Student Services

Academic Advising

All students who are enrolled in the Learning Differences Program (LDP) and the College Transition Program (CTP) meet regularly with a member of the programs' professional academic staff. During these meetings students receive services based on their individual needs, including:

• Organizing their time to prepare and complete academic assignments and to prepare for academic examinations in a timely manner.
• Understanding what is required to prepare and complete academic assignments and to prepare for academic examinations, including reading about and understanding new concepts, locating and refining resource searches, identifying and understanding key terminology, working through sample problems, self-quizzing, and brainstorming, outlining and drafting papers and essays,
• Monitoring academic progress.
• Creating an access plan for their classes and housing.
• Referring students to a range of other on-campus student support services.

Enrollment in the Academic Survival Skills Workshop

All freshmen students who are enrolled in the LDP and CTP will enroll in the Academic Survival Skills Workshop, which is designed to assist them in reading and writing across the disciplines and understanding and working through mathematical problems. The workshop is linked to coursework, which provides an immediate context for developing and refining the academic skills needed to navigate the requirements of the college's core curriculum.

Enrollment in Supplemental Statistics

Students who are enrolled in the LDP and CTP may enroll in Supplemental Statistics as a companion course to their enrollment in Elementary Statistics (MAT 114). Supplemental Statistics
provides additional instruction in the concepts and processes students are working on developing in Elementary Statistics. Supplemental Statistics also provides reading and vocabulary strategies designed to assist students in understanding how to utilize their textbooks for the course. This course is provides a small group setting and is offered on a CR/F basis only.

Extended Time Testing

The Tomnitz Family Learning Opportunities Center (LOC) provides a proctored site for extended time testing for all students enrolled in the LDP and CTP and for all students who present their eligibility for accommodations through the Americans with Disabilities Act using:

Abbreviated Request and LOC Testing Agreement Form.

Students who are diagnosed with learning disabilities in written expression and/or reading may request that professional academic members read test items and/or type answers to essay questions as indicated in the access plan they develop with their LOC advisors. Students are also provided with restricted access to a computer and quiet testing rooms.

Testing Protocol

Members of the LOC staff monitor all examinations to ensure that students observe Westminster College's Honor Code. Students cannot bring personal computers, backpacks, handbags, books, cell phones, wallets, notes or other materials to the testing site. Students may be asked to reveal the contents of their pockets and shoes and to eliminate writing on their skin to ensure obeisance of the Honor Code. Students may not access computers without permission or exit the examination environment to use the restroom, eat or ask questions.

Members of the faculty, professional academic staff, and student body are required to uphold the Honor Code and to report violations to the Academic Honor Commission without exemption.

Student responsibilities in obtaining extended time testing, computer access, a reader, and dictation include:

• Upholding Westminster College's Honor Code by honestly completing examinations and reporting dishonesty to members of the LOC staff.
• Communicating all of their testing needs to members of the faculty in a timely manner. Likewise, members of the faculty will deliver examinations and instructions to members of the LOC staff in a timely manner.
• Communicating and scheduling needed testing accommodations with members of the LOC's staff to ensure their availability during the examination. All communicated and scheduled examinations are updated and posted in the LOC.
• Refraining from talking or attending to basic needs during the examination.
• Communicating their questions about test items directly to faculty members after the examination.
• Scheduling extended time testing accommodations with members of the faculty so that they do not negatively impact attendance in their other classes.
• Beginning and completing examinations as approved by relevant members of the faculty.

Note: It is standard practice in the LOC that students may begin taking but not complete their examinations before regularly scheduled examination times. This practice preserves the integrity of the Honor Code and is often necessary for students who require more than 50 minutes to complete a 50-minute examination; the practice allows students to attend class immediately following the examination and to complete examinations before 4:30 p.m. to ensure the availability of proctoring.

Audio Books

Students who cannot read standard print proficiently because of visual impairment, a physical disability, and/or a learning disability are eligible to pay an annual membership fee to and acquire specialized playback software and equipment from Learning Ally. Information about this resource is available at http://www.learningally.org. Obtaining an individual membership takes about two weeks. At least four weeks before the beginning of each semester, students share the individual membership numbers they receive from Learning Ally and anticipated textbook needs with Rikka Brown, who obtains their textbooks from Learning Ally before classes begin.

Students who require texts that are unavailable through Learning Ally are encouraged to purchase audio texts and audio text readers from other sources.

Class Notes

Students who require the provision of class notes in accordance with the access plans they develop with members of the LOC's professional academic staff prepare and submit the following form at the beginning of every semester: Request for Note Taker Accommodation. Members of the professional academic staff will then obtain photocopies of the notes of capable peers and provide them to students only for the dates on which students attend class.