Did you have to pay for a note-taker? How do I access this service?

-Rimal's Perspective

Paying for a note-taker

I did not have to pay for a note-taker because at University of Waterloo, it is a volunteer position. This accommodation was decided on when I met with my accessibility advisor to discuss which classroom accommodations will help me to make the most of lectures.

Accessing the note-taker service

At University of Waterloo, the steps for accessing this service are:

Request a note taker through your account on the accessibility website.
The accessibility office notifies the professor, who posts "volunteer note-taker requested" on the classroom website.
Students sign up to become a note-taker by contacting the accessibility office.
Once a note-taker for that class is found, the accessibility office receives notes from the volunteer note-taker electronically (typed or scanned) and uploads them onto my accessibility website page, so that I can access them when I log on. This is the website where all of my accessibility documents/agreements/information is stored, and it is specific to my student number.

Ask a friend to become your note-taker...

This process is anonymous, so I only get to see the notes that are uploaded and not the name of the person who wrote them.

However, I would highly encourage you to seek out a friend in the class- someone who you think takes good notes and who would be responsible/diligent with uploading their notes. Then, you can ask them to register as a note-taker with the accessibility office.

I prefer asking someone who I know to become a note-taker because it is voluntary, so there might not be a volunteer for a specific class. Or if someone I don't know volunteers, they might have different ways of taking notes, or they could be inconsistent with uploading their notes if they are not dependable.

This accommodation is helpful for me when I go over the notes that I made and compare them to what the note-taker wrote, just in case I missed something.

"This accommodation is helpful for me when I go over the notes that I made and compare them to what the note-taker wrote, just in case I missed something."

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