Office of Disability Services (ODS) provides technology to help students independently meet their request for notetaking services. All eligible students may use one of the following systems:
- Sonocent
- LiveScribe SmartPen
Two other types of notetaking services may be available, and eligibility is dependent on the impact of the disability in physically taking notes.
- Peer-to-Peer Notetaking Services
- Real-time Transcribing Services
Peer-to-Peer notetaking services and real-time transcribing services requires approval from the ODS Accommodation Review Committee.
Sonocent
ODS is contracting with Sonocent to obtain subscriptions for students eligible for notetaking support. Research shows that students who take good notes are more engaged in class and ultimately get better grades. With Sonocent, students can focus on what they are hearing during the lecture, have the opportunity to highlight what the instructor identifies as important and then come back to their recording to create effective notes. Students can also import slides and images that connects to their audio recording to create multi-media study resources.
Student Responsibilities
- Students should make their request for Sonocent software at least one week before the start of the term as Sonocent software access codes are issued on a term-by-term basis.
- Requests for Sonocent access codes are processed in the order that we receive them.
- Inform ODS as soon as possible of any problems with accessing the software, using the software in classes/meetings or other technological issues.
- When selecting Sonocent, students will sign an agreement to use the Sonocent audio recordings of course lectures solely for their own educational purpose. Students will also agree to not share the software access code, make copies or release the audio recordings of course lectures to others, post to websites and/or social media, sell, or in any way hinder the instructor’s ability to obtain a copyright of this lecture content.
- Failure to comply with this policy may result in a hold on notetaking services and referral to 藏精阁 Office of Student Conduct.
ODS Responsibilities
- ODS will review and approve students’ accommodation requests.
- If approved ODS will email the students’ faculty member a notification letter, letting them know the student has requested to use Sonocent technology to meet their notetaking accommodation.
Livescribe Smartpen
The Livescribe Smartpen is a high-tech writing tool that records spoken words and synchronizes them with notes written on special paper. The is one of the most popular smart pens.
A student can record everything an instructor says and then replay any part of it later by tapping the pen's tip to the word on the paper. Although it looks and writes like an ordinary pen, the Echo is actually a multimodal computer.
A Livescribe smartpen is about the size and weight of a large pen (5/8" x 6 1/8"), and is equipped with a removable ball-point ink cartridge, a microphone to record audio, a speaker for playback, The pen has a small display, an infra-red camera, and internal flash memory that captures handwritten notes, audio and drawings.
The user can choose to record audio in addition to the handwritten text. Recorded audio is kept indexed with the handwritten text—tapping on a written word starts playback of the recorded audio from that part of the recording.
Student Responsibilities
- Students should make their request to use a Livescribe Smartpen software at least one week before the start of the term.
- Requests for Livescribe Smartpens are processed in the order that we receive them.
- ODS loans the Livescribe Smartpen to the student on a term-by-term basis.
- Student is responsible for the care of the equipment. Student agrees to pay all costs associated with any damage to the equipment or if the equipment is lost or stolen.
- Inform ODS as soon as possible of any problems with using the Livescribe Smartpens in classes/meetings, uploading files to a computer or other technological issues.
- When selecting Livescribe Smartpens, students will sign an agreement to use the Livescribe Smartpens audio recordings of course lectures solely for their own educational purpose. Students will also agree to not share the pen with other individuals to record lectures/meetings, make copies or release the audio recordings of course lectures to others, post to websites and/or social media, sell, or in any way hinder the instructor’s ability to obtain a copyright of this lecture content.
- Failure to comply with this policy may result in a hold on notetaking services and referral to 藏精阁 Office of Student Conduct
ODS Responsibilities
- ODS will review and approve students’ accommodation requests.
- If approved ODS will email the students’ faculty member a notification letter, letting them know the student has requested to use Livescribe Smartpen technology to meet their notetaking accommodation.
Peer-to-Peer Notetaking Services
For on-campus lecture classes, ODS will provide peer-to-peer notetakers for students who, due to the disability, cannot use the other notetaking technologies offered by ODS. Peer-to-peer notetakers are typically another student enrolled in the class. Notetakers are expected to attend all classes, take neat detailed notes during the lecture, and email the notes within 24 hours after the lecture. Notetakers will email the notes to the student and ODS @ DisabilityServices@xula.edu.
ODS does not typically provide peer-to-peer notetakers for the following courses:
- On-Line courses
- ALS (Academic Learning Services)
- PAC (Physical Activity Courses)
- Lab
- Recitation
- Practicum
- Internship
- Other non-lectured courses
If one of the above classes requires lecture notes, students must schedule an appointment with the Disability Services Coordinator to have their request reviewed. To schedule an appointment please call (504)520-7607 or email DisabilityServices@xula.edu. Otherwise, the note-taking request will automatically be canceled and the status changed to one of the options below.
- On-Line – Notetaking Not Provided
- Non-Lecture Class – Addn’l Info Needed for Notetaking
Student Responsibilities
- Request notetaking services using ODS On-line Services at least one week before the start of the term. Students are encouraged to request accommodations within 48 hours of registering for classes. Requests for notetaking services are processed in the order they are received.
