Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is this Review and Request Accommodations module for? How and why should I use it?
A: The Review and Request Accommodations module is a convenient and secure way for you to review and approve your established accommodation eligibility before self-sending notification of your eligibility to any instructors you choose to inform. All students who wish to receive academic and exam accommodations are expected to approve their accommodations by using the Review and Request Accommodations module at the start of each semester (typically before the end of the add/drop period).
Q: What should I do if my instructor says they did not receive my accommodation letter?
A: You should first verify that you successfully used the Review and Request Accommodations module to send notification of your accommodations to the instructor. You can do this by navigating to the Review and Request Accommodations page where you will find a list of your courses.
If the notification was sent to your instructor, the "Status" associated with the course will display "Sent". If this is the case, please ask the instructor to login to the Clockwork for Instructors portal to view the letter. If the instructor has any issues accessing Clockwork or seeing the letter, they should inform our IT support by emailing sats-clockwork@umass.edu with your name, student ID and the discrepancy
If the notification was NOT sent to your instructor, the "Status" associated with the course will display "Waiting for student to request". If this is the case, you should use the module to self-send a notification email to the instructor. This can be accomplished by clicking/selecting the Request button and following the directions on the Review and Request Accommodations page that follows.
If the “Status” is showing as “Pending” it is possible the letter was not able to be sent because there was no instructor assigned in SPIRE at the time you sent the letter, and therefore no email notification was able to be sent. This is common for labs and discussion groups that are overseen by Teaching Assistants (TAs); if that is the case, you are encouraged to go back into Clockwork and select “Get Letter” for the course that corresponds with the lab/discussion, and provide that to your TA. If the course is not a lab or discussion group, Disability Services will periodically check for an instructor to be assigned, and will send the letter if able. You will be notified if that happens.
Q: What if one or more of my courses do not appear in my list of courses?
A: If you are not seeing courses before the semester begins:
Note that courses for the semester are initially loaded into Clockwork typically 1 week before each semester begins. Official dates for when semester courses are available for Accommodation requests are published by the Disability Services office through email communication. If you are trying to access the course list before the course load date, you will not see courses for the semester.
A: If you are not seeing courses after the semester begins:
Please first log-in to SPIRE and verify your enrollment in the course(s). For students newly registered with Disability Services, note that it takes about 1-2 days for course data to make it into our system after you have been registered in Clockwork. If this time has passed and you have verified enrollment in SPIRE, then please inform our IT support team of the system issue by using your UMass email to contact sats-clockwork@umass.edu with your name, student ID and the discrepancy.
A: If you made changes to your courses after submitting Accommodation letters for the Semester:
Course enrollment in SPIRE takes 1-2 days to feed the Clockwork system depending on when the enrollment change occurs. If you made enrollment changes before 3:00pm, any new courses or enrollment change will be reflected the next morning in Clockwork. If after 3:00pm, changes will be reflected the morning of the 2nd day after the change.
