Note Taking Assistance

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• Note Taking Procedures
• Working with your Note Taker
• Note Taker Responsibilities
• Optional Online Note Taker Training

Students whose disability limitations include hearing loss or deafness, coordination or motor limitations, or some types of psychological or learning disabilities, may qualify for note taking assistance. To find out if you qualify for a note taker, talk to your Disability Resources specialist.

Note Taking Procedures

1. Fill out a Request for Notetaking Assistance form and get it approved by your Disability Resources specialist.
2. Deliver your approved request to Mary Kaye, and pick up an announcement for a volunteer note taker.
3. Take the announcement, along with your Letter of Accommodation, to your professor who will ask a volunteer from the class. Your name will not be used.
4. You will be given the name and contact information for the volunteer. You must contact and meet the volunteer before class notes will be sent to you.
5. Take your own notes to the best of your ability. Taping lectures to listen to again can be a good option.
6. Save your notes in a folder on your hard drive or on another electronic storage device rather than in your mailbox. This prevents running out of mailbox space.

Working with your Note Taker

1. Course notes are not provided until the requesting student has contacted and met the volunteer note taker.
2. Course notes are not provided to students who are sleeping or doing other activities in class, or who are absent from class.*
3. Students are encouraged to discuss minor changes with the volunteer to make their notes more useable.
4. Course notes will be scanned and e-mailed to students the same day they are received.
5. Either the requesting student or the volunteer should contact Mary Kaye immediately if:
   1. Any situation arises that they can't work out on your own.
   2. A note taker in no longer needed.
   3. Either party drops the course.
   4. Either party is having a problem getting a response from the other.
   5. Either party is frequently tardy or absent.
   6. Either party has questions about policies or procedures.
6. The note recipient is responsible for reminding professors and/or notifying Disability Resources if no one in their class volunteers to take notes.

* A note taker may be provided in very rare situations when an absence has been previously approved by the Disability Resources specialist.

Note Taker Responsibilities

1. All note taker volunteers must sign an Oath of Confidentiality and a Note Taking Contract, in addition to submitting their schedule and initiating a time sheet.
2. Note takers must bring in their notes weekly to qualify for the gift certificate at the end of the semester.
3. Note takers only take notes. They are not expected to be tutors or to explain course information.
4. Note takers will deliver notes to Disability Resources from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.
5. Communication between volunteer note takers and note recipients is important for the smooth functioning of the program. The recipient should feel free to make suggestions that will make the notes more useable.
6. Either the volunteer or the recipient student should contact Mary Kaye immediately if:
   1. Any situation arises that students can't work out on their own.
   2. A notetaker is no longer needed.
   3. Either party drops the course.
   4. Either party is having a problem getting a response from the other.
   5. Either party is frequently tardy or absent.
   6. Either party has questions about policies or procedures.

Optional Online Note Taker Training

The Northeast Technical Assistance Center offers online note taker training. It is interactive and free of charge. Those who complete the course successfully get a certificate. The three training modules take about 90 minutes to complete and are self-paced. You can stop training and come back at another time by simply logging on and picking up where you left off.