Notetaking approaches
Whether a class or meeting is taking place on-site or remotely, it is important to consider options for taking and sharing notes. While there are some students who have eligibility for notetaking support as an academic accommodation, there are also many more people who will benefit from a good note taking and sharing plan.
Depending on if a remote meeting is part of a course, or a standalone meeting, consider where you might post the notes to ensure they can be found by those who were able to participate directly, as well as those who might have had connection problems or attendance limitations.
Prioritizing AEDR support for different types of meetings
- The first priority for AEDR will be any course in which there is an active accommodation request for notetaking support.
- Our next priority will be for meetings in which there is critical information being shared, and there is a concern from the facilitator about being able to capture information effectively in the absence of additional notetaking support. Depending on volume, Accessible Ed & Disability Resources will triage and prioritize the best we can.
Options people can put in place on their own
- Share agenda and presentation materials in advance – this way participants can review (whether in advance or after the fact).
- Assign a notetaker – or multiple notetakers – who can take notes during the meeting and share their notes with everyone.
- Record the session – so people have the chance to review and take notes as needed.
Options Accessible Ed & Disability Resources can help to facilitate
- Messenger Pigeon is a paid service that uses humans to generate written notes from audio recordings (not a full transcript).
- Automatic transcription is an option to provide live transcription or captions through artificial intelligence. There are typically recognition errors, and there are differences between platforms in terms of the ability to edit or correct errors.
- In Google the automatic captions are available by default, and tactiq.io can be used to create a transcript saved to Google Drive.
- In Zoom, automatic captions and interactive live transcripts have to be enabled by the host – more information is available through cap@pcc.edu.
- Otter allows for recording directly, or uploading audio or video files for automatic transcription. The Otter assistant can also be scheduled to record meetings when a participant has been invited, even if that person does not actually attend. Otter also allows for recordings and notes to be sent out to all invited participants. Anyone using Otter or other recording tools should ensure they are reviewing settings carefully, and making choices accordingly. Students using an Otter account to record class sessions as a notetaking strategy should typically also have “Technology Use” on their Faculty Notification letters. This alerts instructor that technology will be used in class for notetaking.
- Accessibility aides: an AEDR employee helps ensure notes are available. Aides can:
- attend meetings to take notes live during the event,
- prepare notes from a recording, or
- help manage an Automatic Transcription service.
Consultation appointments
We are happy to connect and collaborate. The tech group number is 971-PCC-TECH (971-722-8324) and the email is access-tech-group@pcc.edu.