Notes: paper, electronic, recording, none?

[telomerase]

Hey guys, so I am wondering how you guys take notes in lecture and your thoughts with what works best and why?

 

I am and have always been a paper person...i think it is something that really works for me, but I realize that due to the large volume of content and the convenience and pure organization of taking notes on an electric device such as an ipad, perhaps I should try to change my ways.....plus, electronic is waaay less messy and can be time-saving in the long run....what do you guys think? I have never taken a poll before, so hope this works.....

 

1. Paper

2. Electronic

3. Recording

4. None

[telomerase]

Duplicate post- deleted

[A-Stark]

Recently I've begun taking notes on my iPad, but I'd need an actual keyboard for it to be really efficient. I find the virtual keyboard is either too error-prone or else resulting in auto-correction of medical jargon. It was almost frustrating enough to go back to paper.

 

Overall I do prefer to write things down. Maybe one day we'll get an electronic stylus that works as easily and fluidly as a simple pen, but it hasn't happened yet.

[codebar]

When I go to class, I take notes on paper (usually on printed powerpoint presentation of the course). Sometime, I just listen and don't take notes at all.

 

Recording... sounds like boring as hell. I can't imagine why someone would like to re-listen to a course.

[Lactic Folly]

I do both, depending on the situation (straddling the fence I suppose).

 

Advantages of paper: kinetic learning, don't have to worry about misplacing electronics, does not arouse suspicions that you are surfing the web surreptitiously

 

Advantages of electronics: legibility/speed (with typing), ability to quickly search for words (and for those who are more converted, ability to integrate into note-taking software, transfer between devices / store online)

[telomerase]

10char10char

[NutritionRunner]

Paper. There was another thread where I posted links to some studies that show that we retain material better when we write it out by hand, as opposed to typing.

 

Works for me. But there are plenty of people who take notes on their laptops or tablets, so clearly that works for them as well.

[psychoswim]

I jot down a few notes here and there on printed powerpoints. Write my problem-based learning resumes in Word and print them out after so I highlight/annotate when reviewing before the exam.

[tooty]

Electronic (pdf) notes all the way. Save them in dropbox and organize them. Will come in handy for the MCCQE. I still memorize by writing with pen and paper though.

[Dr.Henderson]

I used to always be a paper guy, but then I didn't really care what happened to my notes after the semester haha. Now I certainly do- so I used MS Office OneNote- absolutely wonderfully convenient. You can "print" notes from any file type into the program, annotate them, draw on them, hi-light, add recordings/sound files. I organize them into lectures, group them by subject, and have a "note book" for each semester. Its wonderfully convenient, searchable, and I couldn't imagine going back to rifling through stacks of paper/binders to find what I'm looking for.

[Applemanv3]

Evernote - done.

 

I created everything I need on my Evernote on Mac and then use my iPhone or iPad to view them. Of course, I can also edit on the go.

 

I have not used pen and paper for 90% of med school (the 10% comes from random Clinical Skills notes when we were in the hospital and I was worried about C. diff on my electronics )

[telomerase]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I do think that I retain more when I write by hand on paper, but I think it would be a good idea to switch to electronic because of all of the pros you guys listed! Perhaps I can train my brain to retain just as much when I type..... I am just worried that I will hate it and go back to my old ways....throughout undergrad, I tried several times to switch to electronic, each time giving up and going to my old ways....perhaps I just need to find an ipad app that works best for me.....sigh....i just dont understand how some people type notes on their ipad with their fingers....i would die!!!! My bf does this......aaaaaah!

[mt229431]

You may have made a decision, but I wanted to give my input as well I recently bought an iPad for taking notes in class, using a stylus. I hate typing notes, hate hate hate. I like to have the slides in front of me so I can 'doodle' on them, draw figures, diagrams, etc. Since most class notes are provided electronically now, Ill simply put them in Dropbox, open with note taking app like Notability or Goodnotes (I prefer Notability right now, for some reason I find the stylus works better), then save them! It provides a nice backup system as well, since Dropbox is online.

 

I realize a lot of people may say styluses (styli?) aren't accurate/sensitive enough, but if you do some searching, which I have, there are examples of some pretty amazing note taking using a stylus. There are also many different designs out there now. I ended up going with a Wacom Bamboo. But there are some styluses that are very pen-like if you prefer that, such as the Adonit Jot Pro.

 

Good luck!

[Intrepid86]

Pen & Paper; Pros - low tech and inexpensive. Cons - Doesn't play Angry Birds.

 

During my first two years I just annotated slides on my laptop. It got tedious printing things out.

[CapillaryWave]

I'm practically an all electronic operation.

 

All for PDFs, spread sheets, and dropbox. I do print things off, laminate them, and file them.. But that's more an obsession with organization then anything else.

[schmitty]

. Maybe one day we'll get an electronic stylus that works as easily and fluidly as a simple pen, but it hasn't happened yet.

 

Have you tried a wacom-enabled modern tablet/convertible? It's as smooth as writing with a pen while using OneNote.

 

We have several Lenovo X230 tablets at my work and it's amazing for taking notes - very natural. You can even get a nice screen protector from 3M that make the surface less glossy and it feels more textured like real paper.

 

As for the OP question, throughout my UG I always took electronic notes (except in Calculus and Linear Algebra since I didn't have a tablet). I plan to get a tablet with digitizer stylus and take entirely electronic notes with OneNote 2013 for med school.