Difference between revisions of "The Quest for the Perfect Notetaking Medium"

Revision as of 15:27, 16 September 2008

Over the last few months, I have tried transitioning my note taking over to a computer. This essay is about my experiences trying to find the perfect note-taking medium. It is based on both my experiences at Haverford High School, and the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence in Information, Society & Technology at Drexel University in Philadelphia. In both of these programs I used my own Fujitsu T4220 Tablet PC running Microsoft OneNote. The convertible tablet allowed me to either type or hand-write my notes using a special pen from Wacom.

(don't have the prequil and don't mention tablet writes until the ink section and makes it notes->computer->ink; make ink more positive; more of 1st 3 weeks or 12th Grade)

Note Taking

I take taking notes very serious. I've found that the textbook is the best way to learn the material from a class where you need to learn facts. In classes like American Studies and AP Psychology, I need to learn the information. The teachers only review the information in class. In addition, the textbook is very carefully reviewed so that the content is concise and accurate. Lastly, many textbooks include graphs and illustrations which I sometimes find essential for me to understand the material. I also try to read the textbook even if it is not required because I want to learn and do well in the class. I've even had classes where I only got through by reading the book because the teacher was not very good.

I also take extensive notes for the classes. I have found that writing the information helps me slow down and remember it better. It also forces me to process and review the information in order to shrink it down to concise form for the page. For example the Headline Notetaking Format I developed in American Studies has you try to shrink the information to one line of loose leaf similar to a newspaper headline.

One of my teachers, Dr. Reilly, agrees that writing down the information helps students remember. At Governor's School (described below), Professor Song, the UML/Systems professor at Drexel's Graduate School in Information Science said that I would "graduate suma cum laude from Harvard due to the quality of my notes.

I also post my notes online at ThePlaz.com. As described in the site Mission Statement, I try and share what I know with the world. I have also found that knowing that other will read my notes motivates and focuses me to do my best, even on days where I don't feel like it.

I have also found that I don't usually go back and read my own notes. I glance over them the morning of the test for half an hour so the information comes back to me. The act of writing them was very important for me to memorize the information.

Notes are critical for me to succeed in school; however the process and overhead of taking them makes my life harder. I set out to find a better way of taking notes that would make my life easier. I purchased a Fujitsu T4220 Tablet PC which I could carry around in school to take notes on.

Computer

Carrying a computer around in the first place is really useful in school. I am able to quickly look up words I don't know in an online dictionary. I can research more information about a topic by Google-ing or reading an encyclopedia. I remain connected to the outside world with email and the news. I can maintain my to-do list in one places as it is automatically synchronized between computers. I can get a quicker start writing papers, because I can start typing whenever I get inspiration, not when I get home.

But the most useful part of having a laptop is the ability to collaborate. During a group project, I can write or type what we talk about and then in 4 clicks, email it to the group. For the Decades Project, I set up a group discussion forums, where we could all post ideas. However, at this point in time, my other group members were not carrying around laptops. This slowed the discussion down, but it was still beneficial for me to have a laptop because I could integrate group member's work into our project when they sent it to me. This streamlines my day because I can take care of a simple task as it comes up, not save it for the end of the day, which I feel is less efficient.

Types of Classes

I have discovered that using a tablet and e-notes is more helpful in some classes than in others. The Biology class I just described was more online than other classes. Because the other students in the class used laptops provided by the school, the teacher taught mostly from PowerPoints, some of which she also made available on her website. The class also included quick internet research and drew material from the web.

In my other classes that semester, the teacher did not let students use the provided laptops most of the time since they taught mostly from a textbook, or their own experiences. They did not use PowerPoint or the internet much. They also used many worksheets which they have been using for years. E-notes are harder in these classes because of the amount of paper which had to be scanned into my notebook and because of the lack of benefit from being able to quickly import internet research or teacher-provided notes.

Ink. Useful?

Using a Tablet PC's writing capabilities (called "ink") is a mixed bag. It is much slower to actually write on my computer than it is to type. Even just surfing the web feels faster using a trackpad. So I have found that when I am taking notes from scratch, typing is faster than writing using ink.

However I find that ink is useful in 3 cases: for drawing diagrams, writing on top of other documents, and writing is less "intimidating" at meetings. Drawing using a pen is much faster than creating diagrams using the drawing tools in Microsoft Office or even making something in Photoshop or InkScape. I need diagrams because, as a visual learner, I need to see things, and diagrams are the most efficient way to communicate. There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I can draw in 30 seconds (and have it digitally stored) what would take me 5 min using draw tools. This is necessary in order to keep up with a diagram drawn on the board or in a PowerPoint I don't have access to.

