Do you bring your laptop to class/lecture?

[Di Deanna]

how many of you use your laptop, in nursing school, like it's goin' out of style ? :monkeydance:

i should start a nursing program in the next 3-6 months, and i'm debating over whether i should use my laptop or not. i will obviously bring a binder and writing utensils..but i'm wondering if i can keep more information in my laptop. i type 65+/wpm, so i'm thinking i may be able to get more information down. plus, it seems very organized.

what do you think? how did you go about taking notes and learning in your classes?

[mkblakley07]

Most of the students in my class use their laptops strictly for note taking, etc, and they used our schools WiFi that has this filter on it that will kick you out of it for viewing things like Media. Sure there were some people who played on their laptops during lecture, but that's their deal. Nobody had sound on, and nobody else complained of people using their laptops in class.

[cursedandblessed]

it just depends on your school, our instructors frowned on it, so we just printed out the powerpoints, and took our notes on them. i take my netbook to clinical and check my email and look up things i'm interested in related to my patients at lunch time, though.

[2bnurseforce1]

I think our instructors would flip if we bought our laptops. They are so concerned with cheating and they think its a total distraction.

[SnowRain7489]

Some things that will help you determine whether you should bring a laptop to lecture are your typing speed (do not always hit the "backspace" button, your ability to take good notes on a laptop, teacher, class

Pathophysiology:My teacher talked SUPER FAST. She did post the powerpoints online & I printed them off 'n took notes in the margins. However, there was so much info that she gave us that wasn't even on the outline & there was not enough room on the powerpoint to write the additional notes. I would get so frustrated because my notes started were messy because I had arrows pointing in every direction and it took me an hour just to organize everything (waste of time), and I wasn't even able to write alot of what she said down in my notes!!

Mental health: I had 1 teacher who was really easy (in terms of how she lectured). Taking notes on my notebook was good enough and I highlighted the boxes&diagramms in the book that she told us to know. My other mental health teacher talked fast (sometimes) only when she lists things like signs of a client w/ bipolar disorder/something like that. So when she lectured I could've probably taken more notes with her if I would've had a laptop.

[stereotypical]

There is only one person in my class that uses a laptop for lectures. I bring my laptop with me, but I tend to use it after class. I have thought about using it for note taking, but I learn better by listening to the class and then adding in things to the notes later.

[CuriousMe]

I got my laptop (Tablet PC) a year into the nursing program because I wanted to be a little more organized (I would misplace my lecture notes occasionally and my binder was just a mess). It also saved a ton of paper and ink. I would go through 1-3 ink cartridges a month. Quite a few people in my class used laptops during lectures and no one really minded the key clicking.

One thing I would recommend to everyone is Microsoft's OneNote program, combined with PP2One (Google it) which converted Powerpoints into OneNote so you could easily type notes on it. Here's a screenshot of what it would look like. As you can see, I have notebooks divided by class and lectures are separated by pages.

I also use a Tablet & Microsoft Onenote. The best best tool I ever bought for school, hands down. Sometimes I write on the slides, sometimes I type on them....it depends on the slides and the content of the lecture. Many folks in my class use laptops, the keyboard noise has never been an issue.

One of the features I love about OneNote is that you can record (audio or video...I do audio) the lecture and it integrates the lecture with what you're writing/typing. So, if you go back to your notes and (like I do) wonder what on earth you meant by a cryptic remark, there's a play button next to it. When you click on the play button, it plays back the recording, staring 5 seconds before you starting writing that section. A really useful function!

Peace,

CuriousMe

[CuriousMe]

I didn't have much luck Googling for PP2One, unfortunately. All the links I came up with seem to be dead. I wonder if it is really necessary though. I have OneNote (just starting to get to know it before starting NS in the fall), and with Office 2007 you can "print" or send PP presentations to OneNote and make whatever notes you like, search them, etc. Does PP2One do something extra, or is it just for the earlier version of OneNote that didn't have the capability of displaying PP documents?

I love your screenshot, by the way. It looks like you have it all so well organized. I might just have to steal your ideas.

I've used OneNote through my pre-reqs and now through my first year of my nursing program. I just use the Print to OneNote print driver to import PowerPoints and haven't had any trouble at all.

Peace,

CuriousMe

[Cherish]

I also use a Tablet & Microsoft Onenote. The best best tool I ever bought for school, hands down. Sometimes I write on the slides, sometimes I type on them....it depends on the slides and the content of the lecture. Many folks in my class use laptops, the keyboard noise has never been an issue.

One of the features I love about OneNote is that you can record (audio or video...I do audio) the lecture and it integrates the lecture with what you're writing/typing. So, if you go back to your notes and (like I do) wonder what on earth you meant by a cryptic remark, there's a play button next to it. When you click on the play button, it plays back the recording, staring 5 seconds before you starting writing that section. A really useful function!

Peace,

CuriousMe

Awesome I'll be using OneNote definately just because of that audio/video example you gave. That would be great to write notes and then link it to audio so that way you can memorize or for people who learn more visually like I do the sound of the audio could reinforce my learning with the notes.

Thanks for the tip:bowingpur

[guiltysins]

I think it depends on you and whether you feel that you'll be able to fully concentrate with your laptop in front of you. Would you be distracted and start surfing the net ect. Also how well your typing is. Typing fast is one thing but how many mistakes are usually made within those words per minute.

I always found taking handwritten notes were better for me, so I could highlight certain things, indent things and control how I wanted things to look, where I wanted things to go ect. Not to mention there's nothing small about my laptop and I sure as heck don't wanna carry it around.

[83studentnurse]

I printed the powerpoints provided by the teachers and wrote in the margins. I found this better for my individual studying habits (I like to flip through actual pages and I appreciated being able to draw lines, etc. on the paper). However, some students type into the "notes" section below the slides. I tried both and found I was more comfortable with pen-and-paper (plus, my laptop batter would die, so I needed to sit near an outlet all the time), though I made all my study guides and review sheets on the computer.

If I were you, I'd bring paper the first few days (you could bring the laptop too if you want to give it a try) and see what works best for you. The key in nursing school is just to figure out what works best for you and go with that!

[jallen5]

I'm only in pre-reqs, but I brought my laptop because the textbook was online and when the teacher would refer to photos that weren't in our book, i was able to quickly find something comparable. that was all i used it for in class. For notes, I use my iPulse Smartpen. I love it so much. I can't listen and write at the same time, so it catches all the info for me. I listen later and get anything from lecture that wasn't in the reading. This has really helped me study for exams especially since the teacher is VERY specific about wording on short answer and essays.

[kynurse08]

I used to write down all the notes but because the teachers talked so fast, I missed half of what they said..especially what may or may not be on a certain test!

I am using my laptop for a statistics course and I am able to type as fast as they speak..this may different for others but I find it easier to correct my words without having to cross off others and highlight on my document without making a mess! I am a computer nerd though.