In this guide, we provide a practical framework for assessing note taking support, identifying the approach that best fits the needs of the institution, its students, and the teams responsible for supporting them.
Support options are harder to compare: Peer note takers, free consumer apps, and purpose-built accessibility tools can look like they solve the same problem, but differ significantly in what they require from staff and students.
Connecting student support to institutional priorities: A strong evaluation starts with the problem you're trying to solve, the outcomes you want, and how the solution fits your institution's wider goals.
The importance of evidence: Only 40% of purpose-built EdTech tools, and just 2% of consumer technology, have an identified evidence level.
The purpose of this guide
Colleges and universities are under pressure to provide accessible support that works at scale. Student needs are more varied than ever, and accommodation budgets need to do more with less.
Note taking support is one part of that picture, and the way institutions deliver it has changed. Peer note takers, free consumer tools, and dedicated accessibility tools now offer very different answers to the same challenge.
The choice matters beyond the notes themselves. It shapes the student experience, the workload of Disability Services teams, and whether you can reach students who may never ask for help.
Making the right decision means understanding what you’re trying to solve, what already works, where the gaps are, and what a new approach would mean for accessibility, privacy, cost, rollout, and long-term support.
This guide brings those questions together into a practical framework, so you can find the approach that best fits your institution, your students, and your team.
The changing accommodations landscape in higher education
What is driving the rising demand for accommodations among college students?
About one in five US undergraduates now report a disability: 20.5% in 2019-20, up from 19% in 2015-16. Disability Services teams are seeing demand grow in both volume and complexity, often without more staff or budget to match.
An additional challenge is that many existing processes still depend on students seeking support themselves and navigating formal systems to access accommodations.65% of students who received accommodations in high school do not request them again in college.
Part of this shift reflects who is in higher education today. New Majority Learners include growing numbers of working students, first-generation students, and students learning in a second language. Many manage barriers to learning alongside money pressures, caring responsibilities, or unfamiliarity with the support available to them.
So the number of students in Disability Services data is not a reliable measure of how many students face barriers. 85% of studentsexperiencing academic challenges will not seek support, even when support is available. For some, the process feels too hard to navigate. For others, asking for help feels like admitting they’re struggling, especially after years of learning to cope on their own.
The result is a significant gap between the students you can see and the students who need support.
How can institutions make a stronger case for investing in note taking support?
Choosing a note taking support mechanism involves more than deciding what to provide. Disability Services teams also need to build a clear case for investment, demonstrate value, and show the outcomes it delivers for students and the wider institution.
With budgets under scrutiny, decision-makers will want to know the cost, how the approach fits with what you already provide, and how you’ll measure its value over time. Making that case means connecting the day-to-day reality of accessibility support to your institution’s financial and strategic priorities.
That work continues after rollout. Leaders and other stakeholders will look for evidence of student outcomes, equal access, and sustainable support. Changes in confidence, engagement, independence, and staff workload can be hard to measure, especially for teams with high caseloads and little time for reporting.
What makes note taking support options difficult to compare?
Institutions have more ways to deliver note taking support than ever, but more choice doesn’t make the decision easier.
Free AI tools, peer note taking programs, and purpose-built accessibility tools can each meet part of the same need, while placing very different demands on students, staff, and campus systems.
The differences are often hard to spot at first. A free tool looks attractive because it costs little upfront. A peer program can feel personal but takes a lot of coordination. Purpose-built tools may offer more control, reporting, and integration, but involve a more formal buying process.
Products that look similar on paper can work very differently in practice. Accessibility, privacy, security, integration, student adoption, staff workload, governance, and ongoing support all affect whether a solution works at scale.
A meaningful comparison looks beyond features to the full experience of delivering support: what the solution asks of your institution, and what it makes possible for students over time.
How to identify the core problem you're trying to solve with note taking support
Every decision starts with a problem, but the problem isn't always clearly defined.
It might be uneven note quality across large lectures, the admin burden of running a peer note taking program, or a rising number of accommodation requests that current processes can't keep up with.
When the problem is clear, you can judge every option against what you need to achieve.
Your checklist
Write the problem down in one sentence.
Note who it affects and roughly how many students.
Note what happens if nothing changes this year.
How to engage the right stakeholders early when choosing note taking support
Choosing a note taking tool is rarely one department's decision. Disability Services may lead, but IT, procurement, faculty, student success teams, and students all shape whether a rollout succeeds.
Bring them in before decisions are fixed. That makes it easier to surface concerns early, build confidence, and set up adoption to succeed.
