Upgrading Note-taking Accommodations:
Posted by reebohn on July 28, 2009
A pilot service enhancement program at Bergen Community College
Overview:
In 2008, The Center for Collegiate Deaf Education [CCDE] at Bergen Community College was awarded supplemental grant funds from the Commission on Higher Education to pilot improvements on services currently funded by the New Jersey Regional Center. The approved proposal submitted by CCDE was for implementing a Professional Note-taking Service as a means to improve upon the existing Note-taking accommodation process and protocol.
Currently, CCDE provides peer Note-taking services as an accommodation in conjunction with the Office of Specialized Services, however, the service enhancement brought about an opportunity to explore potential changes for the larger service. This service entails securing a peer notetaker with the assistance of the instructor after the first or second week of class. Thus far note-taking procedures have been an efficient method of obtaining notes for students, the aforementioned concerns have been brought to our attention.
Why Note-taking?
Note-taking services are an accommodation provided to eligible students based on disability diagnosis. Given that a significant percentage of the CCDE student population is enrolled in developmental courses identifying a peer note-taker who is taking comprehensive notes may be difficult. Hence the system of peer note takers is not an effective approach to providing services.
Secondly, there are often situations where students experience difficulty in securing a note-taker for their college level class. Students sometimes need to wait up to three weeks into the semester before they get a note taker; there have been occasions where the student was not able to find a note taker at all. The inability to secure a note taker from day one of class puts students who are Deaf and/or hard of hearing at a disadvantage. They may have to resort to taking their own notes which interferes with their ability to fully attend to the lecturer or interpreter.
Lastly, student often have concerns about the quality of the notes they are receiving from their peers. For certain content heavy classes there is a significant amount of information shared verbally, which a note taker may not be capturing. Even with attempts to communicate their needs to the note taker, some students feel that they may not be receiving a comprehensive overview of class lectures.
Note-taking is a widely used accommodation and a valuable service for students with disabilities. By piloting improvements and changes with a small population, CCDE along with OSS can explore opportunities to expand the service to assist other students receiving notes on our campus. The goal ultimately is to create an efficient and effective service that students will be able to access with ease.
Our Pilot Program:
In a joint effort with student service departments, CCDE employed ‘Professional Note- takers.’ Professional Note-takers (PNTs) were hired under specified academic requirements and criteria, from the pool of current students at Bergen Community College. PNT’s were provided comprehensive training on note taking methodologies as well as Deaf awareness trainings.
Professional Note-takers were assigned to identified courses. In addition, professional note takers were provided with mobile note taking equipment, the Pegasus Mobile Notetaker and the DigiMemo. This equipment allowed Note-takers to record notes onto regular paper then later upload and convert the written notes into text which can be saved, modified and sent as needed. A copy of the notes was also supplied to the class instructor as well as other students receiving note-taking services in the course. An additional hard copy of the notes will be archived in the CCDE for assessment and evaluation. Professional Note-takers were responsible for keeping detailed records of which classes they took notes, securing a back up note-taker in the case of their absence, and reporting to the note taking supervisor as necessary.
Service Enhancement Goals:
• Improve the quality, availability, and accessibility of Note-taking services
• Incorporate technology into current services to improve the quality and efficiency of Note-taking
• Fulfill students’ requests by providing guaranteed and reliable Note-taking services.
Discussion of Service Enhancement:
During the spring, summer, fall semesters of 2008 CCDE offered the enhanced Note-taking service to a total of twenty-five courses and forty-seven students were recipients of Note-taking services. Of those courses, six were remedial level course and one was a course for international students with limited English skills. CCDE employed a total of 15 note-takers in the course of the pilot.
Data collection, assessment and evaluation of the service enhancement were an ongoing process. A supervisor was identified to provide feedback to Note-takers, as well as, monitor and modify delivery of Note-taking services to ensure quality. Observation notes and informal interviews were conducted with students in addition to the surveys distributed to identify concerns, perceived benefits, and suggestions for improvement of service. Data was collected and compiled for an analysis and evaluation of the overall impact.
A survey of students who participated in the services indicated that overall they were satisfied with the services, giving it a 95% satisfaction rate. Participants reported that they liked not having to ask anyone for a notetaker or to be a notetaker, receiving typed notes via email, and receiving notes that were easy to read and study from. However, concerns conveyed were related to the ‘turn-around time’ for receipt of notes, notetaker attendance, and concerns with back-up Note-takers. Some students didn’t receive notes in sufficient time to study or be prepared for class and/or exams; especially if the class met two consecutive days. This was particularly challenging for the summer session courses. In other cases, students reported they were not always notified if the notetaker would not be attending class. Also, some Note-takers would miss classes. With midterm check-ins, CCDE was able to rectify and/or replace note-takers who were not maintaining their commitment to the assigned class. Furthermore, if the assigned notetaker was absent from the class there was a longer delay in receiving the notes or the student was left to ask a peer or instructor to borrow and photocopy the notes. Otherwise satisfied, suggested improvements included: assigning a Note-taker for all classes, asking Note-takers to inform recipients they have arrived to class and investigate better plans for back up notes and Note-takers.
