Office of Disability Services

Academic Support

On this page:

Academic services are designed to assist students with disabilities in meeting all university academic requirements. If you are eligible, you may receive accommodations such as:
 

Classroom/Laboratory Accommodations

  • Furniture accommodations
  • Lab assistance
  • Reader—reads printed course materials aloud to the student
  • Writer—writes/types content as student dictates (scribe)


Note-taking

Students may experience barriers to note-taking when encountering face-to-face and online synchronous classes that are not recorded by the instructor. If your disability impacts your ability to take notes in the classroom, there are various ways to give you equal access to instruction based on your individual learning style and experience, the nature of the courses, and the nature of your disability. 

Students may use any of the following options individually or in combination with each other:

  • Notetaking Express is a third third-party service that provides a set of professionally typed notes from a live subject specialist Note Taker. Students record and upload lectures using the free Note Taking Express app on a smartphone. This service assigns a consistent note-taker throughout the semester for the course, allows the user to upload photos of any visual materials from the lecture, or even upload power-points or videos shown in class.
  • Access to Teaching MaterialsSome instructors choose to share materials such as lecture notes, power-points, or recorded lectures.
  • Laptop in class for Note Taking Students have permission to use a computer to type notes during class to allow quicker transcription, use of templates, and better organization.
  • Audio RecordingStudents have permission to record the lecture to review in their own time. Students can use a personal device or borrow a digital recorder from the lending library at the Office of Disability Services.
  • Live Scribe Smart PenStudents use a smart pen and special notebook that digitally captures everything the students write, while simultaneously audio recording everything that is spoken. The smart pen automatically syncs the ink and audio, so students can later tap the notes they wrote, and the smart pen replays the conversation from the exact moment the note was written.  Students can use their own smart pen or borrow a Live scribe pen from the lending library at the Office of Disability Services. 
  • Peer Volunteer Note-TakerVolunteer note-takers enrolled in the same course as the student may be able to share a copy of their in-class notes. Note-takers can be recruited by the student or instructor.  The Note Taker uploads the notes into AIM and can be accessed by the student.  For more information about peer note-takers connect with your case manager. 


Test Proctoring Services

  • Extended test time
  • Testing environment with reduced distractions
  • Assistive technology/software
  • Reading or writing assistance (test proctor/scribe), Scantron assistance