Your checklist
IT: security, data storage, and single sign-on (SSO).
Procurement: contract terms, pricing, and vendor documentation.
Faculty: how recording works in class and how their content is protected.
Student success: links to persistence and retention goals.
Students: whether the tool is easy and comfortable to use.
How to align the choice of note taking support with institutional priorities
The strongest business cases link note taking support to goals your institution already cares about, such as improving persistence, closing attainment gaps, or advancing Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Instead of asking only whether a tool helps students take better notes, ask whether it improves engagement, grades, or equal access to learning. That builds a case that holds up over time.
Your checklist
Find your institution's strategic plan or student success goals.
Pick one or two goals that note taking support can contribute to.
Decide how you'll measure that contribution before you buy.
An audit replaces assumptions with evidence. It shows how support is delivered today, which students benefit, and where processes create unnecessary admin work.
A full audit covers four areas:
01
How to assess usage across note taking support
Start by understanding how students use the note taking support you already offer, including peer note taking, lecture capture, captioning, and any assistive technology.
Usage is rarely even across courses, departments, or student groups. Some services are available but underused. Some students who could benefit aren't using anything at all. These gaps are hard to see through day-to-day admin alone.
Any tool used in higher education should have an admin dashboard that clearly shows student usage. If a tool doesn't, ask the vendor's customer support for the data. You can't know whether you're getting value from a tool unless you know students are using it.
Your checklist
List every note taking service and tool you currently provide.
Pull usage data for each, from an admin dashboard or the vendor.
Flag tools with low use and courses or student groups with no support.
02
How to measure the impact of note taking support
Usage is only the starting point. It doesn't tell you whether a service is working. The bigger question is whether your current approach helps students take part in learning, engage with their courses, and achieve better outcomes.
Pay particular attention to students who rely on note taking support as their main way of accessing lecture content. Meeting an accommodation requirement doesn't guarantee the underlying learning need has been met.
97.6%
A study of 48 US school districts by BrightBytes and the University of Pennsylvania found that a median of 97.6% of software licenses were never used intensively, meaning 10 or more hours between assessments.
That's K-12 data, and higher education has no equivalent study yet. That gap is a point in itself: with budgets under pressure, higher education needs firmer usage data.
Your checklist
Survey your students. Ask how they feel before and after using the tool, including their confidence, independence, and belief that they can reach their academic goals. For suggested questions, see the short College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) survey in Genio's research toolkit.
Check academic performance. Work with your institutional research or data team to compare students who used the tool with those who didn't. Look for a statistically significant difference in grades or semester-to-semester persistence.
03
How to account for the full cost of note taking support
The true cost of note taking support goes well beyond the price of a service or tool. Peer note taker pay, staff time spent recruiting and coordinating, and the ongoing work of managing quality and paperwork all add up.
Existing software licenses, outside services, and overlapping provision count too. Bringing these costs together gives you a clear picture of what your current approach really costs, and a stronger starting point for budget conversations.
Your checklist
Peer note takers: Programs usually pay by the hour or by the course. Institutions we speak to pay hourly note takers an average of $12.50 an hour, ranging from about $7 to $17. Per-course stipends range from $60 to $250, with most around $95. Multiply by the number of courses you support each semester.
Staff time: hours spent recruiting, scheduling, and checking quality × staff hourly rate. As a guide, Disability Services offices we speak to spend around 20 hours setting up note takers at the start of each semester, plus one to two weeks processing stipends.
Licenses and services: every tool and outside service, including ones that overlap.
Compare: use Genio's ROI calculator to compare your current costs with a purpose-built tool.
04
How to check compliance across note taking support
Your audit should also check whether current provision still meets the accessibility, privacy, security, and institutional standards that apply to it. That includes Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, your own accessibility policies, and data protection expectations.
Reviewing these areas now helps you find weak spots before they surface through a complaint, audit, or formal review.
Your checklist
Confirm each tool has a current Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR).
Check each tool against your institution's privacy and data policies.
A clear evaluation starts with a picture of success. Note taking support can create value in different ways, so define the outcomes that matter most for students, faculty, and your department before you compare options.
How to define your student outcomes from note taking support
For students, the value of note taking support goes beyond a complete set of notes.
Depending on your priorities, outcomes might include:
Greater independence in how students learn: taking part in class, making sense of material, and studying on their own.
Better access to lecture content across a range of learning needs and disabilities.
Improved grades, persistence, or confidence.
The most useful outcomes depend on the problem you’re trying to solve.
