best practices lecture notes/client notes

J

Jamie Elis

0
Taking a seminar style class, sometimes there is a handout on which I might take notes. Rest of the times I use paper and even with the handout many useful topics are elucidated and references alluded to (authors, titles), so notes are really worthwhile. We sit around a conference table.

Currently I aim to type my notes when I get home and put in a binder because I will be taking an exam in 18 to 24 months on the topic. But sometimes I never get to the reviewing and the typing and sometimes I even don't exactly know where I put the notes...Least I am honest.

I am poor but fast typist and terrible speller. I am thinking that I could bring lap top and type during class with it on my lap. The table is too high for typing. Might the clicking bother my classmates, and the professor? I have been out of school so long that I do not know the etiquette. I could ask in advance--classmates would say ok because they would want my notes (or so they think) and the Prof would be flattered. If I had a smart words program that might help a bit with the typing. Any thoughts?

I have seen ads for a smart notebook where you write or draw by hand on special surface with special pen and then whatever you write you can upload to computer and then tidy it up and print it out if you want. Any thoughts?

I also meet with people at work and have to take notes which I have been doing by hand. I wonder if a lap top would work or the smart notebook. Any thoughts?
 
Jamie Elis;71258 said:
Taking a seminar style class, sometimes there is a handout on which I might take notes. Rest of the times I use paper and even with the handout many useful topics are elucidated and references alluded to (authors, titles), so notes are really worthwhile. We sit around a conference table.

Currently I aim to type my notes when I get home and put in a binder because I will be taking an exam in 18 to 24 months on the topic. But sometimes I never get to the reviewing and the typing and sometimes I even don't exactly know where I put the notes...Least I am honest.
Click to expand...

I'm a physics professor, and I see pretty clearly what works for most people. There are always a few people who benefit from retyping notes, but they are usually either compulsive or very disciplined. I'm not, most people aren't, and you probably aren't either. It is far more important that the notes that you do take, along with all handouts, end up in a single place, in order. The most important document for any course is generally the course syllabus. Make sure you have it. In class, note key assignments, exams, and dates. If you do nothing else, get those things into your system. After you process incoming information from each class, put everything from each class in a binder, in order. You almost certainly need a hole punch.

Jamie Elis;71258 said:
I am poor but fast typist and terrible speller. I am thinking that I could bring lap top and type during class with it on my lap. The table is too high for typing. Might the clicking bother my classmates, and the professor? I have been out of school so long that I do not know the etiquette. I could ask in advance--classmates would say ok because they would want my notes (or so they think) and the Prof would be flattered. If I had a smart words program that might help a bit with the typing. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Most professors don't care too much these days, but it's polite to ask, especially in a small class. You can usually mute keystrokes. NEVER, EVER, EVER even appear to be doing something extraneous to what is going on in the classroom. The instructor will notice, even in a class of 100 people, and those around you will know too. BTW, most college instructors are way beyond flattery, skeptical about computers in the classroom, and don't view your hard drive crashing as their problem. You do back up regularly, don't you?

Jamie Elis;71258 said:
I have seen ads for a smart notebook where you write or draw by hand on special surface with special pen and then whatever you write you can upload to computer and then tidy it up and print it out if you want. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Almost certainly a waste of time and money until the technology gets way better.

Jamie Elis;71258 said:
I also meet with people at work and have to take notes which I have been doing by hand. I wonder if a lap top would work or the smart notebook. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Try a laptop and see if it works for you. I think paper is generally faster for collection, and more flexible. The key is to follow through while your memory is fresh, whatever you do.

One last thought: search the web for the Cornell note taking method, and read about it from several sources. Don't take any rigid description you read as gospel, but there are useful ideas to be had.
 
thank you

Your message is a nice l reassurance that I indeed have all the skills and tools I need from my prior formal education. I even have a heavy duty hole punch!
 
Jamie Elis;71272 said:
Your message is a nice l reassurance that I indeed have all the skills and tools I need from my prior formal education. I even have a heavy duty hole punch!
Click to expand...

And congratulations to you on furthering your education!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top