Disability Resources

Note Taking Assistance
Policies and Procedures

Students whose disability limitations include hearing loss or deafness, coordination or motor limitations, or some types of psychological or learning disabilities, may be eligible for note taking assistance. If the student has not done so, the student must complete a Request for Accommodations form, attach a copy of his/her disability documentation, and make an appointment with a disability specialist.

1. After consultation with the student, the specialist will write a Letter of Accommodation confirming the need for a note taker and e-mail the LOA to the student.
   
   
2. The student fills out a Request for Notetaking Assistance form and the DR specialist approves it.
   
   
3. The student delivers the request form to the main DR office and gets an announcement form for the professor and a Note Taking Assistance Module to read.
   
   
4. The student prints out the LOA and takes it and the note taker announcement to the professor. He/she may need to explain the process to the professor.
   
   
5. The professor reads or e-mails the announcement for a volunteer in that class, identifies a note taker volunteer, and sends the volunteer to the DR main office (KSC 258).
   
   
6. Note taker volunteers must complete and sign required paper work to qualify for a gift certificate from DR at the end of the semester.
   
   
7. The requesting student will be provided the name and contact information for the volunteer note taker. S/he must contact the volunteer and arrange to meet. No notes will be provided until this meeting has taken place.
   
   
8. Students must attend each class session and let the note taker know they are in class in order to get the notes. Notes will not be provided to students who are absent from class (except in very rare situations when the absence has been previously approved through the DR specialist).
   
   
9. Students are encouraged to take their own notes to the best of their ability. Taking limited notes is better than just listening. Taping lectures to listen again can fill in missing information as well.
   
   
10. Note takers only take notes. They are not expected to act as tutors or to explain course information.
    
    
11. 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 useful.
    
    
12. Either the volunteer or the recipient student should contact the Note Taking Coordinator immediately if:
    a. Any situation arises that students can’t work out.
    b. A notetaker is no longer needed.
    c. Either party drops the course.
    d. Either party is having a problem getting a response from the other
    e. Either party is frequently tardy or absent.
    f. Either party has questions about policies or procedures.
    
    
13. Course notes will be e-mailed to you. Copy and 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.
    
    
14. Note takers may deliver notes to DR from 8:00-4:30, M-F. All notes will be copied and made available electronically by 4:45 p.m. of the day they are received.
    
    
15. The student requesting notes is responsible for reminding professors and/or notifying DR if no one volunteers or if they stop getting notes from their note taker.
    

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.

http://www.netac.rit.edu/onlinenotetakertraining.html