[blindlaw] Class Notes

[Shelley Richards]

Amy,
I never used a notetaker or recorded classes, but I do know of several
people who went to law school with me who did both.  You should first
ask the school about how they handle notetaking and recording classes
if you are interested in that as well.  My school for example did not
allow students to make their own recordings, but rather you had to
request it as an accomidation and the school would use their audio
visual equiptment to make the recording and the student who had
requested the accomidation would be given a password to access the
recordings for the semester at which time the password would expire
and the recordings would be deleted.  Professors were also required to
inform the class if a session was being recorded, once at the
beginning of the semester if every class would be recorded, and on a
case by case basis if only certain classes were being recorded.  They
were not however allowed to tell anybody why class was being recorded,
and they were not allowed to refuse once the school approved the
request.  For notetakers we also had to make a request for that
accomidation, and the school would pay notetakers for each of the
classes which had one or more students requiring notes.  The students
would have to submit sample notes and be interviewed for the
possition.  They were then hired and paid per set of notes by the
school.  They had to submit the notes online to the school within a
specific time period of each class ending, and the school checked the
notes then made them available to the student(s) needing them.  I
believe that it was required that each student needing notes must have
access to them within 24 hours of the ending of each class period.
The notetakers were also required to inform the school and make
arrangements for a backup if they were absent by the terms of their
employment agreement with the school.  I did not make use of either of
these programs, but the people I personally know who did seemed to
think both systems worked quite well.  The 2 I know who had classes
recorded had cronic medical problems which ment they had certain class
sessions recorded when they could not attend class because of their
medical needs.  They both liked the system.  The 2 I know who got
notes did so because one was blind and one was dislexic, and they both
found the system to work quite well, and the blind student had no
accessibility issues with the online site from which she downloaded
the notes.  The blind student definitely did not take her own notes
during class, but she did often rewrite the notes she was given, and
she definitely still did all of her own outlining.  The dislexic
student I believe did take his own notes as well during class, and
just used the prepared notes as a back up since it was dificult for
him to write quickly enough to keep up and get everything in his notes
that he would have liked.  So you should really check with your school
first, if you have not already done so, and try to figure out what
will work best for you.  No student is required to take notes if they
do not want to, so I can't see a school requiring that the blind
student still take notes.  I had people in my classes who definitely
did not take notes just because they did not feel like it, of course
they generally did not do so well in the class, but they were not
marked down in any way simply because they chose not to take notes.  I
doubt that anybody would seriously be looking around to see if people
are or are not taking notes because hopefully they are looking at
their own notes and paying attention to the professor lol, and I am
not sure if it would occur to anybody to think that anyone was
specifically required to take notes.  When I was in under grad people
would find their own notetakers with the help of the DSS office, and
were told, although not actually required, to get a student who was
taking, or had already taken the specific class(es) in question.  In
the end it is all about what will work best for you.

On 9/18/15, Olusegun -- Victory Associates LTD, Inc. via blindlaw
<blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello Amy:
>
> Whether or not I am provided a notetaker, I always RUN A RECORDER.  I let my
>
> teacher know that I'll be recording the class so I can write my own notes
> afterwards.
>
> A notetaker, as far as I am concerned, MAY NOT NECESSARILY know what I
> consider to be important and may most likely leave certain pieces of
> information I consider reasonably relevant for study purposes.
>
> I never met a teacher that DID NOT allow me to record the class!  And they
> were all fairly friendly.
>
> Sincerely,
> Olusegun
> Denver, Colorado
>
>
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-- 
Shelley Richards
shelleyrichards9 at gmail.com
shelley.richards at law.nyls.edu
(856) 577-3564