GUIDELINES for NOTETAKING SERVICES

Note-taking services are provided when the student has a documented, disability-related need for the accommodation. Provision of the note-taking service does not ensure or guarantee a certain level of achievement or success for a test or course. Note-taking procedures are as follows:

• DSC students must request note-taking services through the DSC staff each quarter.
• DSC will ask the student’s instructor if he/she can make their lecture notes available to DSC students.
• If instructor notes are not available, DSC will hire one note-taker for the class.
• DSC students are encouraged to recruit note-takers from class, however DSC will make the final decision as to which notetakers are hired.
• Whenever possible, note-takers will email class notes directly to DSC students.
• If emailing notes is not possible, copies will be made for each DSC student requesting notes and left in their DSC mailbox.
• If a note-taker cannot be located, tape recording of lectures by the students is an acceptable alternative. (DSC does not provide tape recorders.)
• DSC Students are encouraged to communicate directly with note-takers to ensure quality control. Ask DSC for note-taker contact information.

It is important that note-taking requests be received by DSC before the beginning of classes each quarter or no later than the first week of classes. Students who submit their requests after these deadlines run the risk of waiting one or more weeks (after the request is received) to get any notes-this may compromise studying or test preparation especially if students have tests during the first 3-4 weeks of the quarter. DSC will make every reasonable effort to locate note-takers but cannot guarantee finding one in every class or by a certain deadline.

DSC students requesting notes need to be aware of the following:

• Note-takers are other students in classes.
• There may be variance in the notes due to varying instructional methods, nature of the course, lecture pace, technical terminology and other related factors, there may be variance in how notes are outlined, amount of detail, and spelling accuracy.
• Individual note-takers hired by DSC are not expected to take verbatim notes.
• DSC is not responsible for the quality of notes.
• DSC provides basic guidance and training to note-takers.
• DSC screens prospective note-takers to ensure a basic level of competence in note taking.
• DSC cannot guarantee that a note-taker will record everything in a lecture that may be important or critical.
• Occasionally, a note-taker might miss a lecture and DSC cannot otherwise get the notes for a lecture session; in this case, the student is encouraged to contact other students for copies of their notes or meet with the TA/professor to review material.
• For the above reasons it is very important that DSC students attend lectures, take some notes if possible, and use all other available resources (e.g., professor/TA office hours, tutoring, discussion sections, study groups, LARC, personal study, recording lectures) to enhance their learning.
• DSC will make every possible and reasonable effort to recruit and hire note-takers, but there may sometimes be delays in getting a note-taker assigned. In this instance it is again important for the student to use all of their resources to enhance learning and keep up with course readings and lecture content. The student should also remind the instructor to make the note-taker announcement in class.

Deaf and severely hard of hearinq students: Real-time captioning may be available as an appropriate accommodation only for students who are deaf or severely hard of hearing. Real­time captioning will not be provided if a deaf student has an interpreter in classes. If a real-time captioner is not available, regular note-taking services will be provided.

Requests for Real-Time Captioning: If it is not possible to retain or recruit qualified real-time captioners (these personnel are in very short supply, or they may not be available at times needed for classes), and when all reasonable effort has been made to recruit qualified real-time captioner. If a real-time captioner is not available, regular notetaking services will be provided.

July 2006