I’m interested to know what kids use for computers and how they take notes. Does anyone still carry a regular notebook or is it all about laptops in the class now.
UMASS offers guidance related to system requirements for PCs and Macs, so either will work. S23 will be an animal science and it sounds like the department does not have a preference. Everything is on something called Moodle, which sounds like Google Classroom but better.
So while I’m thinking about shelling out $ for a Mac or a Surface, what’s your kid’s system for taking notes? Old school? Laptop? Tablet? Remarkable or other such device??
Signed,
A parent unable to conceive of learning without real textbooks, pens, highlighters, and notebooks.
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My daughter mostly uses notebooks for taking notes. She does take notes on her MacBook at times too. Some of her friends use an iPad or other tablet with a stylus for note-taking but she’s not a fan.
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My D uses an iPad with a stylus for notetaking. She’s done that since 9th grade and it works for her. She has a laptop too but rarely takes it to class.
I accompanied her to class a couple times (parents’ weekend) and noticed kids with laptops, tablets and notebooks. So whatever works for your kid!
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Keep in mind that some professors do not allow students to use laptops or other electronic devices in the classroom unless they have an accommodation or there is a specific assignment that warrants one. Your DC may not end up using one for notetaking in some of the classes anyway.
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DS24 attended an overnight visit and attended classes recently. He said that everyone was using notebooks for notes so they could quickly sketch in their notes. The students all had computers that they used when needed.
I don’t think that happens everywhere, but that school made a really good impression and this was one way.
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My kid got a Macbook (I think the first air book with the new chip about three years ago), before college began, and loved it. However, they persuaded me (cheap parent) that they REALLY needed an ipad, too, for note taking and for being able to write with a stylus directly on electronic “handouts” during lectures. After having gotten one, kid said that both were absolutely indispensable. I’m glad I gave in. Plus kid’s tiny dorm room is not overflowing with random papers, the way mine was.
We have iPads, and they worked well for my elementary kid during the pandemic, but are college students really doing simplistic enough work to use them in college classes?
The software suites that workplaces use aren’t fully functional even on Surfaces (Excel, Powerpoint). Might work for certain classes or certain levels of classes but not others. iPads I could see for graphic design/theater/music or arts students.
My kid has a MacBook Pro for high school. He had an Air for the first two years, but the device started overheating with the software he needed for school, so we upgraded. Well worth it!
Kid is premed and psych, plus music, and says the air with that new chip, maybe the M1, and whatever ipad was avail a yr ago are more than enough.
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My D uses a two in one laptop/iPad and takes notes with a stylus. She typically rewrites everything in more detail and more legibly after each class.
Both my kids use notebooks for note taking during class. They both have laptops, but find they retain information better if they take notes by hand.
My daughter was an exercise science major who graduated last year, she asked for an iPad/pen to go with the MacBook she got freshman year for her dpt program. She said it was a game changer and she doesn’t know how she functioned without it.
The use of electronic devices in the classroom may depend on the course and professor. Some professors do not want the distraction and prohibit them unless there is a specific academic exercise that requires them (data analysis, etrc.) or the student has some bona fide need for it. Buy a couple of notebooks and pens just in case.
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My daughter got her first Macbook when she started high school - and it lasted her 6 years, half way through college she replaced it with a 13-inch MacBook Air - and still using it in Grad School.
Since she’s been typing homework, assignments, study guides, etc. forever, she then also took notes with the keyboard. Never heard her mention professors who disallowed devices.
Technical specs never were an issue, because she mostly types/collaborates with Google apps, so very few things actually “run” or get stored on the computer itself.
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My students (undergrads, all levels, history classes) use a variety of notetaking methods, from typing on laptops, using a stylus on a tablet to writing by hand (and some do nothing – would not recommend). I am tempted to ban screens except for specific activities as some of my colleagues do, because I know that doing so helps students focus, but I haven’t done that yet because I don’t want to single out students who need to type due to learning disabilities, etc. So I allow it all. But I do tell students at the beginning of each semester that writing notes by hand will help them learn the information more effectively because studies have shown that the sensory and kinetic experience of writing notes helps with processing and memory. Maybe about half take notes by hand.
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Interesting - so did those studies differentiate between the “sensory and kinetic experience” of typing vs. long-hand?
Anecdotally I’ve always known that the process of formulating my thoughts in words and noting them down, helps me memorize - but I never realized/knew/assumed that there is a difference between then literally “putting it on paper” vs. typing it into a document.
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This is the gist of it – typing is faster, but it’s more like taking dictation. Handwriting is slower, which means you have to make constant decisions as to what you write down, how you condense it, how you reword it, and so forth. So the argument is that because handwriting is a slower process, you actually do more interpretation and processing on the spot, whereas with typing, you don’t have to do any of that, even if you end up recording more words. It’s still more passive than handwriting. Typing also involves less sensory experience – the feel of the page and the pen, doodling in the margins, and so on, all of which helps you process the information. And of course using a laptop with access to wifi is more distracting, even if you are typing more than you’d write. So writing focuses your attention more on content. Does that make sense?
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This is very interesting. It jives with my D’s personal experience and is exactly why she has preferred the iPad/stylus for years. But I never looked further than her telling me that handwriting notes was the way she “learned best”… and she wanted to go paperless so an old-fashioned notebook wasn’t the answer for her.
Thanks for the additional color.
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Hi, I have just to add that prefer devices like the Remarkable. UMASS doesn’t seem to have a preference between PCs and Macs, so either should work.
My S has smthg called a (Ratta) Supernote. It took a few weeks to get it (ships from Japan?)) but he really likes it.
He considered other options but for some reason felt this was best for him. (I can get more info from him when he comes home later this week.)
That’s an e-ink reader/writer. There’re a few brands available (including Amazon, Remarkable, Onyx, Fujitsu). My S picked Fujitsu Quaderno (also shipped directly from Japan) primarily because he wants to be able to read (and annotate) a full page at a time without zooming in/out. At 13.3" diagonally, it’s the largest of such devices (only Onyx makes one as large). He loves it and it’s super light but expensive for an e-ink device.