As an instructor at Ithaca College, you might find yourself with a student who qualifies for a notetaking accommodation through SAS. You will know whether you have a student with the notetaking accommodation by looking at the SAS Accommodation Plan, which will be sent to you at the beginning of each semester.
As you will read in the SAS Accommodation Plan, students who qualify for the notetaking accommodation can receive that assistance in a variety of ways. We encourage students to meet with professors to discuss their needs and determine how they can be met. You may be able to meet the needs of the student by providing them with course material, such as copies of lecture notes, overheads, PowerPoint presentations, or pre-lecture outlines. If you are unable to provide this type of material, or if the material available does not meet the needs of the student, the student can contact SAS to request additional support or request the services of a peer notetaker. If a peer notetaker is requested, SAS will work with you to find an appropriate student volunteer who will be able to provide notes throughout the semester. Please know that there are other sources of support if a peer notetaker cannot be found for a particular course.
Students must submit their request for a notetaker via an online form on the SAS website. If the student has already found a notetaker, they can indicate that on the form. If they have not already found someone to take notes for them, the SAS notetaker coordinator sends an email to the course instructor to ask for help in finding an appropriate volunteer. Sometimes, the instructor may already be aware of a suitable candidate. If so, SAS will contact that person to ask them to take notes during the semester. If the instructor does not have anyone to suggest, SAS will ask that an announcement be made—either via Canvas or during class—to recruit a volunteer.
It is very important that student confidentiality is maintained through this process. Instructors are asked not to single out the student requesting the note-taking accommodation. Also, volunteer notetakers should not be told the identity of the student they are taking notes for (though there may be situations where they already know).
Students often require notetakers from the particular lecture or lab section they attend. The general assumption is that material presented is often different enough from section to section that this is necessary. Please feel free to let SAS know if a notetaker could feasibly take notes for a student in a class that meets at a different time.
Student notetakers are asked to provide notes as either Word or PDF documents. They are asked to submit their notes to SAS within 24 hours of the class period. At the end of the semester, each notetaker is given a certificate of recognition and a letter outlining the service they have contributed.