Transcript Notetaker Training - University of South Carolina

University of South Carolina
Office of Student Disability Services
Student Services
LeConte College, Room 112A
On-line Note taker Training
Welcome to the staff of Student
Disability Services at the
University of South Carolina.
Thank you for signing up to
volunteer as a note taker for the
semester. We are happy you have
chosen to help out a fellow
student, and we hope you enjoy
your experience.
Note taker provision is a mandated
support service provided by Student
Disability Services to students with
documented disabilities. These
disabilities include students who are deaf
or hard of hearing, students who are
blind or have low vision. They may have
a learning disability or Attention Deficit
Disorder, or any other documented
disability.
Volunteer note takers sign on
for the semester. Persons
providing note-taking services
must be responsible, reliable,
and prompt
On the following pages you will find a tutorial
about things we want our note takers to know and
you will learn and review some key note taking
skills. You may also print this tutorial for easy
reference if you desire.
Confidentiality
• Confidentiality is an important aspect of
working with students with disabilities. Students
with disabilities are protected under Section 504
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Family
Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
(sometimes referred to as FERPA or the
Buckley Amendment.)
(Oberline On line, 1996)
• It is your responsibility as a note taker for a
student with a disability to protect the privacy
of the student, including any former students.
Any information you obtain, see, observe,
hear, or become aware of is considered
confidential. You should NOT discuss who
you are taking notes for with anyone. The
unauthorized release of information is strictly
prohibited and will lead to dismissal upon the
first offense. You will sign a confidentiality
statement when you sign on as a volunteer
note taker and a breach of this trust is an
extremely serious offense.
• Do not disclose who you are taking
notes for. Even if a professor asks you
for the student’s name, simply tell them
that you cannot disclose that
information. The professor should have
received a letter from the student
explaining any accommodations they are
receiving. If they have any further
questions please refer them to our office.
• The Office of Student Disability Services is
prohibited by law from providing you with the
student’s phone number or e-mail address;
however, the student will be provided with your
number or e-mail address upon their request and
may contact you if they wish. If the student does
not want to contact you, then a Disability
Services staff member will handle any
communication between you and the student. If
you have any concerns or questions, contact the
office at 777-6742 or by visiting LeConte Room
112A. You should NOT approach the student.
Responsibilities
• Please contact us if there is a change of address, phone
number or e-mail. We must be able to reach you if
there are any problems.
• Have knowledge of the subject matter. If is preferable,
but not required, that you have background knowledge
of the subject matter presented in the class for which
you are taking notes. In other words, if you are not a
strong math student, please don’t sign up to take notes
for a math class.
• Arrive on time and stay in class until it is over. You cannot
have complete notes if you are not in class from beginning
to end. Important information such as exam dates or class
cancellations is often provided as the class begins.
• Most note takers are enrolled in the class. However, if you
are NOT enrolled in the class, introduce yourself to the
professor after the first class. You should not tell the
professor who you are taking notes for, but if you have any
questions or don’t understand something it is important that
you have a positive working relationship with the professor.
You are not expected to participate in the class if you are a
note taker who is not enrolled in the class. If you have any
concerns or professor needs to contact us, please call 7776742 and we will handle any difficulties.
• Feel free to list this office as a reference, or list it
on your resume.
• We will be glad to write a recognition letter for
you at the end of the semester, at your request.
Note Taker Manual
• Remember, one or more USC students are counting on
your notes to help them succeed in class. Please make
your notes as accurate, legible, and complete as
possible.
• Arranging for a timely delivery of your notes is also
essential. The student must have access to them as
soon as possible after the class meets. A few hours of
turnaround time is desired. Unless you have made
other arrangements with our office, you are expected to
bring your notes to Student Services, LeConte Room
112A within 24 hours of class. If there will be a delay
in the delivery of the notes, please stop in or call 7776742 as soon as possible.
• To deliver your notes, you will come to 112A LeConte
within 24 hours of each class.
• Our staff will take you to our computer lab and show
you how to scan your notes, which is a very simple
process.
• After scanning your notes you will email the notes to the
recipient/recipients.
• You’ll also save a back-up copy of the notes to our
computer, in case an email does not go through.
Potential Problems
• If the student you are taking notes for has
initiated a working relationship, and any
difficulties arise, then discuss the problem with
the student. This will prevent a difficulty from
“mushrooming” into a major problem. If a
difficulty cannot be resolved in a relatively short
time, all parties involved should jointly seek
guidance from Student Disability Services.
What if my student is not in class?
• The student is expected to attend class even though you’re
are also attending. You are NOT paid to attend class IN
PLACE of the student. Sometimes the student’s disability
may cause him/her to miss class. In these cases, our office
will contact you and ask you to continue to attending the
class and to take notes.
