Moving ETD submission deadlines in response to ADA guidelines

[Jonah McAllister-Erickson]

Hello ETD community. 

I'm wondering if any of you have considered, or already have moved your ETD submission deadlines to allow more time for document correction in response to the new Title II ADA compliance requirements for state institutions. In addition to how much of a change you made I would also be interested if you could share any messaging around that change you used or considered. 

WVU will be subject to the new ADA regulation in April of next year but I know some large institutions and systems have already come under the new regulatory framework. 

Some context: 

At WVU we have very minimal formatting requirements (title/abstract page formatting and page numbers) and our submission deadline is the last day of classes of the term, and we have to have a final roster of approved ETDs to the registrar's office at the end of the following week. 

I've urged that we move the submission deadline out at least two weeks to give us enough time to review the documents and for the students to make the required changes. 

Best,

Jonah 

[Carmen Mitchell]

Hi Jonah,

Our timelines are fairly similar to yours, but we have some workflow differences. At CSUSM, we ask the students to send us a draft version of their document about 2 weeks before the final ETD deadline so that we can add the bulk of the formatting in for them. We then just do clean-up of the final file when they send it in at the deadline. More info on our timelines is available in the instructions.I'm happy to talk with you about it more if you would like. We've been doing the ADA formatting for the students for the past 3 years. It's proven to be less stressful for all involved even though it means that they need to turn in a draft early on.

Kind regards,

Carmen Mitchell