CCDE implemented the use of two different technologies. The first, called Mobile Note-takers by Pegasus, allowed Note-takers to record notes on paper using a special ink pen, and then later upload the notes to a computer. Using purchased software, MyScriptNotes, the notes were converted to text, then organized by the notetaker and emailed to the student. The second, called DigiMemo, allowed note-takers to record notes on paper and a digital pad with a special ink pen, then also upload the notes to the MyScriptNotes software to convert and email the notes to students.
Survey reports from the Professional Note-takers who participated in the services as well as informal interviews indicated they were generally dissatisfied with the technology would not recommend continued use of such technology. 11 out of 13 note-takers felt using the note-taking equipment inhibited their ability to take quality notes. Note-takers reported that they initially liked the idea of using the technology, but eventually found that the technology would inhibit their ability to take notes clearly. In addition, the note-takers found the conversion time to consume as much time as taking the actual notes. Note-takers commented:
“There are times that both systems do not get everything you write and you must go over your writing over and over again until it does.”
“You can’t draw diagrams or drawing for a class because it just screws them up totally plus whatever was in a chart ends up in the rest of your writing and breaks up in between it.”
“Neither technology tells you when ink is running low.”
“At times [the technology] makes your life harder, you have to upload and when you do your work is scattered into multiple documents. You have to get together which documents are which class then figure out where they each fit in, then go over them and see what is missing.”
Although there were some technical difficulties, based on student feedback the service was generally satisfactory and reliable. Satisfaction and reliability was measured via the informal interviews with students and surveys. Overall, majority of students (93%) reported that they would work with the same notetaker again, 97% reported that their notetaker took good notes for their course, and 100% reported that the notes were easy to follow. In addition all the students reported that the notes were helpful when doing their assignments. As a pilot project, CCDE selected only a small number of courses to implement the Note-taking services. Although there is a general high demand for Note-taking services, based on feedback from students CCDE was able to satisfactorily meet the student’s needs for basic skills courses as well as supplement Note-taking services when a notetaker couldn’t be secured.
Next Time, We would…
Overall the service enhancement had a positive impact on the Note-taking accommodation. The concerns with the current Note-taking procedures raised in the statement of need were addressed and alleviated by implementing the Professional Note-taking service. Students who were taking remedial courses were provided with a notetaker who at minimum had taken that course, completed the English Basic Skills Mastery Exam, and/or demonstrated competency in written English. Students who experienced difficulties securing a notetaker for class were supplied with a one, thus reducing the anxiety of missing out on information in classroom lectures. Lastly, concerns with the quality of notes were addressed in the service enhancement via periodic evaluations and feedback to the Note-takers. Based on the satisfactory feedback from the student participants, the Professional Note-taking service was a step in the right direction for improving the note-taking accommodation.
While the service enhancement overall has been a valuable pilot program and the student recipients were satisfied with the service, CCDE did encounter aspects that could be reconsidered in duplicating and expanding such service. As a starting point for revisiting how note-taking services are delivered, the concept of professional Note-takers is viable. However, there are features of the service that need to be revisited, revised, and reconsidered such as then name of the service, selection and screening of potential note-takers, and the technology used for the service.
CCDE found that the name of the service was somewhat unclear or misleading for some individuals. When announcing that CCDE would be piloting professional note-takers, the expectation inferred from the recipients was that the note-takers were actual ‘professionals.’ Some individuals were surprised that the note-takers were still student employees. CCDE did take the opportunity to clarify this for students in the monthly newsletter. However in retrospect, a name that would be more indicative of what the services are for perhaps would add clarity to this point.
The ‘Professional Note-takers’ were students hired in cooperation of the Career and Co-Op office on campus, and selected based on a set of job requirements. Using student s as note-takers had added benefits for both the student employees and college. Students, majority receiving federal work study, were able to participate in on campus employment and gain experience and training working with Deaf & hard of hearing students. In addition, the availability and abundant supply of student workers is an easy pool to target. In spite of the opportunities for the Note-takers, CCDE found much consideration needs to be put into the criteria for selecting note-takers. Included in the criteria were qualities of punctuality, dependability, flexibility, and professionalism. As these are qualities that often come with maturity and experience, at times they became points of contention and concern for Note-taking recipients. If we were to duplicate this process again it is recommended that the screening process include questions to address the aforementioned qualities or implement a way to quantify the qualities so they can be fairly measured. Although, using student workers was a readily available pool of prospective note-takers, it is crucial to consider their academic priorities and be aware those priories may supersede the note-taking job.
Lastly, the largest lesson was the technology used. Idealistically, the purchased technology met the needs of the proposed service; in actuality it required more work and dedication from the Note-takers than the current system. The general feedback, concerns, and complaints from the note-takers were valuable in collecting a firsthand assessment of what is available out there. It appears that these systems may be effective and appropriate for individual use, but not for use with a larger population to service. The time required to prepare the notes and ensure the quality often equaled the time of the classroom lecture. In addition, Note-takers encountered problems that undermined the service overall. Fortunately the output, outcomes, and Note-taking recipient feedback outweighed the technological setbacks. CCDE will continue to investigate opportunities for incorporating technology into Note-taking services.
