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UCLA Center for Accessible Education

Adjusted assignment deadlines

What is the purpose of this accommodation and how is it determined?

If a student has a chronic documented disability with unpredictable or cyclical acute episodes, adjustments to deadlines may be appropriate as an accommodation and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of this accommodation is to mitigate, to the greatest extent possible, the impacts of the student’s disability. The accommodation is meant to adjust when or if there is an unexpected, uncontrolled and/or exacerbation of disability-related symptom(s) that prohibit a student’s ability to submit an assignment by an established due date. For the purposes of this accommodation, adjusted deadlines refer to in-class assignments, papers/essays, lab reports, and other take-home course assignments. This accommodation is determined by an individual assessment of, but not limited to: a) the student’s functional limitations listed in the medical documentation, b) the student’s narrative in relation to their functional limitation, and c) the course requirements.

The instructor (in consultation with CAE) must assess whether a deadline extension is a reasonable accommodation for
each type of assignment/assessment, taking into consideration the learning objectives of the course and the purpose of the assignment/assessment. We encourage faculty, when consulted with CAE about this accommodation, to consider the following questions:

  1. If an assignment is not completed by the deadline, will the student be unprepared to fully
    participate in a class meeting?
  2. If the assignment is not completed by the deadline, will there be a direct impact on the learning
    experience for the student and/or classmates (e.g., team projects, participation)?
  3. Does meeting assignment deadlines constitute a learning objective of the course (e.g., writing
    a business memo, preparing a brief, scaffolded lesson)?
  4. Would an additional day or two extension alter the purpose and ability to grade the assignment
    using the same criteria applied to the class?

What is the procedure for implementing the accommodation?

It is the student’s responsibility to initiate a conversation with their CAE Disability Specialist prior to a deadline, or as soon as possible thereafter, when requesting an adjusted deadline. It is understood that such requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis and students may be required to submit additional documentation that supports the request.

Responsibilities

CAE Students will:

  1. Contact their CAE Disability Specialist when the need for a disability-related adjusted deadline occurs.
  2. Make their letter of accommodation viewable to their faculty member through the online portal.
  3. Let their professor know that they are requesting an disability-related extension, which will be confirmed by their CAE Disability Specialist.

CAE Disability Specialist will:

  1. Conduct "an individualized inquiry" with respect to the request for an adjusted deadline. The student may be required to provide documentation that independently supports their requested extended time on an assignment as an academic adjustment.
  2. Communicate directly with the faculty member(s) regarding the approved timeframe for the adjusted assignment deadline.

UCLA Faculty will:

  1. Notify the CAE of receipt of the suggested timeframe for the adjusted deadline.
  2. If there are concerns regarding the timeline (e.g., assignment is chunked into parts, scaffolding of assignments, pacing of assignments, group projects, grades submissions due dates for the course, etc.), faculty is to communicate with the CAE in a timely manner and identify, in good faith, a reasonable timeframe for the adjusted assignment.
    1. To grant extensions through Bruin Learn, refer to the instructions at one of the following links: Extend due dates by assigning quiz to an individual student or Extend due dates by assigning an assignment to an individual student
    2. To grant extensions through TurnItIn, refer to the instructions for how to do so can be found at the following link: Assignment Submission Date.
  3. Faculty will notify the CAE if the adjusted deadline is believed to fundamentally alter the nature of the course.
  4. Contact the CAE if a request for an adjusted deadline is made directly from the student. This ensures that the CAE is able to engage the student in the interactive process and take into account the student’s limitations when determining an adjusted assignment deadline.