Do you bring your laptop to class/lecture?

Nursing Students General Students

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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?

:smokin:

Specializes in Primary Care.

I forgot to say... Happy Father's Day to you all!

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Specializes in IMCU.
Uhm....sorry to be the old grumpy one, but I'd say if you have a "long boring class like pharmacology," then what you should do is pay extra attention! Pharmacology is important stuff and if you think it's boring, it likely isn't going to come easy to you, since you think it's boring.

Yep! Our pharmacology instructor must have had some experience with face-bookers etc. doing it in class (she was boring not the subject matter). It is their policy that if you are caught doing anything but note taking you lose the right to bring a laptop. I used to sit in the back of the classes but got so distracted (OK I mean annoyed) by people playing poker, IMing, looking at photos I moved to the front. The sound of the keyboards aren't a big deal.

I print out the PPTs and take notes on them -- I don't take excessive notes because I find it hard to listen attentively if I concentrate too much on note content (but that is just a personal thing). I record the lectures with a little digital recorder and play them sometimes on my 30-40 minute commute. Also, the recordings have come in handy for the odd fellow student who gets sick or has an emergency.

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Specializes in ER.
You'll LOVE it! Did you get the 1 GB or the 2 GB?

I got the 2GB version, as the cost difference was negligible.

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SnowRain..it looks like I am going to have to do this! Esp. if I want to be able to take more notes. I am such a weirdo. I just press REALLY hard when I write..I have been like this since I was a wee one. LMAO

Myst- I'm definitely going to look into that. I just read a quick descrip. on it and saw the pic. I didn't realize it was THAT intricate! :woohoo: It sounds brilliant..now..let's see if I can even afford it LOL.

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Specializes in Flight RN, Trauma1 CVICU STICU MICU CCU.

This pulse pen seems like it would be a nice idea, but it would not have worked for my nursing school. I downloaded my powerpoints onto my laptop and took my notes there. If you show up with the dot-paper and try to recreate a powerpoint on their specialized $24 notebooks, you are sadly going to be trying to copy down slides that are up on the projector and not be able to pay attention to what they are teaching.

It just doesnt seem feasible for class.

Now then for clinical applications, it would make sense if you could upload your program to work computers, but i think everyone knows that this is not going to happen. Hospitals do not let their employees add personal programs to company computers. It would make sense if you were just trying to keep a record of all of your patient care notes, but there is really no application of the pen to your computerized notes on the hospital's computer, nor to the patient care records if your hospital uses paper charting.

i can see possibly using it to store computer records of your personal charting brains in nursing clinicals, but again, what is the real benefit of having a computer record of handwriting... you already have the paper copy...

Sorry to be a buzzkill, the pen seems really cool, but does not seem applicable for actually working as a nurse, other than keeping a computer copy of your charting brain for personal records, in the case that you want these long term for court records, etc.

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Specializes in Primary Care.
This pulse pen seems like it would be a nice idea, but it would not have worked for my nursing school. I downloaded my powerpoints onto my laptop and took my notes there. If you show up with the dot-paper and try to recreate a powerpoint on their specialized $24 notebooks, you are sadly going to be trying to copy down slides that are up on the projector and not be able to pay attention to what they are teaching.

It just doesnt seem feasible for class.

Now then for clinical applications, it would make sense if you could upload your program to work computers, but i think everyone knows that this is not going to happen. Hospitals do not let their employees add personal programs to company computers. It would make sense if you were just trying to keep a record of all of your patient care notes, but there is really no application of the pen to your computerized notes on the hospital's computer, nor to the patient care records if your hospital uses paper charting.

i can see possibly using it to store computer records of your personal charting brains in nursing clinicals, but again, what is the real benefit of having a computer record of handwriting... you already have the paper copy...

Sorry to be a buzzkill, the pen seems really cool, but does not seem applicable for actually working as a nurse, other than keeping a computer copy of your charting brain for personal records, in the case that you want these long term for court records, etc.

To counteract what you said:

As far as the ppt's... I personally take notes separately. Always have! I find the slides to actually be a distraction and the same exact purpose as just reading something out of a book. I have to personally write things down in my own handwriting to actually absorb the information. This pen is more used for STUDENTS rather than employees. It would be a HPPA violation if you kept a digital (or any) copy of confidential information from pts. As far as a digital copy on the computer? You can use it to study (you can click on whatever words you wrote to play exactly the lecture at that point in time you wrote) and also upload it to other classmates. Also, have a digital copy in case something DOES happen to your notes (coffee anyone?).

