<p>"The important thing is simply to figure out what works best for you. To each his own."</p>
<p>Damnit Student, no. I gotta show that my style of note-taking is superior to everyone elses' and that in an utopia it should be embraced by all students.</p>
<p>doctordestiny:</p>
<p>You wrote that your friend took notes on her laptop and had this cool program that would record the lecture to complement her notes.</p>
<p>Do you know the name of the program?</p>
<p>I know that OneNote does it on Tablets. They have these $100-$200 electric pen things that do it too.</p>
<p>I think Microsoft on Mac has a voice recording feature if you switch the document to note template? It isn't that great though, IMO, since it replays static and can be really sensitive to all noises.</p>
<p>It's a personal preference. In high school, I used to take notes in pencil. In college, I attempted to use my laptop, but it didn't work out for me. I can't type as fast as I write, I can't write equations or draw diagrams easily on a computer, and I get distracted by other computer applications. Pencil smudges, so I switched to pen. Now I exclusively use various colored ink pens (light blue, purple, red, green, etc.) to take notes. Keeps it fun. :)</p>
<p>some professors don't let you use laptops because they know you're surfing the web instead of taking notes....that said, handwriting is better</p>
<p>I handwrite notes. Some of it is personal preference for handwritten notes, some of it is math and econ classes with lots of equations, symbols, and graphs, and some of it is the environment. Extremely few students at my school take notes on laptops. I don't think professors like to see students hiding behind computer screens, it feels isolating.</p>
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I don't think professors like to see students hiding behind computer screens, it feels isolating.
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<p>I have a parent who's a prof, and they don't mind if people use laptops for taking notes. That's just one prof's opinion, though.</p>
<p>For me, it totally depends on the class. In large lecture classes, I use my laptop, because it is faster, neater, and easier for me to sort through (the find function makes me life SO much easier!). Of course, I'm a humanities/social science type, so equations aren’t an issue. </p>
<p>For smaller classes, it depends on whether the class tends to be more discussion or lecture based. And for seminars, I never bring a laptop.</p>
<p>I usually handwrite notes, but sometimes I would take those notes and type them. That helps me remember the information better.</p>
<p>a friend of mine goes to lecture with pen & paper, and then types them up later in the night. Claims it both allows him to find what he's looking for (ctrl-f), but more importantly (for him), helps him remember. Sounds like duplication of labor for me, but it works for him, says he's gotten good at typing from reading text</p>
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Also, if you do decide to try and take notes on your laptop, please don't be like this dude in my Intro MechE class by sitting there all class and failing at making a single platform jump in Air Man's stage on an emulator.
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<p>_> I highly doubt that will be me. Anyway, if I really did plan on not paying much attention to the class I'd sit in the way back or just sit their quietly and twiddle my thumbs (maybe read slashdot...that won't make any noise :-P).</p>
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<p>EDIT: if by some chance I decided to play games in class, it would most likly be an RPG by the way :-P Not too much loud button pressing and no pesky platforms :-P</p>
<p>As for equations, like someone else said, there is TeX, and better yet, there is a program called LyX which is especially handy. See the demo clip over at <a href="http://wiki.lyx.org/uploads/LyX/Screencasts/LyXIntroPalette.htm%5B/url%5D">http://wiki.lyx.org/uploads/LyX/Screencasts/LyXIntroPalette.htm</a> to see what I mean (this highlights the math/science features).</p>
<p>Anyways, also as someone already said, do whatever works for you. What works well for me won't necessarily work for others. </p>
<p>As for computers...I have a feeling that any oppresion against having them in class will continually diminish to the point where it will be a rarity for anyone to object to someone taking notes with a laptop in the classroom. </p>
<p>You know what's really noisy though....a test in a quiet room where suddenly everyone starts punching numbers in their calculator :S I remember durring the ACT it really bugged me, though, it doesn't really bother me at all anymore (because, it wasn't really the other people, but me making the noise).</p>
<p>EDIT: I would like to say that I'm already someone who always has his laptop on him or some other array of gadgets. It's just me.</p>
<p>If you do decide to use a laptop, please don't sit on the front row. That is so annoying because it blocks like 1/4 of the board for most of the people behind you. Especially don't sit at the front if you aren't going to pay attention or take ANY notes. That just makes me ****ed.</p>
<p>Yeah you inconsiderate pricks. If you're just going to sit in the front with your laptop and not pay attention, at least put on some porn for OKgirl to watch.</p>
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If you do decide to use a laptop, please don't sit on the front row.
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<p>I don't see how you would block anyone if you are in a lecture hall where the seats are all elevated like in a theater. Even if they arn't, I still don't see how you would block anything, considering the laptop would be in front of you where your head is so the person behind you would see your head, not the laptop :S </p>
<p>I don't know about yours or others, but I'm a whole lot taller and bigger than my little laptop. My body will block the view before the laptop even comes close to blocking anything :S</p>
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Especially don't sit at the front if you aren't going to pay attention or take ANY notes. That just makes me ****ed.
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Better yet, if you really are going to not pay attention at all, don't even come to class >_></p>
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Yeah you inconsiderate pricks. If you're just going to sit in the front with your laptop and not pay attention, at least put on some porn for OKgirl to watch.
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If it were a class I was interested in or had to pay attention to...I would hate you if you did that ><em>> That would be incredibly distracting ></em>></p>
<p>At first you'd see the porn and make a befuddled face :S, but then you'd just avert your glance >_> and focus on the lecture.</p>
<p>I don't know. If there was porn going on in the front row i don't think I could focus on the lecture. </p>
<p>But anywho, I personally like taking notes by hand, and then typing them if I have time. But I'm not in college yet.</p>
<p>Biology classes= Laptop using Onenote
Chem classes= hand</p>
<p>I remember when I thought TMac was just about as good as Kobe. God was I dumb.</p>
<p>i'm gonna type all of mine... i write really slowly and messy, and my hand cramps up a lot. i can type really fast, however.</p>
<p>Taking notes on a laptop is really hard..... What my teacher does is that she posts our notes online and we can print them out and take notes on them.</p>