Alternative Testing in the Instructor Portal

In this video, you will learn how to complete

Alternative Testing request in the Instructor Portal.

To get started, simply visit our website and click on Login to AIM.

From there, just be sure to select Access Instructor Portal to open up your dashboard.

Before moving forward to view student details,

you are required to review this screen.

Your digital acknowledgment signifies that you understand the

school's Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,

FERPA, policies pertaining to student records.

This responsibility hinges on respecting privacy and confidentiality.

Our office must ask that you strictly avoid

accessing this portal on public or shared computers.

When your work is complete,

please sign out and close your browser immediately to secure this information.

Thank you for your diligence.

Click "Continue" to view student accommodations.

Next, look over at the side bar on the left and select alternative testing.

That will take us right into

the alternative testing section where we can manage your upcoming requests.

To get started, you'll first need to fill out

your Disability Support Services testing agreement.

If you're teaching more than one course this semester,

you will need to complete an agreement for each one.

However, if you teach multiple sections of the same course,

or if your exam dates and instructions are identical across your classes,

you can easily copy the agreement over to your other courses.

We will show you exactly how to do that in just a moment.

Select Courses without Disability Support Services Testing agreement.

Next, locate the correct course and select Specify to open up its testing agreement.

The purpose of filling out the testing agreement is to ensure

we administer testing exactly as you would in your classroom.

Please read and answer each question carefully.

Provide a phone number you will be able to answer at

the time of testing if DSS or students have questions.

This is incredibly helpful if a student runs into a question on a test,

and our team needs to reach you for quick clarification.

Once you have answered the initial questions on

the testing agreement and reach question 5 and question 6,

I want to pause and specifically point these two out regarding test security.

For question 5,

which asks how you will send the test to DSS,

we highly recommend selecting the first option

to upload it to the secure AIM Instructor Portal.

We want to assure you that our database is secure.

When you upload your test here,

only a full-time staff member will download the file to prepare it for administration.

Then right below that for question 6,

you'll choose how you want the materials returned.

If you select through AIM,

we maintain that same strict confidentiality.

Once the completed exam is uploaded back into the system,

permissions are restricted so that only the instructor on file has access to download it.

We know test security is a top priority.

We wanted to highlight these two questions so you

can feel completely confident when working with our office.

Next, you will specify your first exam date, and don't worry.

You can always update this later of your syllabus changes.

There are four required fields here, the exam type,

your preferred approval method,

the date, and the standard length of the exam.

When choosing your approval method,

keep in mind that this field identifies how exam request will be automatically approved.

If a student's request falls outside of these parameters,

you will receive an email to manually review it.

You also have the option to add a specific time or an approval grace period.

This optional field lets you set a window where exam requests are automatically approved.

Just as an important note here.

When you use a grace period,

the system will ignore the students submitted exam time,

even if it differs from the time you entered for the exam date.

Once you specified the exam date,

if you already have the exam ready to go,

you can actually upload it right here.

All you need to do is give the file

a title and click "Choose File" to upload your document.

Finally, if you have any specific instructions for our testing center team,

like letting us know if it's

an open book test or if students are allowed a resource card,

please add those details to the additional notes for staff section.

If you happen to have additional test dates ready to go right now, you can add those two.

Just repeat the exact same steps we just walked through to enter

each date and feel free to upload the corresponding test file if it is already prepared.

As you add each of your test,

you'll see them automatically pop up below under the list exam dates section.

This makes it incredibly easy to manage everything in one spot where you can modify

any details if your plans change or quickly duplicate them to your other class sessions.

Remember earlier when we mentioned,

you could copy your Disability Support Services Testing Agreement to save time.

Here is how you do it.

If you teach multiple sections of the same course and want to copy an agreement over,

simply click Modify Next to the testing agreement you've already filled out.

Then look at the very top of your screen and

select Copy Disability Support Services Testing Agreement.

From there, just check the box for

the new course you want to apply it to, and you are good to go.

Once a student request to take a test at the Disability Support Services office,

you will receive a notification e mail.

When you log in to AIM,

a convenient reminder box will appear right on

your overview page if a test hasn't been uploaded yet.

From there, you have great flexibility.

You can choose to upload the test to an entire exam date,

or you can upload it for

an individual student if you are using different versions of a test.

This is incredibly helpful if a specific student needs a customized version,

such as a different print format compared to the rest of the class.

Once a student completes their test in our office,

you will receive an automatic notification.

How you get the test back depends on what you chose during setup.

If you selected Professor pickup,

you can simply stop by our office during

normal business hours to collect the physical test.

If you opted to receive completed test digitally through AIM,

a disability support services staff member

will securely upload the test to the portal for you.

To download it, just click Alternative testing on

the sidebar menu and select completed files.

Next, click, authenticate right next to the file you want to download.

For security, a verification code will instantly be sent to your email address on file.

Just enter that code right into the AIM system to complete your download.

This extra step ensures testing security because

only the instructor assigned to the course can access and download the student's test.

If you have any questions,

visit the Disability Support Services Office in the Central Academic Building Suite 210,

or you can call us at (210) 784-1335,

or email us at Disability.Services@tamusa.edu.