• Some students receiving note taking services may wish to
remain without a face, so you may not know the student
who you are taking notes for.
“all lectures require
at least some effort
on your part. If you
consistently prepare
for lectures, actively
concentrate on what
is said, and think
back over it
afterwards, you will
get more out of
lectures, even poor
ones.” (Marshall & Rowland,
1998, p. 152)
How to be a better note taker
• Be prepared for class. If there is an assigned reading
then it is best to have completed that reading prior to
class. It is likely that much of the class notes and
discussion will be based on the assignment. If the
professor refers to a page in the textbook write it down;
it may be helpful later on.
• You may want to consider writing down some main
points before the lecture to help you follow along, this
can help you keep from feeling overwhelmed when you
are being hit with so much information. (Marshall & Rowland,
1998, pp. 152-153).
• It is also important to make sure you bring
enough paper and something to write with.
• Remain objective. Keep your opinions out of
the notes.
• Use only one side of the paper and skip lines.
The student may use the other side for adding
his/her own notes. If there is extra space on the
page then the notes will be easier to read and
there will be space for information you may want
to add later. The student is using your notes in
combination with his/her own.
• Number, title, and date each page. This will
help our students, and you, keep track of
the notes. Students often receive notes for
more than one class at a time.
• Keep your notebook organized. Throw out
pages full of doodles and other things that
could potentially create a mess. Use dividers,
sticky notes, and sheet protectors to help
organize your notebook.
• Write legibly and use correct spelling.
• Use key words and short phrases.
• Use abbreviations for words that are used again
and again or are common. For example, rather
than write out the word “government” try just
writing “govt.” Also for long words and phrases
you may want to write it out the first time and
then use a shortened version each time thereafter.
For example, rather than use the words
“Einstein’s Theory of Relativity” just write
“ETR.”
More Abbreviations and Symbols
• Use beginning letters of
words or phrases, such as:
–
–
–
–
“without” = w/o
“overdose” = OD
“sing on” = S.O.
“as soon as possible” = ASAP
• Use beginning syllables, such
as
– “anthropology” = anthro
– “demonstration” =demo
– “approximately”=approx
(Lipsky, 2004, p. 54-55).
• Use the beginning and end of
words, such as:
– “Continued” = cont’d
– “additional” = add’l
• Remove vowels, such as:
– “explosion” = explsn
– “check” = chck
– “notebook” = notebk
And Some More Abbreviations
and Symbols
• Use mathematical symbol, such as:
–
–
–
–
–
>< represent “greater than or less than”
= “equal to”
# “number”
~ “approximately”
+ for “and”
• Use common characters and symbols, such as:
–
–
–
–
? = “I don’t understand”
@ = “at”
 = “linked to or causes”
* or ! = “important”
(Lipsky, 2004, p. 54-55).
• Don’t try to write down everything the professor
says. This is not possible, and if you can do it,
then it is too much information. Try to write
down the big ideas. Listen for key words, such as
facts, connections and main ideas. “It is
impossible to reproduce most of the content of a
lecture exactly and very rarely do you want as
much detail as this. Instead your notes should be
your consciously selected version of the material
offered, so that you make notes rather than take
them.” (Marshall & Rowland, p. 154).
Selective Listening
• Focusing on what is and is not important and
what should and should not be written down.
• Think about the following things as you listen to
the lecture:
–
–
–
–
–
What is the topic?
What do I need to know about the topic?
Why is this topic important?
What is an example of this topic?
How did this event or procedure come about?
(Lipsky, 2004, p. 53).
Verbal and Nonverbal Cues
• Verbal Cues – These are
things the professor says that
shows that the information
needs to be written down.
Things such as:
– Repeating information
– Pausing or slowing down
– Talking louder
(Lipsky, 2004, p. 53).
• Nonverbal Cues – Things the
professors does to show that
information needs to be
written down. Things such
as:
– Using hand gestures
– Pointing to words on the
board
– Looking at students’
notes to make sure they
are writing things down
correctly
Listen for Key Words
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Advantages
Benefits
Causes
Characteristics
Conclusions
Disadvantages
Effects
Factors
(Wong, 2003, p. 270)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Findings
Functions
Kinds of
Methods
Parts
Principles
Purposes
Reasons
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rules
Solutions
Stages
Steps
Techniques
Types of
Uses
Ways
Listen for Terminology
•
•
•
•
•
•
X means…
X is also called…
X is defined as…
X, also referred to as…
The definition of X is…
X, also known as…
(Wong, 2003, p. 270)
Other things to listen for:
• Details: dates, names, facts, statistics, &
definitions
• Ordinals: first, second, third, next, also, another,
in addition, last, finally
• Examples: Examples are used to make the
information more interesting, so include a
reference (you don’t need to retell the whole
story) to the example in your notes to help
trigger your memory
(Wong, 2003, p. 271)
• Leave it blank when you are unsure. Meet with
the professor or other students to fill in missing
information. It is a good idea to find a buddy in
class; should one of you be absent you can rely
on each other for any missed material or to help
fill in missing information when something is
unclear.
