Transcript Volunteer Notetaker Training

Note Taker
Training:
Taking Notes Using
Critical Thinking
University of Louisville
Disability Resource Center
Thanks for your interest!
• The following steps must be completed in order
to become a note taker:
– Express your interest in being a note taker.
• You may have done this by submitting your class
schedule to the Note Taker Coordinator,
responding to an email, or responding to an inclass announcement.
– Review this Note Taker Training presentation.
– Review the Note Taker Handbook.
– Take a short quiz over the note taking policies
and procedures.
• Note: If you answer fewer questions correctly than
is required, you may still become a note taker by
going through a brief training with the Note Taker
Coordinator.
Why do we need your help?
• The Disability Resource Center (DRC) is the office which
ensures that individuals with disabilities have equal access to
take full advantage of the university's educational, social, and
cultural opportunities.
• As a part of their academic accommodations, students with
disabilities may request supplemental notes for their classes.
• To learn more about the laws that protect the civil rights of
students with disabilities, you may visit the following sites:
– Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990.
– Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
How are you helping?
• Providing supplemental notes for a student
with a disability helps a student to have the
information necessary to be successful in
the class.
• Having supplemental notes allows a student
to focus on what the professor is saying.
• Having supplemental notes allows students
to participate in class discussion.
• Students can use supplemental notes as a
guide on how to improve their own notes.
Who are you helping?
• The DRC serves students with a variety of disabilities.
• Some examples of students with disabilities that might utilize a
note taker are:
– Students who are hard of hearing or deaf.
– Students with limited dexterity or mobility of their hands.
– Students with learning disabilities.
– Students with ADHD.
– Students with low vision or who are blind.
How will this benefit you?
•
For being a volunteer note taker, you will receive 5
service hours for every credit hour of the course.
–
Example:
•
–
HIST 101 = 3 credit hours x 5 service hours = 15 service
hours
If service hours are required of you by an organization, academic
program, etc., be sure to check with that entity first to make sure
note taking will meet their requirement.
•
Volunteer note taking is an excellent addition to your
resume and can be entered on your Student
Engagement Record.
•
Many note takers say they take better notes and do
better in the course because they know their
classmate is depending on them!
How will this work?
•
The DRC can provide you with a carbon-like
paper which makes a copy of your notes as you
write.
–
Please give the top copy to the student and keep the
bottom copy for yourself. (If the bottom copy is harder to
read, you are more likely to know what you wrote.)
•
If you take notes with a laptop, you may simply
email the notes to the student at the end of each
class.
•
If you are taking handwritten notes for multiple
students in a class, you may take notes on
whatever paper you wish, and make copies of the
notes for free at DRC (119 Stevenson Hall).
–
If you need mailboxes set up at the DRC in which to place
these notes, please let the Note Taker Coordinator know.
We don’t know that you need a mailbox unless you inform
us.
Critical Thinking
•
Serving as a note taker involves critical thinking. The following
elements of the Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Model can be applied to
note taking.
– Intellectual Standards
•
Clarity
•
Precision
•
Relevance
– Elements of Reasoning
•
Questions
•
Point of View
– Intellectual Traits
•
Fair-mindedness
•
Integrity
•
Perseverance
Clarity
•
Write neatly, and make notes complete and clear enough to understand when
you come back to them.
•
Take fast and complete notes, but do not sacrifice your writing’s legibility.
•
Leave blanks for words, phrases or ideas you miss. Leave plenty of white
space for later additions. Skip lines. Leave space between main ideas.
•
Number each page of your paper notes in case they get out of order.
•
Record the date, place, topic/title and presenter on your notes
•
A ballpoint pen works best on carbonless note taking paper. Make sure to
cross out any mistakes completely and to use dark ink.
•
Use shorthand ('Fe' for iron, '=' for equals, '@' for at, etc.) and abbreviations.
– Feel free to develop your own set of abbreviations, but please put a key
on the page so your notes can be understood.
