Sydney Weaver is not supposed to take notes. She has cerebral palsy, restricting and making her movement more difficult. She relies on the Paul Menton Centre’s (PMC) volunteer note-taking program, which students say is running slowly with complications from online learning.
“Physically, my hand gets numb … when I write,” said Weaver, a third-year communications and media studies student at Carleton University. “I get fatigued really quickly.”
Through the note-taking program, a classmate will upload lecture notes to a Carleton Central portal after class, giving Weaver extra time and resources to complete assignments.
However, for two asynchronous courses, Weaver is missing more than a month of notes from the PMC.
For one course, the most recent notes uploaded to Carleton Central are from the week of Oct. 5. For another, the most recent notes are from the week of Oct. 19.
Weaver’s experience is echoed by some volunteer student note takers who say the transition to online learning has introduced additional challenges and stresses to the PMC’s note-taking program.
Inconsistencies in the schedule for posting asynchronous lecture material has led to delays in submitting notes to the PMC, students said.
“It’s just a struggle for me to be able to get my notes in in a timely manner when the schedule for profs posting these lecture materials is so unpredictable,” said Hannah Velle, a second-year global and international studies student and volunteer note taker.
“It’s hard for me to plan ahead and plan around other coursework,” Velle said. “I always have to be checking the CuLearn page for the lecture notes.”
Lisa Marshall, a second-year international business student and volunteer note taker, said her work schedule sometimes interferes with her ability to upload notes on time.
“I feel really guilty if I don’t take the notes by the time they need to be uploaded,” Marshall said. “There’s a lot of stress, anxiety, guilt.”
The previous guideline for submitting notes was 48 hours after the lecture. Bruce Hamm, the manager of student services for the PMC, said the centre is more flexible this year but is still encouraging a 48-hour turnaround from volunteers.
In previous years, if notes had not been submitted about 24 hours after the deadline, a reminder message was sent to the note taker, Hamm said. This year, the centre is waiting longer after the deadline has passed before sending reminders.
“What we would normally expect in terms of a normal turnaround for notes doesn’t apply very easily this year,” Hamm said. “We want to be sure that we’re mindful of these pressures and assist any way we can.”
Hamm encouraged note takers who are struggling to get notes in on time to contact the PMC to “try and make the process work for them.”
“There’s a lot of stress, anxiety, guilt.”
But when notes are missing for a long period of time—such as in Weaver’s case—the effects are profound.
At first, Weaver took quizzes without notes. Her marks began to be affected.
As time passed, she started taking her own notes. This meant adding a half hour or more to the time it takes to get through lectures, having to pause on each new slide to take down the information.
Her hand got sore. Transferring from her wheelchair to her commode—a chair on wheels that fits over the toilet—to her bed at night became more difficult.
“My hand is a little bit sore, which means supporting myself can be a little more challenging,” Weaver said. “Any other student goes, ‘Oh, my wrist is sore, I’ll take a break.’ But for me, it affects other aspects of my life.”
Weaver contacted the PMC, which sent a reminder to the note taker. When she still didn’t have notes the next week, Weaver followed up with the note-taking team at the PMC and was told that there was nothing more they could do.
“It’s like, what do you mean there’s nothing you can do?” Weaver said. “How am I supposed to be an effective student when I don’t have notes?”
“It makes me very overwhelmed,” Weaver said.
The stress of knowing someone is relying on your notes, but you’ve been unable to complete them because the lecture has been posted late, is concerning to Kiala Yousif, a fourth-year health science student and volunteer note taker.
“I don’t know when the student plans on looking … to see their notes,” Yousif said. “If they’re expecting them on Thursday and Saturday, which is the 48-hour turnaround, and not seeing Tuesday’s class uploaded, I’m sure that’s frustrating for them,” Yousif said.
For others, the challenge is not just staying up-to-date with inconsistent posting schedules. Watching the lecture on time can be a challenge of its own.
“Sometimes it’s stressful because I wish I could put the class off until the weekend,” said Carley Pompa, a second-year criminology student and volunteer note taker.
Marshall, a volunteer note-taker, said it is a struggle for her to be detached from the people her notes will help. She said when lectures were in person, she was motivated to take notes for the PMC because she knew her notes would go to someone around her.
“You sign up to be a volunteer note taker because you know that it’s gonna improve somebody’s education and that they truly need it,” Marshall said. “If you can’t even figure out the impact you’re having, it’s really hard to keep doing it every week.”
“What do you mean there’s nothing you can do? How am I supposed to be an effective student when I don’t have notes?”
In addition to being more flexible on the 48-hour deadline, Hamm said the PMC also looks for more than one note taker per class, as a backup in case a volunteer is unable to continue submitting notes.
If a volunteer stops submitting notes without a backup note taker, the PMC will ask for another notetaker in the course regardless of when in the semester it is, Hamm said.
Weaver said she’d like more communication from the PMC on the status of her note taker, a sentiment Velle echoed in regards to her professor’s lecture posting schedule.
“If there was more communication altogether, maybe this could’ve been worked out,” Weaver said.
