Note Taking Handbook
Reed College - Disability Support Services
Why does Reed have student note takers?
Students at Reed with documented disabilities can receive a variety of academic
accommodations, which are determined on a casebycase basis. A common accommodation gives the student access to notes taken in class by a fellow student. In these cases, Disability Support Services selects a student in the class to attend every class session, take good notes, and digitally scan and upload their notes to a dedicated notesharing Moodle.
Note taking as an accommodation may be appropriate for students who have a hearing or visual impairment, a motor or physical limitation, or an attentional or learning disability. When the disability is attention or learning-based, students often have difficulty listening to the lecture and simultaneously processing the auditory information, while also writing it down.
Through their note taker’s notes, these students have the opportunity to fully engage with inclass content, knowing that they will be receiving quality lecture notes to supplement their own lecture notes.
Who are student note takers?
Many of our note takers are students who have been recommended by their instructors. Note takers often demonstrate excellent organizational skills, punctuality, dependability, ability to process and synthesize information into notes, and/or strong academic performance.
Note taking stipend
Note takers receive a stipend of $150.00 per semester, per class in which notes are being taken. The stipend is disbursed at the end of the semester.
Due to changes in students’ schedules and their accommodation needs, note taking
assignments may be added or canceled midsemester. In such cases, DSS uses the following guidelines for partial stipends:
● If a note taking assignment is canceled by DSS prior to the “Add” deadline, or within 2 weeks of the note taker’s starting date, the note taker will not receive a stipend.
● If a note taking assignment is canceled by DSS prior to the “Drop” deadline or within 4 weeks of the note taker’s starting date, the note taker will receive a stipend of $50.
● If a note taking assignment is canceled by DSS prior to the 8week mark, or if a note taker begins their assignment after the 8week mark, the note taker will receive a stipend of $75.
● If a note taking assignment is canceled by DSS after 8week mark, the note taker will be receive a stipend of $150 (full stipend).
I’m interested in being a note taker. Where do I start?
1. If you are interested in becoming a note taker, the first step is to complete the current semester's Note Taker Interest form (found on our website), listing your courses for the upcoming semester.
○ Please note that submitting the Note Taker Interest Form is not a formal commitment on your part, but only a statement of interest in potentially
becoming a note taker in the future. Similarly, we are unable to guarantee that everybody who submits a form will be offered a note taking assignment.
2. If a student in one of your classes requests note taking as an accommodation, we may contact you to offer you the note taking assignment and begin the training process.
I’ve been offered a position as a note taker! What’s next?
If you are contacted by DSS and offered a position as a note taker, please follow these steps to formally accept the position offer:
1. Read this handbook in full.
2. Complete an online Note Taker Agreement form (found on our website) for each course in which you will be taking notes.
3. Start taking lecture notes right away! Within 24 hours of each class period, scan your notes and upload them to Moodle.
4. If you have never been an employee of Reed College, contact Dawn Derry in the Business Office within one week or your start date to complete employment eligibility documents (to make sure you receive your stipend!).
Note Taker Responsibilities
The main responsibility of a paid note taker is to take organized, legible notes every class period and upload scanned or typed copies of their notes to Moodle within 24 hours of the end of class.
As handwritten notes must be fed through a scanner, it is recommended that notetakers take notes on looseleaf paper (or perforated paper) rather than in a bound notebook. Additionally, note takers are asked to minimize ink bleedthrough by taking notes on only one side of the paper, or by using a pen that does not bleed through the page. If taking notes on one side of the page is not possible, note takers are asked to optimize scanner settings (such as using a
higher contrast) to minimize the effects of bleedthrough. Alternatively, note takers can take typed notes on a laptop and upload them directly to Moodle without scanning.
Confidentiality
For privacy reasons, note takers are not informed of the identify of the student(s) who request and receive notes. Should you learn the identity of the student(s) receiving notes, please communicate with them in a discrete and respectful manner. Should you accidentally and unintentionally learn the identity of a student receiving notes, and this student has not explicitly chosen to disclose their identity to you, do NOT share any identifying information about this student (including name, gender identity, and/or other identifying traits) with any other students, staff, or uninvolved instructors. If you have questions about the information that you may and may not disclose, please contact the Accommodations Coordinator.
To preserve the confidentiality of the student(s) receiving notes, the scanned notes are uploaded to a dedicated notesharing Moodle. We encourage you to write a note of
introduction through Moodle to the student(s) receiving your notes. You may also ask them for feedback after you have started to upload notes. Please keep in mind, however, that students with disabilities have varying levels of comfort when it comes to disclosing disabilities to their peers, and they may or may not introduce themselves to you by name. We ask that you please respect the students’ continued privacy if they choose to remain anonymous.