Precision
• Be sure to record all the information, lists, or examples
written on the board.
• If the instructor refers to the text, mark the page number in
notes for reference.
• Bring attention to important points with:
– Asterisks (*)
– Circles or boxes
– Underlines
– Different colors (this will only appear on the student’s
handwritten notes, not on your copy)
Relevance
• It may be difficult to listen to the lecture if you
are trying to write down everything on each
slide.
– Ask your professor if the class presentations will
be posted online for each class. If they are, avoid
copying information directly from the PowerPoint
to allow yourself time to record all of the additional
information your professor communicates.
• Instructors will often give clues about what is
most important by repeating the same material
multiple times, or saying things like “this is
important…”, “you should remember that…”, or
even “this will be on the exam.”
Questions
• Talk to the student.
– Ask them if your notes contain enough information for
them.
– Ask them if there is a format that would work better for
them.
• When you cannot keep up with the speaker, jot down key
nouns and verbs so that you can return to them later and ask
questions/fill in gaps.
• Ask the instructor to repeat any missed
information before he/she moves to the next
topic or after the lecture.
Point of View
• As a note taker for your classmate, you
should record everything, not just
information that is new to you.
– You cannot assume that any information given in
class is common knowledge. You do not know
the student’s prior knowledge of the subject
matter.
• Take notes objectively and avoid adding
your own bias.
• Include questions/comments the class
makes and the professor’s response.
Learning others’ points of view from class
discussion can be just as important as the
lecture.
Fair-mindedness
•
Note taking accommodations are in place to give students with
disabilities the same opportunities as students without disabilities.
•
Accommodations are not meant to give students an advantage over
their classmates.
– To keep this from happening, please do not add additional
information from the text or other sources to your in-class notes.
– You are not responsible for providing the student with copies of
material that is posted to Blackboard.
– Note takers are only expected to take notes. You are not
expected to tutor the student.
Integrity
• A person’s disability may be a highly sensitive
subject and they may be uncomfortable discussing
the nature of their disability with others.
• Demonstrate your integrity by neither sharing the
student’s identity or disability with others nor asking
the student about it yourself.
• Remember, not all disabilities
can be seen.
Perseverance
• Attend all lectures.
• If you miss a class or know you will be missing
a class, contact the student right away so they
know what is going on.
– Arrange to get a copy of the class notes from a
classmate and a copy to the student the next
day.
• If you experience any difficulty with the
student, please do not stop taking notes. Ask
the Note Taker Coordinator for assistance
resolving any problems you cannot work out
yourselves.
Disability Etiquette
•
All Students with Disabilities
–
Students with disabilities are not required to share their disability with
you, so please do not ask them to share this information.
•
–
•
–
When communicating with these students through an interpreter, look
directly at the student when speaking to them, not at the interpreter.
To get the attention of these students, wave your hand or lightly tap
them on the shoulder.
Students with Physical Disabilities
–
–
•
Do not spend too much time worrying over your words or behavior,
just interact and be friendly and helpful.
Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
–
•
If they do decide to share that information with you, be sure to keep
that information confidential.
Do not lean on a person’s wheelchair; their chairs are treated as
extensions of their bodies.
When possible, place yourself at eye level when speaking with
someone in a wheelchair.
Students Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision
–
Identify yourself when meeting with one of these students, and
introduce anyone that might be with you.
What do you need to do
next?
• After you have thoroughly reviewed this material along with the
Note Taker Handbook…
• Take the Note Taker Policies and Procedures Quiz
– Go to: http://louisville.edu/disability/service-opportunity
– Click on: “Take the Note Taker Policies and Procedures Quiz”
– After you submit, the Note Taker Coordinator will review your
answers and contact you by email to let you know your score.
•
Note: If you answer fewer questions correctly than is required, you may still become a note
taker by completing a brief training session with the Note Taker Coordinator.