- Respond to requests for information from ODS as soon as possible.
- Cancel notetaking requests if a notetaker or notes are not needed for a course.
- It is the policy of ODS that in order for students to receive peer-to-peer notetaking services, students agree they will NOT distribute, post on-line, copy for others, or sell the notes provided by the ODS notetaker or the faculty member.
- Failure to comply with this policy may result in a hold on notetaking services and referral to 藏精阁 Office of Student Conduct.
Once a notetaker is assigned:
- The student will receive an email notification stating that a notetaker has been assigned to the class. The email will contain the notetaker’s name and contact information.
- Students are encouraged to develop and maintain a working relationship with the notetaker, either in person or via email. For tips on how to communicate with a peer-to-peer notetaker, visit this page: Communication Tools
- Students must attend class in order to receive notes. If the student does not attend class, they should ask a classmate for notes.
- Students should communicate with ODS as soon as possible any problems with notes, such as quality and timeliness of notes, notes not emailed within 24 hours or the faculty member is not providing notes when they agreed to do so. Please note, it may take several business days to resolve a notetaking issue or to find a new notetaker.
- If students cannot access the notes, they can come to the ODS office for technical assistance. Students may wish to bring a laptop so that we can better assist them with any technical issues.
What happens if students are not matched to a peer-to-peer notetaker after the start of the term?
- ODS will email the notetaking need to your faculty member, asking them to read the announcement in class or post an announcement on the course website (not mentioning the name of the student). If you do not hear this announcement in class or see this announcement in Brightspace by the first week of the term or within three days of requesting accommodations, please notify Disability Services immediately.
- Consider recruiting classmates to become a peer-to-peer notetaker. Please note: Students who self-recruit are the most satisfied with the quality of the notes. If you find a classmate to take notes with, please direct them to the ODS.
- Students can also email DisabilityServices@xula.edu with the potential notetaker's name and email address and ODS will contact them. Please remember that the peer-to-peer notetaker must be enrolled in the class.
- Contact Disability Services with any questions or concerns about recruiting a peer-to-peer notetaker.
- If a peer-to-peer notetaker has not been assigned by the end of week 2 of the term, please schedule an appointment with Disability Services at (504)520-7607 or DisabilityServices@xula.edu to discuss potential options. Otherwise, ODS will automatically cancel the request and change the status to one of the options below.
ODS Responsibilities:
- Once students have requested their peer-to-peer notetaking accommodations for their classes, ODS will email the students’ faculty member a notification letter, indicating the student has requested peer-to-peer notetaking for the course.
- If ODS does not have an assigned notetaker in the class, ODS will take the following steps:
- The student will receive an email asking for confirmation of the need for a notetaker. This question is asked, as students will request a notetaker before the beginning of the term and once they attend class they find out the faculty will post notes on-line but forget to cancel notetaking request.
- If the student confirms they still need a notetaker, ODS will continue with the recruiting process to find a notetaker.
- If the student does not confirm the need for a notetaker, they will receive a second email 48 hours later asking for confirmation of the request. If the student still does not confirm, a third and final request to confirm will be emailed in another 48 hours.
- If there is no response to the third confirmation email, the request is automatically canceled out of the system and ODS will no longer recruit for a notetaker in that class.
- If the student confirms the need for a peer-to-peer notetaker and no one has signed up to take notes for the class, ODS will take the following steps:
- Email the faculty asking for assistance in recruiting a peer-to-peer notetaker by making an announcement (without mentioning names) in class or via Brightspace.
- Ask the student to consider recruiting classmates to become a peer-to-peer notetaker. Note: Students who self-recruit are the most satisfied with the quality of the notes. Direct any potential notetakers to the ODS.
- If no in-class notetaker can be found ODS will assign an ODS student worker to the class to be the notetaker.
Real-Time Transcribing Services
Under certain conditions, speech-to-text services, such as real-time transcribing or CART, services may be needed to accommodate the student. With real-time transcribing, a transcriber (either in class or remotely) will type the lecture material in a “meaning-for-meaning” (not word-for-word) format. Class discussions, environmental noise, social interaction among other students, and non-lecture related comments (jokes, etc.) will also be transcribed.
Communication Access Real-time Translation services or CART provides a written, verbatim account of what is being said in the classroom. Students who receive either CART or real-time transcribing as an accommodation will receive edited transcripts within 24 hours. See Chapter 12 for additional information.
Evaluation
Periodically, Disability Services conducts evaluations of our programs and service providers. Student participation and candid comments are appreciated. The information will be used to improve the quality of all our programs and will be shared with captioner in order to aid their professional development.
Contact Us
Office of Student Health Services
St. Joseph Academic & Health Resource Center
Building #13, Room 217
Office: 504-520-7396
Fax: 504-520-7962
Mailing Address
1 Drexel Drive
P.O. Box 36
New Orleans, LA 70125
Hours of Operation
Monday - Thursday: 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Friday: 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Closed for Lunch