• Sit in the front of the class. This will help you to
concentrate on the professor and ignore
distractions during class.
• Use underlining and *asterisks* to signify
important information such as test and
assignment dates, class announcements, or
key ideas. Highlighters are fine, but the
colors do not come out when you are
making copies of your notes.
• Use mind maps, things such as Venn
diagrams and flow charts. It is also fine to
draw pictures. Make up your own type of
chart. Whatever helps you to make the
material make sense.
• Flow Chart – a flow
chart uses boxes with
text, graphics, and
symbols to show
operations, directions,
organization, data, and
the different stages of a
process. This is great
for science or history
classes.
(The NASA Science Files Homepage, 2004).
Venn Diagram – Used to show comparisons between two or more things.
You can always add another circle to show the similarities and difference
between three things.
(LD Online, 2005)
Types
of
Notes
Paragraph Style
• Write what you
hear and
paraphrase
• Use bullets
• With each new
idea start a new
paragraph
Outline Style
• Uses Roman
numerals, letters,
and numerals
• Each indention is a
smaller
classification
• Uses key words
and phrases
Cornell Style
The Cornell system for taking notes is designed to
save time but yet be highly efficient. There is no
rewriting or retyping of your notes. It is a
"DO IT RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE"
system.
First Step – PREPARATION Use a large, loose-leaf
notebook. Use only one side of the paper. (you then can
lay your notes out to see the direction of a lecture.) Draw
a vertical line 2 1/2 inches from the left side of you
paper. This is the recall column. Notes will be taken to
the right of this margin. Later key words or phrases can
be written in the recall column.
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdyhlp.html
Cornell Style Continued
Second Step - DURING THE LECTURE Record notes in
paragraph form. Capture general ideas, not illustrative ideas. Skip
lines to show end of ideas or thoughts. Using abbreviations will
save time. Write legibly.
Third Step - AFTER THE LECTURE Read through your notes
and make it more legible if necessary. Now use the column. Jot
down ideas or key words which give you the idea of the lecture.
(REDUCE) You will have to reread the lecturer's ideas and reflect
in your own words. Cover up the right-hand portion of your notes
and recite the general ideas and concepts of the lecture. Overlap
your notes showing only recall columns and you have your review.
http://lvillage.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/lv/hsmoun/hp.nsf/HomePages/bbowling
The key to taking good notes is
finding what works best for
you. You should use these
hints and techniques to help
you find a note taking method
that makes sense to you and
the way you learn. It is also
important to PRACTICEPRACTICE-PRACTICE!
What if my professor puts the notes
on Blackboard?
• Today, you will find many professors that put their
notes on Blackboard. That does not mean that you
should tune out and take nap!
• Make sure you have printed out a copy of the notes and
bring them to class with you.
• This is a great chance to focus on what is being said
and supplement the notes with key points, examples,
and main ideas.
• Use the professors verbal and non-verbal cues to help
you decided what and where to supplement the notes.
• Use your system of abbreviations and symbols to point
out important material.
(Lipsky, 2004, p. 59).
THE END
• End of note taker training
• Thank you for volunteering to be a note taker
for a fellow student with a disability!
Sources
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Bowlings English Page. Retrieved on June 8, 2005 from
http://lvillage.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/lv/hsmoun/hp.nsf/HomePages/bbowling
Lipsky, S. (2004). The essential ingredients: College study. New Jersey: Pearson.
LD Online. (2005) Teaching strategies. Retrieved on June 6, 2005 from
http://www.ldonline.org/images/ld_indepth/memory_trategies_venn.gif
Marshall, L. & Rowland, F. (1998). A guide to learning independently (3rd ed.).
Australia: Longman.
Oberline On line. (1996) Services for students with disabilities. Retrieved on June 1,
2005 from http://www.oberlin.edu/learning/Confidentialitystudents.html
The NASA Science Files Homepage. (2004). Scientific method flowchart. Retrieved
on June 6, 2005 from
http://whyfiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/Research_Rack/images/scientific_meth
od01.gif
Virginia Tech, Cook Counseling Center. Note taking: The cornell system. Retrieved
on June 8. 2005 from http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdyhlp.html
Wong, L. (2003). Essential study skills (4th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.