Did you know that every time we remember something, we recall not a memory of an actual event, but a memory of our last memory about this event? That’s how our brain works and that’s why after many years we can remember some minor things differently than our friends. Even the best memory in the world isn’t perfect by design. So taking notes was a kind of evolutionary improvement of humanity.
With the development of technology, note-taking also turned into art on its own. Let’s see what are the 5 modern note-taking technologies for college students!
Audio recording
From the very dawn of tape recorders, the students used them for their benefit. The recording of a lecture guarantees that you won’t miss a word and will have this lecture at your service whenever you want. When you write notes in your textbook, you have one and only chance: if you lose your attention for a few minutes – the part of the lecture is gone forever and the only way to restore it is to ask the notes from your classmates. With audio recording, you will have an infinity of chances to distinguish the main points and write them down. Moreover, if you better understand the information after hearing it, not after reading, you may store your notes in another file and re-listen them whenever you need.
Speech-to-text
Compatible with audio recording mentioned above, speech-to-text technology allows you to turn the lecture into the notes in real-time: just put your smartphone near the lecturer and it will not only record the sound but transform it into readable text. Unfortunately, the quality of the text greatly depends on the quality of your microphone, size of the dictionary of speech-to-text program and peculiarities of lecturer’s speaking. So, it’s better to use this method together with the first one: recording the lecture first and transforming it into the text later.
This method is great for those who learn easier while reading than while listening. The resulting text may need lots of editing, though, so maybe one should record and transform one lecture and then evaluate is the result worth the effort.
Thesis maker
Usually, the automatic thesis and summary making programs are used for essay writing. One can upload the text into it and the algorithm will generate the introduction, conclusion and main thesis statements. But sometimes, if the lecture is properly structured (and you managed to get a proper transformation into text), these programs can be useful for them too. There is a wide range of such tools, that you can find on free essay websites like https://studymoose.com. All you need to do is to upload the resulting file and get the short summary and thesis that can be used for the preparation for the exam.
Note Board
For those who prefer visual note-taking, this is a life-saver! You may write down some important clues of the lecture, not every word said – and then arrange them in a flexible board with tags, interconnections and other structure elements you need. You may even add external links to other resources, creating something like your own visual Wiki on the subject you need. Such a structure of notes isn’t very popular among the students yet, but it is proved to be very effective in terms of memorizing important things and connecting one lecture to the others or even the other subjects. Creating the full big picture is always better than writing down pieces of text one by one.
Pen to print
If you prefer handwriting but also want the text to be editable later – pen to print technology is the best humanity has invented for you. You write down what you need on your tablet – with the stylus instead of a pen, of course, but with all the tactile response preserved – and then the text automatically transforms into the typed words that can be edited just as easy as any other document. These programs need some time to adjust to your handwriting style, so practice with them a bit before taking your tablet to the lecture!
We chose five completely different approaches to make students’ lives easier. You may choose one of them or combine all four depending on your own learning style. Or – who knows – maybe, you will be the creator of a completely new approach to learning and note-taking?