Taking notes on a laptop?

[SchiwartRN]

I have a laptop available to me while I'm in school and wondered if anyone else uses a laptop in class to take notes on?? Is this something that is helpful? I can type about 70 wpm, so keeping up isn't an issue, but I'm wondering if I'll end up reverting back to writing my notes....

I'd love to hear opinions on this...

Sonya

Class of 2008

[moongirl]

Couldnt hear them type. Only thing that was annoying was their power cords stretched across the back aisle to the plug in

[shock-me-sane]

our instructors use powerpoint. i print them out 3 to a page and write in notes during lecture.

later i take notes on my notes on the laptop (well when i have time)

[maliat]

I've found that it depends on my class. I took notes on my laptop (in fact by the end of that summer session half the class brought their laptops) in Soc 100. But for other classes like Organic Chem I found it much easier to write out my notes, with all the pictures/diagrams needed. We'll see what happens for nursing school. I know that my two lecture classes (that each only meet once a week) may test the power of my battery if I haul it to class. See that's my other problem. I take the bus and will have clinical and class on the same day, so it may not be convenient to take my laptop to class.

A note for the other laptop users, turn off everything else you can (like your wireless connection) and your battery will last longer.

Malia

[81ke83]

I take notes in class by hand. When I go home, I type my notes. It is helpful for me to go over the material again. I also tape the lectures and add information that I might of missed. I also transfer the recorded lecture to my ipod and listen to it in the car. I commute 55 miles each way to work. So, it makes my commuting time more useful and hopefully frees up some of my time at home

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

In my psych class, we had a girl who typed her notes the whole semester. Even though she sat in the room, you could still hear her tappity-tappity, very distracting, and i learned in one day not to sit next to her, because my digital recorder picked up the tapping.

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

Something else that is helpful when studying, make excel charts and bold what is different. Many times instructors test you on differences.

When we had dysrhythmmias we had to know how to treat each one of them. It gets really confusing because many of the meds sound the same, many of the dysrhythmmias sound the same and it is simply a ton of stuff to remember. I made a chart naming the dysrhythmmia, the heart rate range for it, where the rhythm originated from, any identifying factors (in bold) treatment, and anything special about the treatment in bold.

[shellsgogreen]

something else that is helpful when studying, make excel charts and bold what is different. many times instructors test you on differences.

when we had dysrhythmmias we had to know how to treat each one of them. it gets really confusing because many of the meds sound the same, many of the dysrhythmmias sound the same and it is simply a ton of stuff to remember. i made a chart naming the dysrhythmmia, the heart rate range for it, where the rhythm originated from, any identifying factors (in bold) treatment, and anything special about the treatment in bold.

that's a really great idea about the excel chart - i'm going to try that; thanx!:bowingpur

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

The clackety clack of the keys often could not be heard over the students who were in the habit of so rudely carrying on conversations during lecture.

I used my laptop HEAVILY to take notes - but I also had one with a very silent keyboard. Some are better than others - and in fact you can now get a keyboard that is a virtual keyboard - the light shines the keyboard on the desk - so you type on what appear to be keys but really arent even there at all. There is no excuse for a noisy keyboard. There is also one that rolls up that is made of silicone that makes no noise.

I used the professors power points and took my notes right in them - saved me a LOT of time!

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/5a7f/

[Josh L.Ac.]

I type my notes in every class, and I've never heard any complaints. My iBook's keyboard is relatively quiet, plus I don't pound the keys. Some of my fellow students think it is odd that I type all my notes...until they actually see my notes. In acupuncture school, I actually got paid by the school to take notes for some of the classes [for a disabled student].

Taking notes on a laptop is a trend that is going to continue. Many medical schools give their students a tablet notebook to use for class, and if my nursing school used powerpoint more, I would consider switching.

[Josh L.Ac.]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/5a7f/

The first one reminds me of a Cylon.

Yeah, okay, I'm a nerd.

[ak127]

If you are interested in this, look into a tablet convertible pc with Microsoft OneNote. Like http://www.gateway.com/programs/convertible/index.shtml?cmpid=index*home*billboard*convertible*programs/convertible/index