Notetaking Services
Resources on this page are provided to students with approved CDAR accommodations. For assistance accessing or using these resources, please email cdar-notetaking@uidaho.edu or call 208-885-6307 to schedule a meeting with the assistive technology specialist.
Which notetaking resource you use will be based on your particular needs, including disability barriers, personal devices and notetaking methods.
Notetaking Software
Students using Messenger Pigeon record class lectures using their phone, an audio recorder and/or laptop. The recording is uploaded to Messenger Pigeon where a team of professional note takers will create comprehensive class notes. Notes are then available to the student within 24 hours.
A Livescribe Smartpen is a device checked out to students that allows the user to record audio while simultaneously using it to take hand-written notes on special notebook paper. The audio and text timestamps are synced up to allow an individual to skip to the exact part of the recording they’d like to review based on what they were writing at the time. A digital copy of everything written is automatically created, which can then be uploaded easily to your computer for review in the Livescribe software or exported as a pdf.
Messenger Pigeon Instructions
Go here to access the login page or to download either the mobile or desktop app. An account will be created for you by CDAR after you have been approved for the accommodation.
Important Note: Messenger Pigeon is a third-party service and accounts are not synced with MyUI. Once an account has been made and shared with you, the new password you choose should not be the same as your university password.
Each student is allotted 250 hours audio recording per term. After a recording is submitted, the student should receive notes within 24 hours. If you feel you will run out of recording time, reach out to us at cdar-notetaking@uidaho.edu. Contact us with any questions or concerns about the notetaking process.
Reminder: It is the student’s responsibility to record the lecture and upload the recording to Messenger Pigeon for notes.
You are permitted to create and use audio recordings of class lectures for your own personal notetaking use but are NOT to:
- Share recordings with others outside of Messenger Pigeon.
- Alter the recordings to misinterpret the speaker’s meaning.
- Use the recordings for anything other than educational purposes.
- Record or upload video recordings of the class or individuals therein.
All recordings should be deleted no later than 7 days after the end of the term in which they were created.
- If you want to give feedback about your notes, use the link at the top of your returned notes. This helps to improve the quality of your notes.
- Clearly title your notes. This helps to route them to a notetaker who specializes in that area.
- Use the subject and sub category when uploading notes — helps to route them to a notetaker who specializes in that area.
- Upload supplemental materials (handouts, power points, pictures of the board) when relevant. This can help enhance the quality of the notes in situations where visual context can assist the notetaker.
- Make sure you sit close enough to get a quality recording. Adobe has released a free tool designed to clean up audio recordings. To do so, upload your recordings to https://podcast.adobe.com/enhance and download an enhanced copy.
Note: This free tool has a max duration of 1 hour per upload with a cap of three uploads per day. - The “Personal Notes” and “Study Assistant” are currently unavailable through CDAR. These features can be removed from view on the website via the “change layout” button on the top right.