In addition, when I get content either from a teacher or off the internet, it is very helpful to be able to draw on top of it. First of all, using existing notes lets me skip recording the basic information and write more advanced notes or personal anecdotes which help my memory. Plus, being able to write on top of lets me add stuff without disturbing the original and lets me see where my notes stop and the given ones start.

In my AP Psychology class, the teacher handed out PowerPoints of each chapter in the beginning of the year. I did not have my tablet then, but I used this "write on top of" strategy on printer paper PowerPoints as I read the textbook. I found it very useful, because as a visual learner, I was able to connect my notes I created with the PowerPoint the teacher went over in class. As the teacher went over the slides, I added additional what he said around the margin of the slide he was talking about. Using this method, I had all of my notes in one place. I started with the basic information already printed, and added helpful explanations from the textbook, and finally I added the useful stories the teacher gave, all on one stack of paper.

Lastly, writing is less intimating at meetings. When you have a laptop open an meetings, the screen cuts you off from other people. In addition, typing is louder than writing on paper. You just feel more open when you are writing.

My American Studies teacher also things that writing is more natural than typing and thus helps you remember more as you write.

Gov School

In the summer of 2008, I attended the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence in Information, Society & Technology at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The Governor's Schools are free 5-week summer programs paid for by the Pennsylvania state government. They are open to rising high school seniors, and in some programs, rising high school juniors. There are 8 subject areas, each one held at a different university or college throughout the state. Tuition, as well as room and board, is paid for by the state. The entire program is free for the student. Admission is very competitive because, unlike most for-profit summer camps that tend to accept anyone willing to pay, there is no financial barrier to entry.

The reason I purchased the tablet was to try out how to streamline my note taking for college and I thought that Gov School as a college precursor, would be a good experience for me. I decided to try and take all electronic notes. The Gov School classes, for the most part, provided all notes online, or no notes. In addition, with computers, topics tend to have much information about them available online. For example, in Linux System Admin class, I imported tutorials from the internet into OneNote and highlighted the important steps and added notes in the margin.

However, some classes gave out notes on paper. This makes things harder. For instance, in UML/Systems Design class, the professor gave out his PowerPoints on paper. I found it is best to make the notes on top of the printed PowerPoint with a pen, and not make any notes in the computer, and then scan in the notes into my notebook at the end of the week. I realize that the scanning part is a major drag, however I've gotten better at it. I can scan about 50 page in an hour while also doing something else.

What I am trying to avoid is splitting my notes among paper and computer. I really want one centralized repository for my notes. I think that this is critical since one can quickly run into problems splitting information between two places for fairly obvious reasons.

Paper vs Computer

There are a few places where paper is outshines a computer. I think that E-Notes, even in ink, do not look as nice. My Headline Notetaking Format I developed in American Studies is dependent on the length of the line, which is not the same of the computer. I am very familiar with paper, and writing on a computer just feels different. In addition, being on a computer can be distracting. However the main disadvantage which I mentioned earlier is that paper given out by teachers has to be scanned in. In addition, items which have to be turned in that day must still be written unless I have access to a printer. Power and battery issues also do not exist on paper.

Lastly, some teachers may have reservations about a student using a computer in a classroom since many students are unable to focus if they are in front of a computer.

So over all, I think I will give computer note taking a try next year in 12th Grade. It worked really well at Gov School. However, if it becomes apparent that a class gives out a lot of paper, I may use a binder in that one class. Having all my notes on the computer will significantly reduce the weight and volume of stuff which I carry around. So overall, I am looking forward to all of the advantages of moving to E-Notes next year using my tablet.

Stuff Not Talked about

Leaving binders home since don't want to carry - problem if I need it Easy to backup "I can also easily back up my notes to Amazon S3 using JungleDisk over the internet, so if something happens to my tablet, I will not miss any work." Laptop: lost or stolen risk

More to add

Add Doc: The Act of writing helps (More natural than typing) calc essential

Perhaps more about carying around a computer

Proposed Structure

• my note taking style (new section)
• Carrying around a computer
• Types of classes
• Ink

• real world
  • Bio
  • Gov School
  • 12th grade

Drop onenote and ?ink