Serving as a contact person at the department
Being a contact person for students with disabilities means that you are a support when making initial contact with staff at the department and in other areas of the University, if so desired by the student.
Students who have been granted support should inform the department about their support and adjustment requirements by the date on which the course starts. In connection with the start of the course, they should receive information about who their contact person is at the department.
List of contact persons (in Swedish)
Who can be the contact person?
A contact person could be a study adviser, course administrator or director of studies, for example. What is most important is that it is a duty officer who has time for the task and an understanding of students’ varying needs and abilities.
What duties can a contact person be expected to carry out?
Provide information about adjustments to examination
Provide information about the procedures that apply to adjustments to examination, that is:
- who takes decisions regarding adjustments at the department/course/programme and how the student can contact that person. At times, certain decisions regarding adjustments are delegated to the contact person.
- how and when the student is given information about whether an adjustment can be made.
- the latest date on which the student is to be informed that they are to participate in a specific scheduled exam.
Book a place in an examination hall for adapted examination
At Klostergatan 3 in Uppsala there is an examination hall for students with special needs.
Serve as support in the contact with teachers regarding adjustments to teaching
Many students are given recommendations about accessing lecture materials in advance. Contact the teacher and establish a procedure for sending out the materials to the student or ensure that the teacher does so. The best scenario, of course, is to arrange for the teacher to upload the materials for all students on the course ahead of the lectures.
Some students are given recommendations such as “Instructions are to be given both orally and in writing”. If the student so wishes – contact the teachers on the course and inform them about the recommendations.
Find note-taking support
Workflow
1. A student who has been granted note-taking support contacts the contact person at the department/faculty for help in finding a note-taking supporter.
2. The department recruits the note-taking supporter (for example, via an announcement in Studium or an email request to the course participants). The department decides how the assignments will be distributed. There can only be 1–2 note-taking supporters per course.
A template for such an announcement or email could be as follows:
We are currently looking for someone who can take on the role of note-taker for course XX. The role involves creating a collaborative space in Studium where you can share your notes from lectures and seminars with your fellow students who are granted to receive note-taking support. This can be one or more students. It is important that the notes are concise and clear and that you use headings and subheadings. It is best to take notes on a computer.
Compensation is paid for the role and is based on the number of university credits you have shared notes for. For a 30-credit course, the compensation is SEK 4,000, which is paid after the assignment has been completed. In order to receive compensation, you need a Swedish personal identity number for tax reasons.
See more information about being a note-taking supporter in the student gateway.
3. Once a course participant has signed up for the task, it is the responsibility of the contact person at the department to pass on the name and email address of the student/students whom the note-taker will share their notes with. A copy of this message is sent to riktatstod@uu.se.
4. The contact person informs the coordinators for targeted study support at the Student Affairs and Academic Registry Division about who the task was assigned to and which course it concerns via the following form:
Form for registration of note-taking supporters (in Swedish)
5. The coordinators are responsible for sending out information about the assignment to the note-taker as well as instructions to the student receiving the notes.
In your role as contact person, you may meet students who experience challenges while studying but who are not granted special pedagogical support. In such cases, please inform the students about the general resources available at the University which they find in the student gateway.
Responsibilities of the student
Serving as a contact person does not mean taking on responsibility for the student’s study situation. The student is responsible for:
- Applying in good time for special pedagogical support to ensure its availability at the start of the course or in advance of future course components.
- Informing the department about their support and adjustment requirements and to present the decision regarding such support upon request.
- Informing themselves in good time with the applicable procedures at each department regarding adaptations to exams/alternative forms of examination.
- Notifying the department well in advance of a specific examination about desired/recommended adaptations to the exam/alternative form of examination.
- Making additional contact with the coordinator if another pedagogical support is required beyond that which has been granted or recommended.
What aspects should be kept in mind when meeting students?
- To be clear and precise with regard to time It is preferable to write “you need to register for an exam at least three weeks in advance” rather than “in good time”.
- To be receptive to the students’ needs. Every student functions differently – whether or not they have a disability.
- To provide information both orally and in writing. For example, send an email after a meeting detailing the points agreed upon.
- That the student is not obliged to tell you or anyone else about the specific disability they have.
- If some students happen to prefer telling the teacher on a course about which disability they have, then the student can explain this themselves or ask you to support them when contacting the teacher.
- That some students already have a lot of contact with various authorities in their lives. So be helpful when contacting other staff and in reviewing how the department can reduce the number of contacts a student with special pedagogical support needs to have.
GDPR and sensitive personal data
To ensure your work as a contact person can be done smoothly, certain information about a student’s support and adjustments may need to be saved locally at your department. To obtain authorisation for this, you need to report it to the data protection officer.