If You Miss a Class
You are expected to regularly attend class sessions for the course(s) in which you take notes.
If, however, you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to secure a copy of the notes from a fellow student and, with the student’s permission, scan and upload their notes to Moodle. Make sure to add a note in Moodle explaining what has happened. You are
responsible for ensuring notes from the section of class you missed are uploaded to Moodle within 24 hours of the end of class.
If You Can No Longer be a Note Taker
It is your responsibility as a note taker to contact DSS immediately if you are unable to upload your notes for any reason, including but not limited to: technical difficulties, illness, or dropping a course. You are asked to provide two weeks of notice prior to your resignation, so that we may recruit and secure a new notetaker without interrupting provision of notes to the students who receive them.
Note Taking Guidelines
● Take notes on lined, looseleaf paper (or perforated paper). It is OK to take notes on unlined paper if your note taking style is very neat, organized, and legible.
● Minimize ink bleedthrough by writing on one side of the paper only. If you MUST take notes on both sides of the page, please make an effort to minimize ink bleedthrough.
● Clearly write the class name and date on the top of your notes. Include a title or lecture topic, if applicable.
● Number pages consecutively, at the top or bottom of the page.
● Take detailed notes. However, do not feel the need to write in complete sentences.
○ Include technical facts, terms, definitions, dates, equations, diagrams, lists, and examples.
○ If the professor references a text, include page numbers.
○ Include material presented on the board or a projector
○ Include comments the class makes that the professor agrees with.
● Mark points of emphasis. You might circle the important information, put a * by it, underline it, write it in all caps, put an arrow next to it, etc.
● Circle or star assignments and announcements (such as a test date) within your notes, or write this information near the top of the first page.
● Identify any codes or abbreviations that you regularly use. Be judicious with their use.
● Define concepts and unfamiliar key words. Unclear about the spelling? Write “sp?”
next to the word in question and/or correct it before scanning it into Moodle.
● When you cannot keep up with the speaker, jot down key nouns and verbs so that you can return to your notes later and ask questions to fill in gaps. Leave blank space for words, phrases or ideas you miss. Chat after class with a classmate or the professor to fill in the gaps.
● All students, but especially students with learning disabilities, benefit from
well-organized notes that follow a logical sequence and make good use of headings and subheadings.
● Remember to write legibly (or type your notes)!
● SCAN your handwritten notes using a scanner (not a camera).
○ Save all notes from one class period as a single file, rather than saving and uploading each page of notes as a separate file.
○ Please do NOT take pictures of your notes as a way of digitizing your notes.
○ Typed notes do not require scanning and can be uploaded directly to Moodle.
● Once you have scanned your notes and saved them as a single file, name the document in this format: Abbreviated Course Title, “Notes,” Date
○ For Example: HUM 110 Notes 91815
○ You must use hyphens, not slashes, for the date
Scanner instructions and locations
Note takers may choose to use their personal scanners. However, there are several printer/scanners located across campus that are available for student use, listed below.
Scanning is free of charge.
For convenience, note takers are encouraged to use the "Scan to Email" or "Scan to USB"
features. Scanning instructions can be found on signs, posted near each printer. When scanning, please scan all the notes for a class session at once and save them as a single file
(or scan the pages separately and then use a program such as Adobe Acrobat Pro to combine all of the pages into a single PDF file).
Printer/scanner locations:
● Bookstore (just outside the Bookstore)
● Chemistry 302
● DoJo (in the kitchen)
● Eliot 413
● Eliot 3rd floor, by Registrar's office
● Library (several scattered throughout, all floors)
● PARC in the Performing Arts Building
Saving and uploading notes to Moodle
● Once you have scanned your notes and saved them as a single file, name the document in this format: Abbreviated Course Title, “Notes,” Date
○ For Example: HUM 110 Notes 91815
○ You must use hyphens, not slashes, for the date
● Launch a browser (Chrome is best with Moodle)
● Go to Moodle.reed.edu (you will need to use your Reed Web Login)
● Once in Moodle, click on the “Notetaking” course under your current courses list
● Choose the appropriate class title
● Click on “Add Entry” tab
● Click on “Choose File”
● Select the document containing your notes
● Type File Name in the box
● Add additional information, such as day or subject of class meeting. This is also a good place to communicate with any students receiving your notes.
● Click on “Save and View”
● Log out
● Please also save a digital copy of your notes elsewhere until the semester is over, at which point all files can be deleted
Additional information about resources for students with disabilities at Reed can be found at:
http://www.reed.edu/disability_services/index.html
