Taking Notes - By hand or by Laptop?

[SerenePeach]

Do you guys take notes during class by writing them down or by typing them on your laptop? I'm just wondering which way you think is more effective, or which way has worked for you.

I would imagine you could take down more information with a laptop but I'm just used to taking notes by hand.

[coffeeaftermidnight]

It really depends on what class I'm in. In AP I hand write all my notes and record the lectures. There is far too much drawing to even attempt to type them on my laptop. I always come home and rewrite them while listening to the lecture.

However, when I took my ethics and humanities classes I typed my notes.

[jriccardi]

I was use to hand writing everything until I broke myself of the habit. Now I use my laptop to type my notes during class.

I find that printed notes are easier to study.

[tazmom]

my school allows us to record classes as long if we ask the instructor. the livescribe pen i was able to get which the 4 gb one on sale at best buy. i am still getting used to writing with it but the recording is easy.

[Hot Lips Houlihan]

I agree with RECORDING and WRITING notes. It is so helpful to go back and listen and reread the notes while a deeper understanding is acheived.

[Mayday!]

For me, typing notes is faster and therefore more convenient, but handwriting them makes them stick in my mind better, and gives me something to associate what I'm reading with. Like, when I'm reading over my notes and come to something I don't fully understand, I can look at my handwriting and almost flashback to the lecture and recall what was said before and after that little snippet. It just works better for me if I write out my notes by hand, the old fashioned way.

At my school, many of the professors no longer let students bring their laptops to class at all. They say they have too many problems with students bringing them to "type notes", then catching them on MSN Messenger or AIM, checking their Myspace/Facebook/Twitter, or browsing the web aimlessly. In one of my night classes a few semesters ago, we had one girl who ALWAYS brought her laptop to "type notes", but was always interrupting lecture to giggle over something her friend just said in an IM conversation. The professor finally caught on and asked the student why she couldn't pass any tests or quizzes, since she furiously "typed notes" the entire 3 hour lecture.

Just something to think about, whether you could really stay focused without wandering to other computer-related tasks that are, face it, more appealing than listening to your professor blab and blither away.

[SingDanceRunLife]

I just had my first A&P class of the semester, and I think that I'll type notes because my prof uses powerpoints that will be posted on Blackboard so I can add notes to the bottom of each page. Plus, she speaks rather quickly, and I write fairly slowly. We'll see though.