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Notetaking Services Colorado College provides notetaking services to students with documented disabilities that affect their ability to take class notes. Examples of disabilities that may affect notetaking ability include but are not limited to learning, hearing, physical, and visual disabilities. Students must request this accommodation through the Office of Disability Services (DS). The recommendation for notetaking services is determined by the DS staff following review of the documentation of disability submitted by the student. Students who are eligible for notetaking services receive a copy of another student’s notes to augment their own. Students and faculty should follow the steps below to implement notetaking services: • The student is responsible for delivering a letter of accommodation prepared by the DS staff and signed by the Associate Dean of the College to faculty members who teach the courses in which the student is requesting accommodations. Accommodations recommended by the DS staff are listed in this letter. Students are responsible for providing faculty members with a copy of the letter of accommodation in a timely manner, preferably before the beginning of the block in which accommodations are needed or as soon as the student determines the need for accommodations in the class. • Notes can be supplied to students with disabilities in two ways: 1) Faculty members can provide the student with copies of their lecture notes, transparencies, etc., or 2) a peer volunteer notetaker can be recruited. Either the student with a disability or the faculty member may recruit the notetaker. If the faculty member recruits the notetaker, it is important to keep in mind that permission must be obtained from the student with a disability before that student’s identity can be disclosed to the notetaker. • There are several ways to recruit a volunteer notetaker: 1) The faculty member or the student with a disability may already know a student in the class whom he/she can ask to serve as a notetaker; 2) after observing students for the first couple of days, the faculty member may have a better idea of a student whom he/she can ask to serve as a notetaker; or 3) the faculty member can make an announcement in class asking for a volunteer. It is important to recruit a notetaker as soon as possible so this accommodation can be provided in a timely manner. • When recruiting a notetaker, it may be helpful for the faculty member to talk about the benefits of becoming a notetaker. Volunteer notetakers are rewarded with a gift card to the Colorado College bookstore with up to a $75.00 value per block, depending on the number of weeks the student serves as a volunteer. Students can list this as a volunteer experience on their resumes. And, notetakers often say the quality of their notes and their grades improve when serving as a notetaker. • DS provides notebooks with carbonless paper to notetakers, allowing notetakers to make duplicate copies of their notes. At the end of each class, the notetaker will give the duplicate set of notes to the faculty member, a department staff member, or the student with a disability. The notetaker should give the notes directly to the student with a disability only if that student has given permission to be identified to the notetaker. If the notetaker is absent from class, the notetaker can arrange for a substitute or can photocopy another student’s notes in the Learning Commons in Tutt Library that can then be given to the student with a disability. • Students receiving notes are responsible for notifying the faculty member and DS if the notes are of poor quality or not supplied on a regular basis. If necessary, a new volunteer notetaker may be recruited. • DS expects students with disabilities who are receiving notes from the faculty member or a volunteer notetaker to meet all course attendance requirements. Notes are not a substitute for class attendance.
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