Notetaking Services Procedure
This guide is to provide information about the Notetaking Program established by Access and Accommodations Services for students who have disabilities that may impact their ability to take thorough and effective notes in their classes. If the information you need cannot be found, or if further explanation is needed, feel free to contact our office.
The Law
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act mandates that “no otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of that disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.” Therefore, it is the responsibility of Arkansas State University to provide support and services in a timely manner to ensure equitable access and participation in the learning process for students with disabilities. Providing a notetaking accommodation when needed is one of those services.
Procedure and Process
Access and Accommodation Services (AAS) will assist in finding volunteer peer note takers for students with documented disabilities who have been approved for this accommodation through the AAS Office. The following identifies the responsibilities of the student and AAS.
Student Responsibilities
- You must attend class to receive notes. Notes will not be taken when you are absent unless advance arrangements have been made with the AAS office.
- A notetaking accommodation is not a substitute for attending class. When you are in class, the student volunteer is providing you notes as an accommodation. When you miss class, the student volunteer providing you notes is a favor.
- You may assist in recruiting a notetaker for your classes by identifying a peer that might be interested and encouraging them to contact our office to sign up!
- If a notetaker is assigned to your classes, it is your responsibility to login weekly to download those notes. Notetakers are instructed to post notes at least twice a week. If you do not know how to access your notes in AIM, please see the Notetaking Accommodation Guide in our Knowledge Base or contact our office.
- If you are assigned notetaker is not posting regularly, please let us know immediately so that we can contact that person, or work to recruit someone else for your classes.
AAS Responsibilities
AAS uses multiple ways to facilitate the notetaking accommodation. This may include:
- AAS staff identifying peer volunteers.
- Working with faculty to recruit peer volunteers.
- Giving the student an accommodation to record class lectures.
- Giving the student the accommodation to use notetaking apps.
- Providing one-on-one notetaking skills trainings to students who struggle with notetaking.
Volunteer Responsibilities
- Attend class on a regular basis and take comprehensive, legible notes. Comprehensive notes are more than simply posting the PowerPoint slides that have no additional notes beyond what the professor provided in the slides.
- Post notes to your AIM account with AAS no less than twice a week.
- If you are unable to take notes or are unable to continue being a volunteer note taker let the AAS office know immediately so we can find an alternative.
For more thorough information, including instructions for uploading notes, please see the Notetaking Accommodation Guide on our Knowledge Base or contact our office.
Instructor Assistance
Inclusive Approach
An inclusive approach often reduces the need for notetaking as an accommodation. Taking this approach could include:
- Posting your own complete notes for all students to access.
- Posting the complete notes of a teaching assistant.
- Assigning students to teams and rotate responsibility for each team to create a complete set of notes for posting each week.
- This approach has the added benefit of having students work in teams and share responsibility for each other’s learning.
Accommodations Approach
If instructors prefer to enact the accommodations approach, these are some helpful tips:
- Once an accommodations notification is received, it would be helpful if you could make an announcement that volunteer notetakers are needed for this class and if anyone is interested, have them contact Access and Accommodation Services. AAS has a template announcement we can send you to recite and/or post in Canvas if needed.
- If you take notice of a student who you think might be willing to serve as a volunteer, please contact them directly and share our office’s information with them so that they can contact us if interested.
- Allowing permission to record class lectures may eliminate or reduce the need for accommodation.
- Posting PowerPoints ahead of time or immediately after class may reduce the need for a volunteer.
Often, it is a combination of the above-mentioned strategies that are most helpful for students.