OAA offers notetaking support for students with qualifying disabilities. These accommodations help mitigate limitations that affect a student’s ability to take notes in class and provides equal access to course content during lectures.
What to Know About Notetaking Support
What it provides:
- Accessible ways to take notes in class
- Tools to strengthen and supplement your own notes
- Support that encourages you to grow more confident and independent in notetaking
What it doesn’t replace:
- Your responsibility to attend class.
- Your role in actively listening, engaging, and making meaning of course material.
Determining Notetaking Support
OAA reviews requests for notetaking support on an individual basis. During the accommodation process, staff consider how a student’s disability impacts their ability to capture lecture content and what strategies or tools will best provide equal access.
Possible supports include:
- Genio: A browser-based app (usable online or offline) that allows students to record and annotate lectures. Genio offers features such as marking key moments to revisit, creating to-do lists, inserting slides or images into notes, and copying text from the lecture transcript. Because it gives the student direct control over their own notes, Genio is often the first option considered, as it provides the necessary support while also helping students develop independent notetaking skills and actively engage with course material.
- Permission to Audio Record: Students may be approved to record class lectures to ensure access to course content. Beginning in 2025, all approved recordings will be made using Genio, which provides a secure platform for audio capture. Instructors may ask students to pause recording during sensitive discussions or activities that are not related to course lectures.
- Access to Lecture Materials: When available, course slides or outlines can provide a useful framework that reduces the pressure of keeping up with every detail during class.
- Permission to Photo Board (Photographing Instructional Materials): When applicable, the student is allowed to take photos of the board or presentation materials as needed to support accurate note-taking.
- Peer Notetaking: If technology does not provide an effective solution, a peer notetaker may be arranged. A peer notetaker is a student enrolled in the same class who volunteers to share their notes through an anonymous upload system. Because these are the peer’s own notes, OAA cannot require changes to their notetaking style, and the reliability of this support can vary depending on the peer.
In each case, OAA discusses options with the student, considers the course format, and selects the support that is most likely to provide consistent and meaningful access.
Genio: Technology-Assisted Notetaking and Recording
Overview
Starting in Fall 2025, OAA is piloting the use of Genio, an innovative online platform designed to improve access and engagement for students with disabilities who have been approved for notetaking support accommodations, including course recording. The platform underwent a thorough UIS security review and has been formally approved for campus use. Genio allows students to capture audio, lecture slides, text, and annotations in one streamlined system—empowering them to more effectively review and organize course notes.
Unlike traditional peer note-taking or informal recording apps, Genio provides robust privacy protections and a controlled environment that ensures compliance with legal and institutional standards. By piloting Genio, Ƶ is following best practices in the disability services community in Oregon and throughout the US. OAA is enthusiastic about Genio’s potential to enhance student access, and set a new standard for how we deliver accommodations with integrity, security, and innovation.
How do students get access to Genio?
Access to Genio is available only to students registered with OAA who have been approved for an official accommodation for audio recording of class lectures and/or notetaking support. Students must also review and sign OAA’s Genio Agreement before gaining access.
Why has Ƶ OAA Office decided to use Genio for audio recording and note taking accommodation? Why can’t students just receive peer-notes or record with their phones?
We selected Genio for a few reasons:
- Security and Privacy:
- Genio offers enhanced security and data privacy measures, which may not be available when students are audio recording on their phones or while using other recording applications.
- Genio does not allow students to export audio recordings outside of the Genio platform. This means that all class recordings remain securely within the platform, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized distribution.
- Genio has been approved by UIS and General Counsel as a secure platform for note-taking and audio recording services.
- Learning and Engagement Features: Genio offers features to enhance students’ learning and engagement with course material, including:
- Capture audio, text, lecture slides, and images into a single comprehensive notes document
- Annotate notes so information can be found and reviewed easily
- Create “tasks” or to-do items for classes
- Customize the application’s layout to support attention and minimize distractions
- Limitations of Peer Notetaking: While peer notetaking can be helpful in some cases, it is not always the best fit. It may provide more detail than a student needs, or fail to match the way the student learns. It can also be less reliable since finding and onboarding peer notetakers takes time, and OAA cannot control the notetaker’s style, accuracy, or consistency.
