Students may seek note-taking accommodations through the DSS Office. There are two types of note taking assistance provided through DSS: (1) access to Otter.ai to assist with note taking and (2) peer note taking. However, note-taking services are not meant to be used in place of classroom attendance. If a student chooses to use approved note taking accommodations in a class, the professor will be sent a faculty notification email detailing the type of note taking accommodation the student receives.
For students who use their approved accommodation of Otter.ai to assist with note-taking, they must sign-off on an Audio Recording Agreement each semester. This agreement prohibits the student from transferring data to websites or other public forums and makes clear that any recordings taken in class are solely for the personal use of the DSS student. To view a sample of the Audio Recording Agreement, please contact the DSS Office.
For students who use their approved accommodation of peer note taking, the DSS Office recruits a student enrolled in the same course who is willing to share and upload their notes to the DSS online portal. These notes are intended solely for the student with the approved DSS accommodation and are not distributed to others.
To recruit note-takers, DSS staff will send an informational email to the faculty. Then, DSS staff will email the class asking those interested to sign up as a note-taker. If no note-taker is found through this method, then DSS staff will email the faculty requesting their assistance in identifying a note-taker for the class.
Peer note-taking services are confidential. DSS then serves as an intermediary between the student with the approved accommodation and the note taker. At no time should the student's identity be revealed to the note taker without the student's expressed written consent.