Graeme Cartwright, an Assistive Technology Advisor at Ayrshire College, works closely with disabled students to help them tackle the challenges they face in their studies by recommending them the right assistive tech.
In a recent conversation, Graeme shared his thoughts on the barriers many students face with note taking and how Jamworks is helping to simplify the process by giving them an easier, more effective way to capture and review their lectures.
The challenge: feeling left behind in lectures
For many students, particularly those with disabilities, the biggest struggle in class is simply keeping up. When lecturers cover material quickly, students find themselves juggling multiple tasks at once — trying to write down key points, listen, and process all the information. Graeme explained,
“The biggest challenge is keeping up in class. When the lecturer is moving too fast, students often struggle to write down what’s being said, listen, and process the information all at the same time. Capturing all the important points becomes difficult.”
On top of the speed, spelling and literacy challenges add another layer of frustration. For students who struggle with spelling, a single missed word can cause them to lose track of the entire lecture. Graeme added,
“There are other issues like spelling — if students don’t know how to write certain words they’re hearing, it just adds to the frustration.“
As a result, many students eventually give up on note taking altogether. As Graeme put it,
“A lot of students just abandon note taking when they face those kinds of difficulties. Those are the main challenges we see here.“
How Jamworks eases the note taking pressure on disabled students
Jamworks is a practical, user-friendly solution to these challenges. Graeme highlighted that Jamworks’ ability to automatically capture, summarise, and highlight lecture content offers students a much-needed safety net.
“The ability to capture the notes first and foremost was great, but what stood out was the completed summaries for students — I really liked that.“
Having worked with other note taking tools, Graeme was impressed by Jamworks’ ability to generate completed summaries — a feature he believes would significantly increase uptake among students.
“I’ve used other note taking software before, but they don’t really have that feature of completing the notes for you — and I really liked the quizzes as well. I think more students would actually use it if they knew they were getting a summary rather than having to do everything themselves.“
For students who often leave class worried they’ve missed key information, Graeme sees Jamworks as a source of reassurance.
“I think it’s the reassurance that they haven’t missed anything. Without that support, a lot of students probably leave class feeling unsure about what they were supposed to take away or worried they missed something important.“
This sense of security helps ease the anxiety many disabled students feel, particularly those with processing difficulties or attention challenges.
“That feeling of being left behind — because they couldn’t take notes or focus properly — can be really disheartening. Knowing they have the recording and Jamworks helping to capture and organise the information probably reduces a lot of the stress and anxiety they experience.”
How does Jamworks help disabled students save time and boost productivity
One of the biggest benefits Graeme highlighted is the time-saving potential Jamworks offers students. Rather than having to sift through hours of audio or incomplete notes, students receive organised summaries, key points, and transcripts — all generated automatically.
“The fact that Jamworks offers highlights and key points automatically is a huge time-saver. It’s definitely going to save them time because Jamworks does the hard work for them — they’re not having to create everything from scratch, which can be really difficult or time-consuming for some students.“
This allows students to focus their time and energy on studying, revising, or working on assignments instead of trying to piece together their notes after class.
“In terms of productivity, I’d like to think that by getting those key points and summaries provided to them, they’ll feel more confident that they’ve understood the class and can focus on completing their assignments or studying more effectively.“
Jamworks empowers students with a wide range of disabilities
Graeme believes that Jamworks isn’t just for one type of student — it’s a tool that supports a wide range of learning needs and disabilities.
“To be honest, I think all of us, to some extent, have challenges that Jamworks could help with — it’s not just limited to one specific group of students.“
For students with physical disabilities who find writing difficult, Jamworks provides an accessible way to capture lectures without needing to take physical notes. For students with attention difficulties or literacy challenges such as dyslexia, Jamworks helps break down the content into manageable summaries.
“For students with physical disabilities who struggle to take notes, the ability to record lectures and have them summarised would be a huge help. It would also really benefit students with attention difficulties and those with literacy challenges like dyslexia.“
How Jamworks compares to other note taking tools
While Graeme acknowledges that other tools like Glean have their place, he feels that Jamworks’ automated summaries and interactive features set it apart — especially for students who struggle with independent note creation.
“It’s good — I like both Glean and Jamworks. But at the moment, Glean doesn’t complete summaries or highlights for you. In some ways, that can be useful because it encourages students to engage more actively with their notes. But for the students we support, the summarising feature in Jamworks is incredibly useful. I would definitely encourage them to use it more.“
Graeme also noted that, despite having access to tools like Glean, many students struggle to consistently use them because they require a lot of manual effort.
“We see a lot of students who have access to Glean, but I’m not sure how many of them actually use it. In the end, they still have to go back, listen to the audio, and write their own summaries — which can feel overwhelming.“
Jamworks removes this barrier by automatically providing clear, structured summaries and even quizzes to help students check their understanding — reducing both the workload and the mental strain of processing information after class.
“With Jamworks, they’re getting the summaries and quizzes provided for them, which gives it a real advantage over Glean.“
The impact
When asked if there were any features he’d like to see added to Jamworks, Graeme was clear — the platform already covers most of the challenges his students face.
“Honestly, I think Jamworks covers most of the challenges we see here at the college.”
With features like automatic summaries, key points, and personalised learning support, Jamworks is a game-changer for disabled students. It helps them stay organised, reduces their stress, and most importantly, builds their confidence in their learning.