I think the pen was more created for students then anything else! It comes to a great advantage to me above and beyond the laptop! You just can't take a laptop during clinicals!!! You wouldn't need to upload anything to hospital computers. That's not what this was made for. ...But I guess not everyone shares the same ideas, nor does everyone have the same learning style!

For me, personally, it's a great addition to my learning!!! I can play the lectures over and over and jump around to different parts of the lectures at any given time... (Just tap what you wrote to play that part of the lecture). Love it!

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I just saw a youtube video of this livescribe pulse pen. UNREAL! I MUST have one. For once, I actually know what to put on my Christmas list. :D ...or actually..my Birthday list..since that comes sooner (Aug.1) haha.

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Specializes in Primary Care.

I never thought to look up the pen on Youtube! I just believe it's a great tool to assist students in their learning process!

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Specializes in Emergency.

Yeah I looked on youtube yesterday to see how it actually works. I really want one, but the idea of buying those pricey notebooks, when I normally can get them for .80! This is ridiculous. And i was also reading where it says that you cant use the same #1 notebooks for different notes, because the pen will get "confused" is there any truth to that. that is why there are different number notebooks. so what im assumming if im using pharmacology for notebook 1 and intro to nursing also in a different number 1 notebook if i tap the pen wouldnt know which notes to play because the number one have all the same size dots, thats why id have to use two different notebooks for different classes?? does that make sense. hopefully somebody can answer my question.

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all our power points were provided to the students. i have used my lap top at times, but usually just to have in library so i dont have to wait on a computer in there. Besides , the classes here use internet alot either by labs or just looking things up.

Our teacher said bring lap tops ,and cell phones, but if ya cell phone goes off in class she will deduct 10 point off the next test you have, or if your computer has anything but class content on it while in class they will do the same.

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Specializes in Primary Care.
Yeah I looked on youtube yesterday to see how it actually works. I really want one, but the idea of buying those pricey notebooks, when I normally can get them for .80! This is ridiculous. And i was also reading where it says that you cant use the same #1 notebooks for different notes, because the pen will get "confused" is there any truth to that. that is why there are different number notebooks. so what im assumming if im using pharmacology for notebook 1 and intro to nursing also in a different number 1 notebook if i tap the pen wouldnt know which notes to play because the number one have all the same size dots, thats why id have to use two different notebooks for different classes?? does that make sense. hopefully somebody can answer my question.

Basically, you would want to use your paper wisely! There are 8 full size college ruled notebooks, plus other sizes that are numbered. If you only use half of notebook #1 for pharmacology, then it would be wise to use the other half for intro to nursing. The first set comes with notebooks 1-4. Then once you fill up those 4 notebooks (both sides of each paper), then you move onto notebooks 5-8. If you fill up all of those notebooks, then you will have to archive the first four notebooks (assuming you would need to go onto a 9th notebook) before you use another set of notebooks 1-4. The only difference with archiving is that you lose the "link" between tapping and playing the audio from the moment you wrote that word ("What was the instructor saying at the time I wrote that?") Otherwise, it's all still there in the computer, both the audio and digital notes. But by the time you go onto notebook #9 (which is really notebook 1 with the Pulse pen, again), I'm sure you have already filled in all the blanks, added your own notes, and studied everything you needed with all the other notebooks. So the "link" between audio and the handwritten notes may not be a big deal if lost later. It takes a long time to fill up eight notebooks, unless you write really large and waste a lot of paper (which I don't, personally). I try to conserve my paper.

So, I hope that answers your question.

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Specializes in Primary Care.
all our power points were provided to the students. i have used my lap top at times, but usually just to have in library so i dont have to wait on a computer in there. Besides , the classes here use internet alot either by labs or just looking things up.

Our teacher said bring lap tops ,and cell phones, but if ya cell phone goes off in class she will deduct 10 point off the next test you have, or if your computer has anything but class content on it while in class they will do the same.

So, what would happen if your cell phone went off due to a family emergency? Would the instructor still deduct points? Just curious.

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