How to define your faculty outcomes from note taking support
Faculty want support that’s easy to deliver without extra work.
Outcomes might include:
Confidence that recordings are secure, that their teaching materials and intellectual property are protected, and that student data is handled safely.
Less coordination needed for accommodations.
A natural fit with existing teaching practices and Learning Management System (LMS) environments.
Students getting support without repeated help from instructors.
The strongest solutions feel manageable within the reality of teaching. If a tool adds extra steps, training, or disruption, adoption can suffer even when the idea is right.
How to define Disability Services outcomes from note taking support
For Disability Services teams, the evaluation also needs to cover operational and institutional outcomes.
These might include:
Less staff time spent coordinating peer note takers and other manual processes.
Better visibility of how support is being used.
Stronger evidence for future funding decisions.
Also consider whether a solution can scale as demand grows. A tool that works well for a few students but needs heavy manual admin won’t solve the capacity challenge, however well it performs at small scale.
Different priorities point to different types of solutions. Use this table to connect what you're trying to achieve with what to look for.
Matching your priorities to the type of note taking solution to look for
If your priority is…
Look for…
Independent student learning
A note taking tool that keeps students actively involved, rather than peer note takers who hand over a finished set of notes.
Private conversations and protecting student data
The option to switch off transcription and use classic note taking, or peer note takers. Check where recordings are stored and who can access them.
Easy admin and distribution
Tools that make it easy to add, invite, and remove users, with SSO and an admin dashboard.
Cost
Free tools, knowing you're compromising on accessibility and often on data practices. Or the UDL packages from purpose-built accessibility tools, which cost less per student.
Compliance
Third-party verified conformance with WCAG 2.1 AA (the standard in the ADA Title II rule), ideally WCAG 2.2 AA, plus a current ACR, also known as a VPAT.
STEM courses
Equation and formula support in transcripts, notes, and study tools.
What to look for in a note taking tool
01
Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning
Accessibility decides whether a note taking tool removes barriers to learning. If students have to work around the tool, it becomes another obstacle instead of a solution.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) goes further by designing for learner variety from the start. That matters because many students who could benefit from support never contact Disability Services.
Your checklist:
Accessibility is built into the core experience
Essential accessibility features work without extra downloads, separate interfaces, or outside help.
Students can use the tool independently
Students can record, access, review, and organize their notes without help from peers, faculty, or Disability Services staff.
The solution supports students who could benefit from access support but don't ask for it
A UDL approach reaches students who never register with Disability Services.
The tool meets the current WCAG guidelines
Ask which version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) the tool has been tested against. WCAG 2.2 is the most recent.
02
How note taking tools capture and structure content
The way a tool captures and organizes information has a big impact on how useful it is in practice. Different solutions may record audio, generate transcripts, structure notes, or combine these in different ways. Consider how those parts work together, and what role the student plays.
When comparing solutions, consider whether:
Audio and transcripts are connected
Students should be able to move easily between a transcript and the matching point in the recording, rather than searching across separate systems.
Notes can be edited and personalized
Students should be able to annotate, reorganize, and adapt their notes to how they learn and how each course is structured.
Content can be structured around the course
Features such as custom headings, sections, and organization tools help notes stay useful all semester.
Information can be retrieved efficiently
Search by keyword, topic, or date makes it easier to revisit a concept without replaying a whole recording.
One of the most important differences: how much of the learning process stays with the student
Some tools
Produce a finished set of notes with little student involvement.
Others
Use technology to reduce the effort of capturing and organizing information, while keeping the student actively involved in reviewing, interpreting, and making sense of the material.
That difference matters because note taking isn't only about producing a record of a lecture. Deciding what matters, organizing ideas, revisiting difficult concepts, and connecting new information to what you already know all contribute to learning.
A tool that removes every part of that process may produce more complete notes, but it can also reduce the student's chance to engage with the material themselves.
03
The role of AI and third-party practices
AI is now a standard part of many note taking tools. What matters is how it's used in the learning process and how the data behind it is handled.
Some effort is a necessary part of learning. Working out what's important and putting it in your own words is how information sticks. This is called productive friction.
The best tools use AI to:
Remove unproductive friction
such as searching through recordings
Keep productive friction
that builds understanding
Your checklist:
Does the AI organize the student's own material, or generate the content for them?
Does the AI pull in information from outside the lecture to create notes? If so, how is that checked for accuracy?
Which third parties process student data, and can that data be used to train or improve AI models?
Can AI features be switched off at the institution or group level?
Will the vendor stay transparent about its AI as features change over the life of the contract?
