Requesting, reviewing and processing accommodated test bookings just became easier for U of T’s instructors, staff and students.

The university’s new Accommodated Testing Services platform introduces significant benefits to manage over 25,000 requests per year through pre-existing U of T platforms.

In partnership with Accommodated Testing Services (ATS), Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration (EASI) fully launched the platform in January 2023.

“Due in part to a large increase in accommodated test requests, we needed to revamp our existing services,” says Steven Bailey, director of Learning Space Management. “Since 2010, we’ve seen a 146 per cent increase in accommodated test bookings. This new platform is not only helping to deal with the volume of requests but also provides a seamless, transparent and intuitive user experience.”

The ATS platform provides increased efficiency and security for instructors, helps administrators manage and track a high volume of requests, and ultimately reduces barriers for students registering to write with accommodations.

“These improvements for all users speak to how ATS works cooperatively with Accessibility Services and how we play a vital role in the execution of U of T’s commitment to accessibility,” says Bailey. “After an in-depth initial assessment, we discovered we could leverage well-known pre-existing U of T applications, making it easier for everyone to adapt to a new platform.”

Students who have test writing accommodations registered with Accessibility Services on the St. George Campus can conveniently request and view upcoming, past and cancelled bookings through ACORN. Instructors can submit accommodated test details and documents within the Course Information System, and administrators can coordinate accommodated tests through a new administrative system.

Since the beginning of the project in 2019, the project team consulted with a broad cross-section of students, instructors, staff and senior leadership. These consultations continued throughout all phases of the project.

After a pilot with select divisions, the instructor module was released to all instructors on the St. George Campus in fall 2020 and initial administrator functionality was released in 2021. The student request module in ACORN, as well as a significant portion of the administrative application, was released in January 2023.

“By combining a user-centered approach with process streamlining, we rolled out functionality and gathered feedback in stages,” says Mark Johnston, product manager working with EASI. “Using this iterative approach, we could design a platform that provides excellent service to all users, especially for students writing tests and exams with accommodations.”

What’s next for ATS?

The ATS team plans to enhance the current system by introducing functionality to support final exams beginning with the April 2023 exam period and, longer-term, roll-out additional functionality to support the broader Accessibility Services mandate at U of T.

“This is a significant step forward for U of T in its commitment to supporting students with accommodating testing needs,” says Bailey. “We are extremely happy to have these new platforms available to our stakeholders and look forward to improving and building these services going forward.”

Interested in learning more? View this video on how students create a request for an accommodated test within ACORN.

As part of a substantial upgrade to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) transcript exchange, U of T introduced consistent, easy-to-read PDF transcripts, allowing admissions staff to view relevant information in one location. It’s a project that has dramatically improved workflows for processing over 20,000 incoming electronic post-secondary transcripts each year.

“We worked with the University Registrar’s Office (URO) to convert incoming post-secondary XML transcripts into PDF format,” says Matt Hendrickson, technical lead with Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI). “If admissions staff receive a transcript from any university or college in Canada, they’ll see a PDF with information presented in a standard format.”

The upgrade has had many benefits, leading to streamlined processes for staff.

“In the past, admissions staff consulted a number of different systems to access transcript information, which was sometimes difficult to read and often added more time to the assessment process,” says Sinisa Markovic, deputy university registrar and director of operations with the URO. “Now, we are able to consolidate all the information in Slate, in a user-friendly format, making the process more efficient and less error prone.”

The EASI team used foundational work done by the URO, as part of the Canadian Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (CanPESC) Common Digital Working Group, as a starting point for the standard PDF transcript format.

“The framework, called the Common Digital Layout (CDL), represents a minimally agreed-upon layout determined by the working group, and it’s something that can then be adapted to meet each institutions’ specific needs,” says the project lead, Joseph Minichini, assistant university registrar, policy and projects with the URO. “The EASI team took our foundational work and referenced it for U of T’s purposes. Using the CDL design, staff are now able to see XML transcripts, coming from a variety of institutions, in the same consistent and familiar format, making it easier for them to work with.”

U of T joined the CanPESC working group, led by OUAC, in June 2019 as the pilot institution. The CanPESC promotes adoption of data standards across Canada.

The PDF transcript project builds on U of T’s previous upgrade to OUAC’s transcript exchange to align with new data standards. The update to a modern data format involved an entire rewrite of the data model and application.

“For over two years, my colleague June Cheng worked with EASI staff and the URO to help U of T modernize its electronic transcript exchange,” says Hendrickson. “This update improved data quality and processing efficiency, and it also set the scene for PDF transcripts.”

In June 2022, U of T presented on the XML to PDF transcript solution at a conference hosted by the Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada and the Pan-Canadian Consortium on Admissions & Transfer.

The working group has published resources that other institutions can use to implement their own CDL transcript, and the group will publish an implementation guide in the near future.

“It’s been a very successful project that has improved the admissions process,” says Hendrickson. “It’s been great working with people at EASI as well as the URO and OUAC to ensure we met the different stakeholders’ needs.”