"NoteTaker" is the buzzword in high schools and universities today. The basic concept is the same as that first introduced at the Rochester Institute of Technology to help deaf students, using a note-pad that produced a carbon copy. The carbon copy is the student's record of notes taken by a volunteer hearing student. Modern technology has the potential to greatly expand and enhance this concept by combining voice recognition with scribble board and blackboard interfaces to transfer text and graphic information using the "cut and paste" feature. The Note Taker may be enhanced to edit and also make sketches for the word processor. The computerized "NoteTaker" can combine most of the roles of telephony, video-telephony, Internet and e-mail into a highly integrated laptop computer. The price of the laptop will soon be so competitive and its capabilities so comprehensive that it will render obsolete most current methods of conveying information in the classroom environment. This is a fundamental innovation in teaching methodology that will find universal application in education generally but will be a giant leap forward in mainstream deaf education. The "NoteTaker" holds great promise in the field of education.Summary of anticipated results and implications:There is growing awareness among deaf educators and parents of hearing impaired children that in an ideal world, those hearing impaired children with innate potential should be mainstrearned into normal schools so that they may grow up with their peers in a "hearing environment". The principle is undisputed but in the current environment the application is not economically viable because of the cost of employing interpreters for all "mainstreamed" classes supplemented by individual note takers for each hearing impaired student. The idea of "carbon copy" note takers has been tried before and proved impractical. Modern technology has made the concept of the "NoteTaker" both an economically and educationally a valuable tool. All the goals of "mainstreaming" can be achieved by integrating multiple functions into a single, highly portable "communicator" based on an off the shelf laptop computer. It will greatly reduce the need for interpreters and note-takers and make mainstreaming an economic and practical reality. The use of modern technology allows for the "NoteTaker" software/hardware to be upgraded by adding innovative features, as they become available. One selected student note taker can serve several deaf as well as visually impaired students. Currently proposed features of the "NoteTaker" are handwriting recognition to convert NoteTaker script directly to text and graphic, ready for pasting into the word processor. Interface with high tech blackboards currently in use in some classrooms. Voice recognition for direct voice to text conversion, ready for pasting into the word processor. "Text to Voice" to read out aloud the text on the screen along with any other relevant or useful sounds for pasting into the word processor so that it can be played back on a "click". This will be a useful feature for the hearing impaired as well as the visually impaired. The economy resulting from reduction in staff will be very substantial as the "NoteTaker" computer finds its way into most schools, colleges, universities and even corporate offices and in the private sector for "conferencing".