Accessibility and compliance matter for the whole life of a tool, not only at the point of purchase. An accessibility statement or certification is useful, but you should also understand how the product is tested, how known issues are fixed, and which standards it has been assessed against.
Public colleges and universities fall under Title II of the ADA, which now requires WCAG 2.1 AA conformance by April 26, 2027 or April 26, 2028, depending on size. Private institutions fall under Title III.
Your checklist:
Ask how the product is tested: manually, automatically, or both, and whether a third party is involved.
Check that features such as keyboard navigation, text resizing, and alternative formats work without extra tools or workarounds.
Ask how known accessibility issues are fixed, and whether there's a published remediation plan.
Ask how accessibility is tested for new features before they're released.
05
Data privacy and security
Note taking tools can process recordings, transcripts, student notes, and other sensitive information, so privacy and security are a core part of your evaluation.
Independent assurance, such as a System and Organization Controls 2 (SOC 2) Type II report, is useful evidence of security controls. It should support, not replace, a review of the vendor's own data practices.
Your checklist:
What data is collected, and where is it stored?
Who can access it, and are access logs kept?
How long is data kept, and what happens when a student leaves or the contract ends?
Does the vendor meet your privacy requirements, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) for US institutions?
Is there a current SOC 2 Type II report, dated within the last 12 months?
The goal is for IT, privacy, procurement, and Disability Services teams to share a clear understanding of how student and institutional data will be managed.
06
Evidence of learning impact
A 2026 analysis by Instructure, in partnership with InnovateEDU, found that only 40% of purpose-built EdTech tools had an identified evidence level. For consumer technology used in classrooms, that fell to just 2%.
40%of purpose-built EdTech tools had an identified evidence level
2%of consumer technology used in classrooms had one
15%of tools held usability certification
Note taking tools sit within this wider market, so make evidence of impact a priority.
Your checklist:
Research backing
Is there independent research, or research done with an outside partner, linking the tool to measurable outcomes such as retention, GPA, or note taking confidence?
Recognized certifications
Does the tool hold recognized certifications for areas such as data compliance or interoperability?
Accessibility and usability
Does the vendor provide an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) and evidence of usability testing?
Accessibility documentation is fairly common, but the same analysis found usability certification in only 15% of tools, so this is worth checking.
None of this replaces your own evaluation, but it gives you an outside reference point for testing vendor claims and seeing how much evidence sits behind them.
07
Implementation and ongoing support
The quality of the rollout, the support for staff and students, and how responsive the vendor is over time all decide whether a tool becomes a lasting part of your note taking support.
Your checklist:
Implementation
A clear rollout plan sets out timelines, responsibilities, training, and what's needed from your staff.
Training and support
The vendor provides accessible training, responsive support, and ongoing help after onboarding.
Trial before you commit
Where possible, a trial shows how the tool performs in real conditions and how the vendor responds to issues.
Feedback and improvement
There's a clear way to raise issues and share feedback after the sale.
Signing the contract is the start of the relationship, so judge the vendor on what happens after it too.
08
Funding and stakeholder collaboration
Also consider how flexible the vendor is, what funding is available, and what help you'll get building an internal business case.
Your checklist:
Commercial flexibility
The vendor will work within your budget, payment structure, rollout needs, and priorities.
Other funding routes
Grants, student technology fees, or cross-department funding could support a tool that benefits more than Disability Services alone.
Relevant examples
Case studies from similar institutions show how others handled pricing, funding, rollout, and internal approval.
Stakeholder support
The vendor provides practical materials to build internal support, such as leadership talking points, proposal templates, and answers to common questions.