- Equity and Independence: Genio empowers students to build and customize their own notes rather than depending on another student’s interpretation of the material.
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Are students allowed to share their recordings?
No. Any audio recordings made for accommodation purposes are for the student's personal educational use only. Recordings and/or transcripts may not be shared or published.
Furthermore, Genio does not allow users to export recordings outside of the platform. This means all class recordings remain securely within the planform, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized distribution.
How long do students have access to their recordings?
As per the agreement that students sign, students understand that OAA will delete their class recordings once the recordings are no longer needed for the student’s academic work, typically upon completion of the course.
What are the guidelines given to students who are using this accommodation?
All students must sign the following agreement:
I agree that I will only audio record portions of class when course content is being presented or explained, and will pause or stop recording during other activities. I will not use Genio outside of class. I acknowledge that this accommodation does not permit me to use other audio recording applications to record class content.
I agree that any recordings or transcriptions of class content are solely for my personal use in study and preparation related to the class.
I understand that OAA will delete or destroy any recordings I have made once they are no longer needed for my academic work, typically at the end of the course. If I have a legitimate academic reason to retain a recording beyond the course completion date, I must submit a written request to OAA, which will review and evaluate the request.
I will not release, post, share, sell, or otherwise make available the recordings/transcriptions in any format to any other person, whether or not that person is in my class.
I will not publish or quote information contained in the recordings/transcriptions.
I acknowledge that the recordings are sources, the use of which in any academic work is governed by rules of academic conduct at Ƶ, as well as any additional University policies or relevant laws, such as but not limited to, copyright law.
If other students or speakers are sharing personal or sensitive information, or if the class is engaged in group work, role-play, or other interactive activities, I will pause or stop the recording as needed to respect privacy. This accommodation only covers recording during lecture or explanations of course content.
I understand that a violation of this agreement may result in referral to the student conduct.
When and What Can a Student Record?
Students are permitted to record during portions of class where the instructor or others are actively presenting or explaining course content. This typically includes:
- Traditional lectures
- Verbal explanations of concepts
- Instructor demonstrations
Audio recording is limited to these presentation-focused portions of class.
In most situations, recordings are not permitted during collaborative activities, group work, exams, or similar interactive or peer activities.
Faculty may indicate the start and end of these lecture segments if they prefer. The goal is to ensure that the student’s accommodation is fully met and that they have equitable access to the course material.
Do other students in the course need to be notified that recording may be taking place? What about FERPA?
Under Oregon law, classroom lectures recorded with an unconcealed device are explicitly exempt from being considered private conversations (ORS 165.540(6)(a)(B)). Although state law does not require notification or consent in these circumstances, it is our practice that instructors inform the class that portions of instruction may be recorded. This notice should be given in a way that does not disclose the identity of the student(s) using the accommodation.
Additionally, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) does not prohibit students from recording lectures for personal educational use when the recording is part of an approved accommodation.
Perhaps the simplest way to give notice to your class is to add a statement to your syllabus, such as: “This class may be recorded at times for accessibility reasons. Only students with specific approved accommodations through the Office of Accessibility and Accommodations may do so, unless otherwise authorized by the instructor. Any students using this accommodation have agreed that the recordings are for their personal educational use only, and that recordings will not be shared or published.”
What if we are discussing sensitive or personal subject matter?
Occasionally, instructors may have concerns about recording class sessions that involve significant self-disclosure or discussion of sensitive topics, fearing that the recording will inhibit students or speakers from sharing freely. If these discussions are not appropriate subject matter for any student to be taking notes, it would be appropriate to make a general announcement to the class and ask all students to pause in their note-taking and recording activities.
Does Genio allow user data to be used to train AI technology?
Genio does not sell or rent user data, or allow third parties to use their data for AI training. During our current pilot, Pacific has opted to deactivated the AI features Genio offers.
Are these accommodations allowed at other schools? Do others use Genio?
Notetaking supports such as permission to audio record, technology-assisted notetaking, and peer notetaking are all widely used and recognized as reasonable accommodations in higher education. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education also recognizes this as an appropriate auxiliary aid for students with disabilities.
