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In-class note-taking is a vital learning activity in secondary and post-secondary classrooms. The process of note-taking helps students stay focused on the instruction, forces them to cognitively process what is being presented, and better retain what has been taught, even if they never refer to their notes after the class. However, note-taking is difficult for students with low vision, or who are legally blind for two reasons. First, they are less able to see what is being presented at the front of them room, and second, they must repeatedly switch between the far-sight task of viewing the front of the room, and the near-sight task of taking notes. This paper describes ongoing research aimed at developing a portable assistive device (called the Note-Taker) that a student can take to class, to assist in the process of taking notes. It describes the principles that have guided the development of the proof-of-concept Note-Taker prototype and the Note-Taker 2.0 prototype. Initial testing of those prototypes has been encouraging, but some significant problems remain to be solved. Proposed solutions are currently being implemented, and appear to be effective. If ongoing usability testing confirms their effectiveness, they will be implemented on the planned Note-Taker 3.0 prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The act of note-taking is a key component of learning in secondary and post-secondary classrooms. Students who take notes retain information from classroom lectures better, even if they never refer to those notes afterward. However, students who are legally blind, and who wish to take notes in their classrooms are at a disadvantage. Simply equipping classrooms with lecture recording systems does not substitute for note taking, since it does not actively engage the student in note-taking during the lecture. In this paper we detail the problems encountered by one math and computer science student who is legally blind, and we present our proposed solution: the CUbiC Note-Taker, which is a highly portable device that requires no prior classroom setup, and does not require lecturers to adapt their presentations. We also present results from two case studies of the Note-Taker, totaling more than 200 hours of in-class use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classroom note-taking has been shown to be beneficial, even if the student never reviews his/her own notes. Students that are legally blind are thus at a disadvantage because they face significant barriers to note-taking in the classroom. This presentation demonstrates a working prototype of the CUbiC Note Taker, which is a highly portable device that allows students who are legally blind to take their own notes in class without any special in-classroom accommodations, and without requiring lecturers to adapt their presentation in any way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that universities provide visually disabled students with human note-takers, studies have shown that it is vital that students take their own notes during classroom lectures. Because students are cognitively engaged while taking notes, their retention is better, even if they never review their notes after class. However, students with visual disabilities are at a disadvantage compared to their sighted peers when taking notes - especially in fast-pace class presentations. They find it more difficult to rapidly switch back and forth between viewing the front of the room and viewing the notes they are taking. Currently available assistive technologies do not adequately address this need to rapidly switch back and forth. This paper presents the results of a 3-year study aimed at the development of an assistive technology that is specifically aimed at allowing students with visual disabilities to take handwritten and/or typed notes in the classroom, without relying on any classroom infrastructure, or any special accommodations by the lecturer or the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]