What to ask your vendor checklist
1
Compliance and testing
Ideal practices
Has WCAG compliant features and a remediation plan
Manual testing takes place before new feature releases
This topic is approached with transparency and honesty
Poor practices
Relies on automated testing
Does not address how they test new features during product development to look for accessibility bugs
2
ACR (VPAT) documentation
Ideal practices
Documentation is readily available
Evaluation should include manual testing
Evaluation completed by a trusted third-party
Poor practices
ACR (VPAT) is not provided or difficult to access
Evaluation only uses automated testing
Evaluation not performed by a third-party expert
3
Accessibility overlays/widgets
Ideal practices
Software does not use an accessibility overlay or widget, and focuses on creating an accessible codebase
Poor practices
Utilizes an accessibility overlay to mask inaccessible code
4
Data ownership
Ideal practices
Ownership and intellectual property rights never transfer to the vendor
Poor practices
Data ownership is not addressed in terms and conditions
Lack of clarity on this issue
5
Privacy and security
Ideal practices
Evidence that policies align with global standards
Security validated by a SOC 2 Type II report, dated within the past 12 months
Privacy and security commitments included in T&Cs
Poor practices
Poor or lacking privacy notice
Not SOC 2 compliant or the report is out of date
6
Access controls
Ideal practices
Authorized persons only, based on business need
Access granted for a limited time on a case by case basis
Full access logs available
Poor practices
Lack of a clear position
No clear processes
No access logs
7
Third-party transparency
Ideal practices
Readily-accessible list of third-parties, their processing location, and reason for processing the data
Poor practices
Unable to produce a list of third-parties
Unclear about the reason for working with each third-party
8
Third-party vetting
Ideal practices
Clarity on security of third-parties
Data Processing Agreement (DPA) in place
Poor practices
Not able to provide details on their third parties and the controls in place, and lacks clarity around this issue
9
AI model training
Ideal practices
Clear statement that third-parties cannot train AI models using user data
Poor practices
Unsure, ambiguous or acknowledges that third-parties can train AI models with their user’s data
10
Evidence and research
Ideal practices
Empirical research and evidence to demonstrate impact
Case studies from both student and admin users
Poor practices
Unable to evidence impact at scale or over time
Sweeping statements about impact without facts
11
Industry expertise
Ideal practices
Focus on using learning research and best practices to drive learner outcomes. Features promote active learning
Expertise and experience working with different departments within the higher education system
Poor practices
May be vague, focus on general productivity, or lean heavily on automated processes rather than active learning
Lacks knowledge or awareness of the different departments involved in the higher education system
12
Customer experience and support
Ideal practices
Clarity on post-purchase support, regular touchpoints with a Customer Success Manager, and good response times
Poor practices
Unsure or unclear on what support is offered to customers and their students after licenses have been purchased
Peer note taking gives students a record of the lecture, but not the learning that comes from creating one. Without the active listening and organizing that note taking involves, students who rely on the accommodation can become passive in their own learning. It also carries a real admin cost. Peer note taker programs mean recruiting, training, and managing a second student for every student with the accommodation. That burden grows with headcount instead of shrinking over time.
Individual payments look small. Per-course stipends typically sit around $95, and hourly rates around $12.50. But they're paid for every course, every semester, on top of the staff time spent recruiting and paying note takers. Across larger programs, institutions we speak to report spending $70,000 a semester or more. Colgate University replaced a $100,000-a-year peer note taking program by moving to Genio Notes
Genio Notes vs other note taking solutions
Note taking solutions can look similar on the surface, but they differ in what they offer students and what they require from institutions. The comparison below sets Genio Notes alongside OneNote, Jamworks, Otter.ai, Messenger Pigeon, and peer notetakers, covering product features first, then accessibility, data practices, evidence, and institutional support.
Comparison of product features
Shaded cell: feature available.White cell: feature not available or not publicly documented.
Comparison of product features
Feature
Genio Notes
OneNote
Jamworks
Otter.AI
Messenger Pigeon
Peer note takers
Recording and capture
All-in-one browser app for recording, note taking & study
✓
✓
Separate recording app
✓
✓
–
Time-stamped notes, synced with recording
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
–
Slides integrated with recording and notes
✓
✓
Separate attachments
✓
✓
–
Upload and annotate multiple documents
✓
✓
–
–
✓
–
Transcription & captions
Transcription
✓35 languages
✓80+ languages
✓26 languages
✓6 languages
✓
–
Edit transcript
–
✓
✓
✓
✓
–
Live captions
✓Notes-only also available
✓Microsoft Translator
✓
✓
✓Notes-only also available
–
Note taking
Slide annotations
✓Freehand/text on slides
✓Freehand/text on slides
Separate attachments
–
–
–
Provided study notes
✓AI
–
✓AI
–
✓AI or human (paid)
✓Human
AI-generated outline / chapters
✓
–
✓
✓
✓
–
Freehand notes
✓
✓
✓iPad + Apple Pencil needed
–
–
✓
Extract text from images (OCR)
✓Any visual content
✓Any visual content
✓Slides only
–
–
–
AI enhanced notes
–
✓Requires Co-Pilot
✓
–
–
–
Study tools
AI-generated study aids
✓Customizable quizzes, collection-wide quizzes
✓Copilot Chat (license required)
✓Flashcards, chatbot quizzes, simplifications, creative stories, analogies, memory aids
✓Ask questions through Otter Chat
✓Study assistant with quizzes, simplifications, definitions
–
Focus Timer
✓
–
–
–
–
–
Reading View
✓
–
–
–
✓
–
Focus / Immersive Reading
–
✓Immersive reading
✓Focus reading
–
–
–
STEM equation support
Formulas and equations rendered in transcripts
✓
–
–
–
–
–
Formulas and equations rendered in AI content
✓
✓
✓
–
–
–
Add formulas to the notes feed
✓Typed or handwritten
✓Handwritten
–
–
–
✓Handwritten
Convert handwritten formulas to formatted equations
✓Extract text from Scribble
✓
–
–
–
–
Math support to solve equations
–
✓
✓
–
–
–
Comparison of accessibility and accreditation
Shaded cell: feature available.White cell: feature not available or not publicly documented.