Postsecondary institutions are legally required to provide auxiliary aids and services to students with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Genio, formerly known as Glean, is widely used across colleges and universities to support students with accommodations. Many institutions rely on it to efficiently manage and deliver notetaking support, reflecting a best practice in accessible education. Its widespread adoption includes, but is not limited to, the University of Oregon, Reed College, Willamette University, Linfield University, Portland State University, Yale University, UCLA, Cornell University, and many more.
What if I’m concerned that audio recording may be an unreasonable accommodation for my particular course, given the course content or format?
Faculty who are concerned that a recording accommodation may be unreasonable for a particular course may contact OAA to request reconsideration of an accommodation.
To evaluate whether an accommodation would constitute a fundamental alteration, OAA will request the following information:
1. A review identifying the essential academic standards or objectives of the course or program.
2. A clear articulation of the specific course or program requirements that are fundamental to meeting those essential standards or objectives.
3. A description of the unique qualities of these requirements and how they relate to the essential academic standards or objectives.
4. An explanation of how the proposed accommodation would fundamentally alter the essential standards or objectives of the course or program.
OAA will review the information and make a determination. This process ensures that faculty concerns are carefully considered while also upholding the university’s obligations under the ADA and Section 504 to provide students with disabilities equal access to Ƶ’s programs.
Peer Note-Taking Process
Once a student has met with OAA and has been found eligible to use note-taking as an accommodation, the student’s accommodation letters will be sent. OAA will reach out to the student to confirm for which specific courses the student would like a notetaker. Please note that it may take 2-3 weeks from the time of the request before a notetaker is in place.
Notetakers
Once a note-taking request is received, OAA will reach out to the class and ask for a volunteer notetaker from the course through Accommodate. The communication goes directly to the university email accounts of students on the class roster and will not identify the student who needs the notes. All note takers and students will remain anonymous.
Students who are selected as notetakers will receive a small, one-time honorarium (payment) at the end of the semester for their assistance, typically $25 per number of credits in the course (i.e. a three credit course would earn a total of $75).
Notetakers will be provided instructions on how to take notes and upload them to Accommodate. These steps are:
- Visit the portal:
- Complete a login with your PUNet ID (i.e. test6789) and search for title of the course for which you are sharing notes
- Fill out the required fields and upload the file(s) and submit
- Repeat this process for any additional notes you need to submit
Notes may be in .doc, .docx, and .pdf format. Once they are uploaded, they will be immediately viewable by the students who must view these notes per their accommodations.
Scanning
Ƶ Libraries have scanners on each campus that you can use.
Some personal computers, tablets, and smartphones also have the ability to produce quality scans of documents, as well.
Viewing Notes
Once a peer notetaker is assigned and uploads notes, students with note-taking services can access the notes that have been uploaded by signing into the Student Accommodate portal and going to Note Taker Network and then Note Library. Scroll down to access all notes that have been uploaded, select Download PDF to access and save the notes.
Underperforming Notetaker
It is the accommodated student’s responsibility to let OAA know in a timely manner if their note taker is not performing their duties, or if there are issues with the quality of notes submitted by the note taker. If performance is unsatisfactory, your services will be terminated. Pay will be prorated from the time the decision to terminate has been made by the Director of OAA or designee.
If a notetaker is not performing their responsibilities at a satisfactory level, OAA will begin recruiting for a new note taker for that course. If multiple volunteers responded to the initial email, OAA will contact those students first to see if they are still interested in serving as a note taker. Otherwise, OAA will reach out to the enrolled students again to see if another student may be interested. OAA may also reach out to the instructor of the course and ask for recommendations for a volunteer note taker based on good standing in the course. The new notetaker, once assigned, will be asked to submit all of their notes from the beginning of the semester.
Alternatives to Peer Note-taking
In the event that a peer notetaker cannot be found within three weeks of the request or start date of the course, whichever is later, OAA will attempt any/all of the following alternatives:
- Contact the course instructor to provide notes to the student or to recommend a student as a note taker for the course.
- Hire a peer notetaker from outside of the class to attend the course and take notes. This option may not be appropriate for all courses, such as ones that require specialized prior understanding of the course material.
- Contact the student who requested the accommodations and see if an alternate accommodation can be put into place for that course that provides an equitable solution.
In the event one of these alternatives is necessary, OAA will provide instructions to the student about how they will receive their accommodation.