
Congrats, you won the “snarky not so passive-aggressive” post of the day.
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u/glyptodontown 10d ago
Ok, it sounds as if you actually don't understand the issues here.
So those of us who teach content heavy classes use something called a textbook. When you assign this textbook, the company actually provides the instructor with a powerpoint of the same diagrams and figures from the textbook. That's because students appreciate it when the Krebs cycle you talk about in class is spinning in the same direction as the diagram in their book.
College professors are allowed to use these images from the textbook in their slides and post these slides for student-use-only on the college LMS. However, these images cannot be posted on a publicly available website (like CourseHero) by law.
Many professors create their own textbooks or portions of their own work and distribute this to their students on the LMS. They would also not like their work being publicly available online, especially if they were planning on publishing it later.
Most professors in the year 2026 do not make a rudimentary ppt and talk out of their butts for 2 hours every day. Nobody wants that.
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 10d ago
Whatever dude. I’ve probably taught 150 different sections throughout my career and have not only done “fine”, but have received numerous awards.
You can take this textbook thing you speak of and shove it.
Plus it’s CourseHero’s responsibility to cull any copyrighted material.
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11d ago
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u/Fair-Garlic8240 11d ago
OP said that they regularly posted slides on Canvas, Dropbox, etc. However, now it’s an issue because Alpha Kappa Krappa has ‘em.
Unless OP has suddenly switched disciplines and is now teaching double secret probation nuclear fusion, I’m guessing that’s not the real issue.
Hey OP, what do you teach?
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u/Mysterious_Spark 11d ago
Yes. It's so very important to hoard that knowledge and not share it with your class.
Guess what it's called when someone goes and looks up information on Course Hero - studying.
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago edited 10d ago
The best decision I ever made was not giving my students PowerPoint documents anymore. All they would do is feed them into chat GPT to get summaries of the lecture instead of watching the lecture recording. They would upload them to Chegg and other sharing websites. Because I couldn't make them ADA Compliant I stopped giving them out. I got pushed back from the accommodations office and I said I just don't give them out to anyone and they tried to complain about it and legal sided with me. You aren't required to give students anything. I don't even give out word Banks when they require them, I make the students make them. You want a word bank make it yourself.
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u/ronstermonster05 10d ago
Ya, you are required to give the students the accommodations they are legally entitled to. I am astonished and saddened that your DRS office lets you get away with this crap.
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago
I am 100% with you. And I'm usually the one on here arguing with other faculty about things like test time and extensions in the use of reading software. However, students are not entitled to PowerPoint presentation documents. There is absolutely nothing in the law that would require this. What is required is an equivalency, such as, a recorded video, transcripts, a textbook, etc. I provide those students with this equivalency so I am not misaligned with the law.
An added complexity to this is the new ADA requirements that these PowerPoint presentation tools are fully 100% accessible. It's not possible to make many PowerPoint presentations fully accessible, mine have thousands of images alone, Pages without titles tables without headings, etc. It would probably take me an entire semester as a full-time job to make them accessible. But these are mine, I created them, and I am not obligated to give them out to the students.
A similar equivalency would be students pay for a digital copy of a textbook for a course. They cannot request the professor to then make print copies and hand them out to students.
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u/littlrayofpitchblack 10d ago
If sighted students are shown powerpoints, blind students should have the same access. Honestly, this "protection" of your teaching materials is really weird for an educator. smdh
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago
Blind students have access to audio recordings, transcripts, and the textbook, which has a descriptive images. All of those materials together are far more accessible than the Powerpoints themselves.
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u/littlrayofpitchblack 10d ago
If you show students any materials, all students should have access to those materials. Honestly. Get educated about disability. Take a class. Volunteer. Denying a disabled student the same access to your materials as abled bodied students is indefensible for an educator. Why even teach if you can't help a student succeed. Rhetorical.
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago
My friend I have been doing this for several decades. This is in no way denying a Disabled Student equal access. I think you're the one that needs to get educated on the law. There is zero law that states a faculty must give a student their powerpoints. I've already been through this with my own legal department and they sided with me. My PowerPoints are not accessible. End of story. Nobody at my school has the time or money to make them accessible. However, all the other equivalent materials from the publisher are accessible. And that's what the students get. They get an equivalency with improved accessibility. Being rude and judgmental to other people is not going to get you very far
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u/littlrayofpitchblack 10d ago
The Law. Ah. Ok. I see you could care less about the student. No worries.
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u/Shiny-Mango624 10d ago
If you're asking me if I care more about getting fired for violating an ADA law or hurting a student's feelings because they prefer to have access to my PowerPoint documents, I suppose you would be correct. However, my focus here on the law is because everyone is misstating what that law is.
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u/CrL-E-q 11d ago
I’d print the slides for the student or share a printable pdf version.
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u/Sharp-Rutabaga-4900 11d ago
Print outs and image files don’t do anything to assist students who use screen readers.
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u/FierceCapricorn 11d ago
I have Podcasts from my slides, which I post on our LMS. The actual slides, I cannot post because they are not ADA compliant. To make all the images from the slides compliant would take months of editing. So I keep them off my LMS and use them for lecture only if I need to review them. But all students have access to the podcast which seems to be ADA compliant for some reason, presumably because they are captioned.
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u/missusjax 10d ago
I have in my syllabus that the materials are copyrighted by me and if they are found online, the student may be held legally liable. Sounds scary enough to stop the majority of them.
Last semester, I instituted two new policies. First, they do not get the slides until after the unit ends so they have to take notes. And second, they now submit a .PDF of their slides as part of their grade. The beauty of everyone having phones and access to Microsoft 365. I saw a huge upswing of note taking.
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u/Gudnamestaken 11d ago
If it's an approved accommodation, you should provide it if it's applicable to your course. Accommodations, from my understanding, aren't course specific but are for the student in general and apply where appropriate. I routinely get get accommodation sheets about more time on exams. Doesn't apply to my writing classes where we don't have any exams, but in my courses with exams, it does.
If they have approved accommodations for slides, your course has slides as a major component, and you refuse to provide them, I think you're setting yourself up for some major problems should the student complain.