The institution had tried several different methods of providing note-taking accommodations for students, most notably volunteer note takers which cost them $100 per class, per note taker! Smart Pens and digital recorders had also fallen short of students’ needs. They had to discover a true solution to the issue at hand.

What problems did students and staff face when using legacy note-taking accommodations?

 

Latosha shared some specific examples of how other accommodations hadn’t given students the independence they needed to be successful in their studies, while also being an administrative burden for staff.

  • Volunteer note takers were expensive for the institution and unreliable for students, whereby “there were courses where there were no volunteer note takers at all”.

  • In these situations, students were offered Smart Pens as an alternative. However, taking handwritten notes still meant that students struggled to pay full attention to the lecture while also trying to take notes.

  • Latosha's challenge in attempting to source volunteer note takers was further complicated by thinking of ways to incentivise other students to want to act as peer note takers - making the process way more time consuming.

How did Glean help students and staff where other accommodations had failed?

 

The introduction of Glean meant that both staff and students’ problems were alleviated.

  • Using Glean meant that students could gain learning independence; “they no longer had to rely on their peers”.

  • Students no longer needed to listen in class and try to take notes at the same time. With Glean, they were free to react in the moment, then revisit and refine their notes after class.

  • Students’ parents were equally as pleased as the learners themselves; “their jaws dropped; they could not believe it”.

  • The majority of classes who request note-taking accommodations at the University of Central Arkansas now have access to Glean. This means that Latosha no longer has to spend time trying to source volunteer note takers for every student who requires one.

"I would tell anyone or any institution: invest in Glean. Invest in Glean!"

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Empower learners of all abilities

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