Notes - Typed vs Written..

[FiremedicMike]

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I'm doing a bit of an experiment myself right now, one class is being studied by typing my notes on my laptop, another class is getting handwritten notes. The bad thing is the experiment is flawed because one class (bio) which is getting written notes is exponentially more complicated than the class getting written notes (intro to psych).

I can certainly move through the information faster with the typed notes, but I'm curious what your experiences have been.. As non-trads, I would imagine most of us went to school before laptops were so accessible, so like me, we took written notes in our past scholastic life. How's the note-taking going for you?

 

[Lazarus]

I have been considering the same ideas, I have noticed a few of my fellow students bring in little micro-laptops to type of notes and the end results look great. The only issue would be diagrams...I feel like the ochem,inorganic chem, and physics would be wanting.

Quasi related: some students have also recorded lectures with their phones and it has been successful.

 

[bold text]

I tried taking notes with a laptop but now I hand write everything. I feel like learn more if I write it myself. Plus, if I take my laptop to class I will end up on facebook or some other time consuming website. ADHD and campus wide WiFi are not compatible.

 

[Alphadorian]

I personally like to have absolutely everything in an electronic format - mostly because it's faster for me to find stuff that way.

However, I find myself writing vs. typing in a lot of classes. Math and science classes usually require drawing that is simply faster to do on paper. Some professors seem to not like laptops too as they believe the students are just screwing around if they have one. If I have a prof like that I'll often write notes instead. I prefer to type.... but you know how it goes.

I also have a system to convert my handwritten notes into an electronic format. I have app on my phone that allows me to take a picture of the page of notes I just wrote. It then has me select the area of the picture I wrote in and then it processes it. It then enhances it and then turns it into a PDF or keeps it in the jpg format. It's a heck of a lot faster than scanning and I can e-mail it to my classmates for any sort of collaborative effort we may have going on. The app is JotNot. Best 0.99 I have spent on an app lately.

 

[toastedcheese]

I rarely take notes in class. All the material for science classes is usually in the book or lecture slides. I review the material before class and then just try to sit and think about the material, anticipate answers, ect. as the prof is going over it. I find that if I'm trying to write everything down I'm just copying and not thinking. After class I might write an outline of the material from the slides/book if I think I need it. Everyone has different learning styles, and it took me a while to get over the embarrassment of looking like a slacker in class, but I think that works well. The end goal is to get them material into your brain; getting the material into your brain requires seriously thinking about it a certain number of times; might as well make the class period one of those times.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I'm doing a bit of an experiment myself right now, one class is being studied by typing my notes on my laptop, another class is getting handwritten notes. The bad thing is the experiment is flawed because one class (bio) which is getting written notes is exponentially more complicated than the class getting written notes (intro to psych).

I can certainly move through the information faster with the typed notes, but I'm curious what your experiences have been.. As non-trads, I would imagine most of us went to school before laptops were so accessible, so like me, we took written notes in our past scholastic life. How's the note-taking going for you?

Get a tablet computer and do both. I just got one and took organic chemistry with it and was amazed how much easier life got.

 

[mfrizzo3]

I always took handwritten notes in class and then typed them up later. It allowed me to get through the material faster around test time.

 

[Neurocentric]

I'm better at typing notes in a fast-paced, "notes-driven" class, so typing usually works for me, and then I can re-write the notes in my notebook later, or at least the pertinent information. A lot of times you'll find that some notes you take are irrelevant to the topic at hand, or it's not needed for whatever reason, so in the time it might take me to write that down, we might be covering other things and I'm struggling to catch up.

If I type it all out in class, I can keep up with everything, and then save writing it in the notebook (along with highlighting, doing flash cards, etc.) for after class. For classes where diagrams and charts are needed, I bring a notebook or pieces of paper so I can clearly draw them out. Trying to do it on the computer isn't as easy, and it usually comes out wrong.

 

[n3xa]

I like to write as often as possible:

 

[student1799]

I think this is very dependent on the level of technology/media resources your school provides. If you can download lecture slides onto your laptop before class, then go with a tablet PC and type/draw on the slides to take notes. Otherwise go with plain old pencil and paper.

In postbacc, I was the old-fashioned spiral notebook type. This is what I was used to, and it was the most workable method in classes (like orgo) that required a lot of drawing during class.

But now that I'm in med school, I've gone high tech, and I love it. My school really encourages this by issuing each student a laptop with preloaded software, including Microsoft OneNote. (This laptop has both a keyboard and a stylus, so it can be used conventionally or as a tablet PC.) All our lectures are available the night before for download, and I type notes, highlight and draw on the slides with the stylus during lecture. (I do this in OneNote, but some students take notes right in Powerpoint.)

I really like this system because ALL my notes are on the laptop at all times, and they're searchable (via OneNote), so it's really easy to locate something I want to review. However, I still don't feel 100% comfortable with the stylus for drawing-intensive applications, so I don't know how I'd do in a class like orgo. I suppose you could always draw diagrams in a paper notebook and then scan them into your computer afterwards.

Of course, this system won't work for you unless your school provides electronic access to lecture slides. I couldn't have done this in postbacc myself, because my $1200-a-credit program had Stone Age technology.

 

[Damia]

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[familyaerospace]

I'm a big fan of taking notes by hand and then typing them up immediately afterward. Or if people give me the powerpoints, I turn them into word documents and then type more information as it becomes available. That is how I did my entire masters degree.