Volunteering as a note-taker gives you an opportunity to gain additional volunteer experience in addition to receiving your choice of Campus Cash or a CU Bookstore Gift Card.
To register as a note-taker for one of your courses, please complete the Peer Note-Taker Registration Form. If selected, you will receive an email from Disability Services with an invitation to an internal platform called Accommodate, where you will be able to upload notes.
Please note that completing this form does not guarantee you will be selected as a note-taker for a course. To qualify, you must be a current CU Boulder student, who is enrolled in a class that needs a note-taker.
What are the benefits of serving as a Peer Note-Taker?
- You will receive your choice of Campus Cash or a Bookstore Gift Card at the end of the semester as a token of appreciation.
- You can receive volunteer experience for your resume or the fulfillment of volunteer hours as required by certain organizations across campus.
- It is an opportunity for you to improve the quality and organization of your own notes.
What are the benefits for the student receiving notes?
- It provides the student with another set of notes that may contain information the student otherwise may have missed due to their disability.
- It allows the student to focus on the instructor. *It increases the student's confidence with lecture material and therefore, overall in the course.
- It gives the student the opportunity to participate in classroom discussion.
- It supplements the student’s own notes and provides a tool for note-taking improvement.
What are the expectations and responsibilities of the Peer Note-Taker?
- Attend every class and arrive on time.
- Upload notes to the Accommodate Portal within 12 hours of the course. Instructions on how to upload notes will be provided if you are selected as a note-taker.
- Note-takers who do not fulfill note-taking commitments for the semester may be not eligible for compensation at the end of the semester.
- Recruit a back-up note-taker in advance if you expect to miss class.
- Take clear and complete notes and take note of any important dates.
- If no notes are taken in class, upload a document stating there were no notes on that day for the course.
- Notify dsnotetaking@colorado.edu immediately if you decide to drop the course or if you can no longer serve as a note-taker.
- If you have any questions or need further support, please email dsnotetaking@colorado.edu as soon as possible.
How to be a successful note-taker?
To be a successful note-taker, be sure to include the following in your notes:
- Record the course prefix, number and section (e.g., ECON 1001-001) and session date on the top of the first page of each entry.
- Write notes that are complete and clear enough to understand when you come back to them.
- Anything written/typed on the board or presented on PowerPoint or projector.
- If PowerPoint slides are provided by the instructor, you do not have to repeat content.
- Pertinent comments made by your instructor or classmates during lecture and/or discussions.
- Any information that is repeated or emphasized by the instructor, especially when preceded by key phrases (“finally,” “remember,” “most important,” “this will be on the exam,” etc.).
- Numbered or listed items, procedures, examples, etc. *Important or new ideas, terms, definitions, concepts and examples.
- Explain all abbreviations or acronyms when using them for the first time. *References to your textbook (page numbers, exercises, graphics, tables, etc.) or other reference materials.
- Ask questions about topics that need more clarification.
- If a topic is still unclear, indicate uncertainty about the content with a question mark.
- Before uploading, review your notes and fill in any gaps in concepts or content.