Student with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations in order to overcome learning challenges.
Note-taking is one of those accommodations managed by the Student Disability Services Office (SDS).
Peer Note-taking is the option that has been used for many years. Some common issues we have faced with Peer Note-taking and the mitigating solutions in place for them:
- They may not be as precise or accurate as the student would like.
After the student formally submits a request for note taking assistance for registered class(es), the SDS begins a student/note-taker matching process at a class level. - May encounter difficulty in securing a note-taker for every class in a timely manner.
Whenever this is encountered, then your assigned SDS staff member will engage further to explore alternate customized options. - Untimely delays between when the class ends and the student receives the notes.
To register as a note-taker, the individual is required to sign a contract which designates that notes must be uploaded (to the Accommodate Note-taker Drop Off Portal) within 24 hours of the end of the class meeting. Recipients must be able to download the notes before the next class period. (Questions?Issues? Contact the specific SDS Staff member that has been assigned to you already.)
(Please note: In cases where class notes are "missing" (for example, class is cancelled, exam/test administered during class period, etc..), then the note-taker is required to document the specific reason of the occurrence by uploading the details to the Accommodate Note-taker Drop Off Portal too.
Why Audio Note-Taking has an advantage ?
- Students are encouraged to continue to take notes while they are recording. Even noting a time stamps of important points to review.
- Students remain actively engaged in the process of taking/recording their own notes.
- Software options include Sonocent https://www.sonocent.com/en-us/audio-notetaker
- This is an active visual display of the audio being recorded and allows the user to move, label, and color code the audio notes.
- Students can edit audio to be listened to as a playlist for review with required readings.
- 100% of the students with audio recording as a note-taking accommodation receive 100% accurate notes 100% of the time.
What are the concerns to Audio recording ?
- Fellow students and/or the Lecturer may not want to be recorded.
- Fear of having audio content spread over the internet.
- General classroom rule is no Cell Phones or Laptops.
How does SDS address these concerns ?
- Students with this accommodation are encouraged to purchase a dedicated digital audio recorder or use their laptop.
- In the event there is a discussion when note-taking would not be necessary, we ask the student to stop recording. We also encourage Faculty to remind all students that this portion of the class any and all recording needs to stop.
- We offer the Digital Audio agreement form (attached to this page below) to safeguard intellectual property and protect the privacy of our community.
- As an approved accommodation we ask the cooperation of the entire UMBC community.
If you have a student with this accommodation and would like more information please contact the Student Disability Services Office.