Comparison of accessibility and accreditation
Feature
Genio Notes
OneNote
Jamworks
Otter.AI
Messenger Pigeon
Peer note takers
Accessibility & compliance
WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA conformance and ACR / VPAT
✓Full, third-party verified
✓Partial, self verified
✓Partial, self verified
–
–
–
Screen reader compatible (JAWS / NVDA)
✓
✓
✓
–
–
–
Data privacy & AI ethics
Does not sell or rent user data
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
User data not used to train AI models
✓
✓
✓
✓Trained on de-identified user data
✓
✓
HECVAT available
✓
✓
–
–
–
–
SOC 2 Type II
✓Annual audit, report available on request
✓
–
✓
✓
–
HIPAA compliant
–
✓
–
✓
✓
–
Evidence & certifications
Published, independent peer-reviewed research
✓ESSA Level 3 (Promising), recognized by LXD Research
Methodology: All data is synthesized from the most recent publicly available disclosures (as of June 2026) and independent efficacy research to assist procurement officers and disability services in making evidence-based software selections.
All competitor information is based on publicly available sources. Readers should always verify features and pricing with suppliers.
We want this information to be as accurate as possible. If you spot any errors, please email marketing@genio.co.
Choosing a note taking tool is a decision about how your institution wants to support students, and how that support will work in practice.
This guide has walked through the questions that matter: what problem you're solving, what you already have, what success looks like, and how to judge tools on accessibility, the student experience, data, evidence, rollout, and long-term support.
Whichever route you take, the strongest choice keeps students actively involved in their own learning, reaches the students who never ask for help, and gives your team the evidence to show it's working. On the following pages, we show how Genio Notes approaches each of these areas, so you can see how it measures up against the questions in this guide.
Genio Notes is a note taking tool built for higher education, designed around accessibility, learner independence, and evidence of impact. It supports students who receive accommodations and the many who never formally request them, while reducing the admin workload on Disability Services teams.
Here's how Genio Notes approaches each area covered in this guide
Accessibility
Fully conformant with WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA, independently verified by Level Access, with Accessibility Conformance Reports published for web, Android, and iOS.
How it works
A four-step process, Capture, Organize, Refine, and Apply, combining live transcription and AI-powered organization with tools like Focus Mode and Study Notes.
AI
AI removes unproductive friction, like searching through recordings, without removing the productive friction that supports learning, and captured student data is never used to train models, as set out in Genio's AI pledge.
Data privacy and security
Aligned with FERPA, verified through an annual SOC 2 Type II audit and a completed HECVAT Full assessment, detailed on Genio's Security Hub.
Implementation and support
Every subscription includes a dedicated Customer Success Manager, an admin portal for onboarding and reporting, and a student Skills Portal.
Evidence
Used by over 160,000 students across 1,000+ institutions, holding ESSA Level 3 recognition from LXD Research and Gold certification from EduEvidence, with an 11% improvement in student persistence.
Florida Atlantic University saw a 5.5% increase in GPA and a 450% increase in Genio Notes usage after adoption. Study stress fell for 86% of students, and 96.2% of Disability Services students became active users.
At the University of California, Berkeley, Genio Notes helped the university reduce its peer note taker headcount by 76%, creating substantial annual savings while giving students more control over their learning.
At Volunteer State Community College, the focus was on reaching students who had been outside the department's view. Students who used Genio Notes had an 88% persistence rate from fall to spring, compared with 77% for students who didn't. That 11 percentage point difference equals 28 students who stayed enrolled.
At Loyola University Maryland, a 92% adoption rate showed how note taking support can go beyond individual accommodations and become a wider part of the student learning experience.
and show the outcomes it delivers for students and the wider institution.
