Notetaking Technology –

Procedures and New Trends for Access

Accessing Higher Ground:

Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference

November 13, 2024

Presentation materials: https://go.wisc.edu/j2pezl

Questions: https://go.wisc.edu/0a949h

Notetaking Technology –

Procedures and New Trends for Access

Cody Sorlie Theis, MA (she/they)

Accessible Learning Technology Coordinator - Notetaking

McBurney Disability Resource Center

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Kevin Price, MSW

Assistant Director of Accessible Technology

Student Accessibility Services

University of Central Florida

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Presentation materials: https://go.wisc.edu/j2pezl

Questions: https://go.wisc.edu/0a949h

Presentation Overview

• Notetaking accommodations at our institutions
• Transitioning to notetaking technology, benefits and challenges
• AI and notetaking
• Demonstration of features
• Questions and discussion

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Presentation materials: https://go.wisc.edu/j2pezl

Questions: https://go.wisc.edu/0a949h

Overview of notetaking accommodations at UW Madison

• About our campus
• How we approach notetaking barriers in our office:
• Is it a skills deficit?
• Is the barrier due to disability?
• Audio recording is allowed when added as a notetaking accommodation,
• Required to sign an audio recording agreement

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Overview of notetaking accommodations at University of Central Florida

• About our campus
• Florida State Law for Public Institutions
• Responsibility of purchasing software/hardware
• How we approach notetaking accommodations

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Access versus Success

• Notetaking technologies provide access for students with disabilities when capturing lectures is a barrier.
• No barrier and the student may need to be referred to resources, tools and information about learning to take notes.
• Tools are provided as an accommodation when the disability is directly impacting their ability to capture lectures.
• AI Tools are now included in many notetaking tools. Do AI tools cross the line into success?

Notetaking Technology Options UW-Madison

• Notability app (available on iPad)
• Glean
• Livescribe Smartpens - Echo and Echo 2
• OneNote
• Personal notetaking app with audio recording
• Jamworks (piloting Fall 2024)

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Notetaking Technology Options at UCF

• Glean for Education
• Livescribe Smartpens
• Digital Recorders
• Otter.AI

Next Level

• Jamworks
• Messenger Pigeon
• Notetaker

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Vetting process for notetaking technology

• Learn about a product
• Meet with vendor
• Product should: remove a barrier or offer features not currently included in our notetaking toolkit
• Small pilot for a semester
• Formal university IT and purchasing process before a larger pilot

Use of technologies and decrease in notetakers

• Student has more control over their access to notes
• Promotes independence
• Difficulties in finding notetakers
• Technology (including automatic transcription) has increased in accuracy
• AI Summary, Quiz and other features
• At UCF, is requesting a notetaker (over technology) a preference or due to a real barrier? Technology needs to be considered first.

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Student training and support

• In person, remote, and video trainings are offered
• Drop in hours and email support
• AT department training materials include PPT presentations, fact sheets, videos and FAQ documents
• Vendor trainings provided

Assessment at UW - Madison

• An 11 Question survey to get student feedback
• can be completed anonymously
• Questions include:
• Type of training
• Feedback on training materials and trainer

Challenges and Benefits

• Pros
• Technology now usable, consistent and accurate
• Students have more control over their notes and are not reliant on a notetaker
• Potential cost savings
• Cons
• Takes time and work to stay up to date on software versions
• Learning curve with many new technologies
• Many are not comfortable with technology or find the technology less trustworthy
• Can create more barriers if not the right tool
• Maybe less accurate with poor audio, heavy accents, or STEM material

AI and Legal Landscape

• Automated features: transcription, summarization, keyword extraction
• Potential for transforming learning
• Ethical considerations and bias
• AI providing incorrect information
• Heightened scrutiny for students with disabilities

Features of Many AI Notetaking Tools

• Recording of Lectures
• Inserting pictures and files within that recording
• Scribbling notes to insert in lecture captures
• Quizzing students on lecture content with AI Tech
• Providing an AI transcription of the lecture
• Providing an auto summary using AI
• Allowing for quick keys to label parts of the recordings of lectures
• Allowing to save audio AI transcription in text formats

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Demonstration of Features

Which of the downsides are you willing to put up with?

Livescribe Echo Smartpens

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• No advanced AI features in pen or software

Glean

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• AI integration

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Notability App

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• AI integrated tools

Jamworks

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• AI integration

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OneNote

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• AI integration

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Otter

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• AI integration

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Messenger Pigeon

• Features and benefits
• Application for students with disabilities
• AI integration

What is next?

• Other notetaking tech options and features
• Tracking Use
• Future plans for notetaking accommodations
• Improving audio recording quality
• Buy in from professors
• Holding companies accountable to improving their products

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Questions and Discussion

• What are you doing at your institution that is working?
• What issues are you facing regarding notetaking tech?
• What notetaking technology are you finding success with?
• Other questions

Thank you for participating!

Contact information:

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Cody Sorlie Theis

casorlie@wisc.edu

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Kevin Price

kevin.price@ucf.edu

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