How do you take NOTES in class during Nursing Scool?

[NursingStoodent]

I am starting Nursing School in January and I am trying to figure out how to take notes once classes start. I have a windows 8 laptop and would like to do all my note taking on the laptop. During pre-nursing I used to see students taking notes on their computers and iPads and tablets all the time. I have no idea how they do it and I have never taken notes on my computer before. My typing speed is okay... not too bad. So my question to all fellow students is exactly how do you take and organize your notes using a laptop?

Is it easier to take notes on a laptop or a tablet or iPad or good 'ol pen and paper? I dont have a tablet so any advise on which kind to buy would be helpful as well!

Is there an app you download to take notes or do u just type away in a word document (which I dont think I am going to like too much)?

I like recording my lectures while I am taking notes. Is there a way to not record the clicking sounds of the keyboard while you type?

I love my paper, pen, and notebook but sometimes during lectures it get to be too much to write and since I like to type I want to give this new method a try. Plus I want to be able to share and print my notes as well.

Ideally I would like to be able to record my lecture, and type my notes while having the flexibility to draw out diagrams and insert tables within my notes.

Any advise regarding which apps I should use or how I should record my lectures or take and organize my notes would be helpful!!

[Al Chemist]

Sensible advice, everyone. And very inspirational.

[Al Chemist]

Great suggestions,all. Evidently folks employ what note taking techniques have worked best for them. Just consider your own skills and how best you can use your time. Computerization is fantastic, and you will appreciate having computerized notes for the rest of your life, your personal Kindle files, if you will. Recorders are great, but take way too much time to transcribe. Laptops in class, for me, have proven tedious. I'm old school, I write class notes, then type more coherent conceptual notes that night. I may "write" notes on a tablet in future, just to save rewriting time later, (if Santa reads this post.)

In any case, I suggest that you prepare for all classroom presentations beforehand. Pre-read (skim) new material in your texts or power points; chapter contents, highlights, topic outlines, pics. Someone far more learned has already outlined the material for you... take advantage. Don't try to master it during preview, but don't just breeze by and not focus. This is preparation, after all. Never go to class cold and blank. You will at best, only affirm how ignorant you are of the material, and increase your stress. Prep should raise questions you should get resolved at the first presentation of the material. Also, EVERYDAY you MUST redo your notes, whatever technique you have used. This gives you 3 exposures to the material: preview, lecture, reorganization. By now you should be at least be able to make a "B" score on the material. (Employers will not give you 3 chances to "learn" or get things right at work. Better develop this skill now).

Now you should have an easy time reviewing your own organized conceptualization of the material daily until the test, and of course, you will have great compilations of material for lifetime referral, especially if computerized. (I still refer to some of my nursing school notes, Epocrates, ACLS charts, calculation apps, etc. on my iPhone at work. Had I spent more time learning the material, rather than creating lovely files, I would have fewer files to have to carry around.)

Only if you prepare before class are you free to listen and concentrate on the material presented, rather than bustling to write, type, or record every word. You understand things when you think about them, not when you write words and intend to figure it out later. Use class time to comprehend the previewed material presented, and get your preview questions answered. Never leave a class with any unanswered questions or misconceptions. Finalize these clearer thoughts when you compile that day's revisions that night. This maximizes your actual learning effort and teacher resources and will save you hours of stress after class. Study (focus on and comprehend) material in class, and then homework becomes revise and review. Quick rereads of your own thoughts will give you extremely easy references forever.

Notes are essential, but they are just tools to assist learning, which is the intent. Start with serious preview. Learn in class. Organize and review at home. Skim your notes occasionally, until the material never dims. Eventually you can become an encyclopedia.

[SunshineDaisy, ASN, RN]

Can you please share why the laptop thing did not work for you? I am really looking forward to finally be ready to use technology to aid in my note taking. I like pen and paper but I want to try something different.

I just found I wasted too much time trying to correct spelling mistakes right then. I can't let it go and come back and fix it, it had to be then! Plus I am a hunter and pecker on the keyboard, so I have to be looking at he keyboard the whole time, just felt like I missed stuff!

[SunshineDaisy, ASN, RN]

You should see my books too*L* I got the colored tabs and designated one color per test so I could tab anything in the book (charts, graphs, boxes) that the teacher mentioned. I also had different colored pens and highlighters for different things. Just made it easier for me!

[chopwood carrywater]

This was one of my best nursing school investments: Livescribe pen. You write your notes with their special pen on their special paper and the pen records as you write. then you can go back later, tap the tip of the pen on any word or drawing that you created while the teacher was talking and you will hear what was being said at that moment; then you can go forward or back in the recording. Google it for the website because you'll get a better idea.

[chopwood carrywater]

I would also cut out the ppt slides and tape them to the Livescribe paper, then I could do something as simple as jotting one thing next to the slide as the teacher covered that material and then I could always go right back and find what was said along with any other notes I wrote.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day:

I've had up to 3 GB of notes in Evernote; there's only a monthly limit of what you can upload --- which really increases for the premium version which just runs $49 per year.

Thank you.

[bfree1001]

This was one of my best nursing school investments: Livescribe pen. You write your notes with their special pen on their special paper and the pen records as you write. then you can go back later tap the tip of the pen on any word or drawing that you created while the teacher was talking and you will hear what was being said at that moment; then you can go forward or back in the recording. Google it for the website because you'll get a better idea.[/quote']

OMG you just changed my life!!!! That has become the only item on my Christmas list!!! :)

[078207]

My method of note taking can be very time consuming but it works for me.

Before class I download the course pwr pts. and print off all of the slides that contain pictures, diagrams, and lots of notes. I then cut out those notes and write down each slide and place the printed material accordingly. When in class I record the lecture, write notes where the prof expands on the material and write more notes/review when i get home.

I find that this book idea helps to keep me organized and keeps me pay attention in class. So far so good 90's !

[RunBabyRN]

I was taking mine on a Word document, but since my instructors post their PowerPoints, now I will go through the slides during lecture, and write my notes corresponding to that slide in the notes section and save them all. Then I can review them all before the exam, and I don't have to write every single thing in every single slide. Then I make notecards based on what I need to review from that.

[maj0079]

If you have a tablet with Windows 8, Office word and PowerPoint has a "pen" setting that you can take notes right on your document. It is pretty easy and intuitive. Good luck! It is a pain to figure it out, but I really like taking notes electronically vs pen & paper. I find my notes are much cleaner and easier to read and with them being electronic you can search for keywords.

[rnstudent33]

My professors make powerpoints for each lecture so I print them out 3 slides per page so I can take notes from what she says. If for some reason they don't provide a powerpoint, I just write down what they say in my notebook. A lot of students use ipads with the keyboard or they bring their laptop, but I personally remember things when I write them out.