News from Disability Resources and Services (DRS)
The fall semester is always a time of new beginnings at a university. Students moving into the Residence Halls, first-year and transfer students coming to campus for the first time, new notebooks waiting for notes and doodles, students excited (hopefully!) about new classes, and faculty ready to meet new students.
Disability Resources and Services (DRS) is also facing a time of new beginnings, as well. Not only are we welcoming new students, but I am starting my first semester as Director, having arrived here in May. I come from the State University of New York, University of Albany, where I worked in the Disability Access and Inclusion Student Services office for eight years. While moving from a school half the size of Temple was a bit intimidating, everyone has been incredibly welcoming, and I feel well established in the nest.
As with other offices, we are in the process of hiring—we are currently at half capacity for our Student Services Coordinators. Our current Coordinators are doing an incredible job of working with nearly double the number of students they normally would, and maintaining the level of service for students and faculty that I hope you have seen historically from DRS. We are hoping to be back up to full capacity by the end of the semester, if not sooner.
Most important to you, however, is the implementation of a new database system to run MyDRS. This system will be responsible for sending you students’ accommodation letters, notifying you when students sign up for exams, and the manner in which you will send us exams to be taken, and retrieve completed exams.
To access the system, you will login to the system from our website https://disabilityresources.temple.edu/ by click on “MyDRS for Instructors.” From here, you will be able to sign students’ accommodation letters to acknowledge receipt, upload exams and download completed exams. Logging in will simply require your AccessNet ID and password.
Once you login, your dashboard will look like this:
Clicking on “Accommodation Letters” [see arrow] will bring you to the page to view and sign your students’ accommodation letters. Please do be sure to sign the letter, not just read it, because the student will not be able to book exams with us for your class until the letter is signed. If you have any questions regarding the accommodations, please feel free to contact the coordinator listed on the letter.
When one of your students books an exam with us, you will receive an email informing you of the booking. If you notice anything incorrect, please reach out to Collin Vito, our Testing Coordinator at drstest@temple.edu to note the discrepancy(ies). Once the exam is approved on our end, you will receive another email with directions on how to upload your exam.
This is also done through MyDRS. From your dashboard, you will select “Courses,” the choose the course for which you want to upload your exam.
Next, select the “Room Bookings” tab at the top of the page:
Click on the name of the student for whom you are uploading the exam. If you have multiple students taking the same exam, you will be able to “apply to all” before submitting.
Scroll down to the Exam section and click on “Upload New Exam.”
You will receive a pop-up form that allows you to provide instructions regarding the exam and upload the exam itself. Complete the form and upload your exam. If the exam is to be completed via an online platform, you will not need to upload the exam, but do be sure to indicate what software will be needed.
You will receive an email informing you when a completed exam is ready to be retrieved. You will login to MyDRS and follow the same steps as above to access your course. This time, under the student’s name, you will see the completed exam as a file, which you can click on to download:
If you have any questions related to testing, please reach out to Collin Vito at drstest@temple.edu.
All of the staff at DRS is looking forward to the new beginnings this semester, but we know that with new beginnings come questions, and occasionally glitches as we implement a new system. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.
I look forward to working with all of you. If you are in the Student Center, pop in and say “hi!” We are located on the fourth floor South—we have been here just about a year now, so if you haven’t seen our new office suite, yet, I’d be happy to give you a tour. I also hope you will reach out via email (carrie.snyder@temple.edu) if you have any questions.
Here’s to new beginnings and great Fall 2022!
Carrie E. Snyder, DSW, MSW is Temple University's Director of Disability Resources and Services.