Anyone ever thought of using alternative options for taking notes?

Anyone ever thought of using alternative options for taking notes? I’m on a never ending quest to make my notes more effective and more productive as I study multiple subjects, and for certifications. Currently, I take notes in a notebook, and then I transfer them into a One Note Cornell template notebook. This format helps me because I can put questions in the cue column; additionally, I can summarize my notes. The questions help me create my note cards, and rewriting is good review. Although, I’m starting to refine my note taking process, I know that there are ways that I could and do need improvement. Below are some technologies that researching and considering using, has anyone used any of the following for note taking?

• Live scribe it looks expensive, but it might prove effective….Anyone use this? It looks expensive
• Livescribe :: Never Miss A Word

• Dragon looks expensive, but sounds effective if you configure your voice to the software. Anyone use Dragon? Any experiences bad or good? I was interested in this because you can talke faster than you type.
• Nuance - For Individuals - For Individuals

• Anyone use digital recorders to make notes or Mp3’s for their Ipod? How are your experiences with this if you did?

A Twist on the MP3 Study Method

• http://sy0201.blogspot.com/2010/03/twist-on-mp3-study-method.html

• Anyone ever use evernote? What your experiences?

• Remember Everything | Evernote Corporation

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A major benefit of taking notes besides having the notes as a study reference / cramguide later on, is that you actually make the information stick better when you write the notes. You're not only making the notes on external media but also organizing it in your internal memory; your brain. I'm sure it differs per person but for me 'shortcuts' in taking notes defeat the purpose of making (not of having) the notes. Like you said, rewriting is good review.

I've seen a demo of that pen a while ago and it's kinda cool but I personally wouldn't use it because I hardly ever write on paper.

I used Dragon and several other speech recognition programs years ago but mostly for command and control and not dictation because it just wasn't faster than simply typing because of the corrections I had to made every few words. I assume it has improved over the years and works better on modern PCs. If the goal is to have an audio version you can use text-to-speech software to have your computer read them for you.

DevilWAH

In terms of dragon I did use this for a while, and to be honest if you take the time to train it (and this takes weeks of constant use not just a few hours). it actuly gets very good. Even correction can be made via voice command. But it does take time.. lots of it.. Not really good for note taking but good for report writing or longer bits of text.

I have also used the pens that pick up your hand writing. These are great for remembering what you have writen and producing an image you can save on you PC, how the OCR is still a bit flakey if you want to convert it to editable text.. Much like Dragon if you want it to work well expect so spend a lot of time training it.

I never really spent much time with the PEn , but the thing with dragon is that after a time you train your voice to it, as much as it learns to know your voice. And it's once you have learnt how to use your voice and avoid the confusing sounds you would naturally make (it makes you talk a lot clearer) that you see the benifits..

Mind maps are my personal favriot for note taking. (Mind map - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) I don't like to read text much and a good mind map is easy to navagate and recall from. You can also fit a lot of information in a small space. They are good for studying and general meetings notes. And becasue as you make them you are visulising the connections between facts it really hellps it stick.

undomiel

I've used Evernote since I could access it on my phone easily enough and note things down pretty easily either via type or voice recording. It's been pretty useful for keeping things organized about what I've done at client sites.

SteveO86

My BlackBerry has a voice recorder I use on rare occasions, so I can play them back at a later time.

Just that and taking notes in MS word like normal...

cablegod

I'll second Evernote. I use it on my phone and iPad extensively. It's a great tool and a must-have app on those idevices.

Psoasman

I must be a little old-fashioned. I still write out notes by hand when studying for certs. It helps cement the information in my mind.

mikedisd2

I tried standard notes and it did absolutely nothing for my retainment of knowledge. I had a bit of success with mind maps when studying ITIL.

My best chance of getting the info to stick is to read and then do. For memorising data, tables, etc., it's just read, re-read, mental practise...

DevilWAH

for study note. flashcards and a blog i find great. writing it up when you know others might read it focus you to insure it's right and you understand what you saying.

darkerosxx

I bought the livescribe echo 8GB pen several weeks ago. I'm out of school this semester, but I'm going back for pre-med in January. I'll be taking TONS of notes, so I wanted to make a good investment that would last me through medical school and beyond.

I originally intended on purchasing a tablet pc to take notes, as I've used them before in classes and the ability to have unlimited sheets of paper right in front of you without flipping around is amazing. It saved me time, but caused me many headaches. One of the biggest headaches came from two types of situations. One was when you had to take out a notebook to do something to turn in during the same class period, such as a pop quiz. When this happens, you have to either put your tablet away quickly (huge hassle, do you turn it off, do you hibernate?) or you have to write on top of it with your notebook, which is irritating at best. The other situation is when you arrive to take an exam and the teacher says "Everyone, you can use your notebooks on this exam." My heart would sink. You think a teacher is going to allow you to use a computer during an exam?

I would have to say that if someone makes a cheap iPad-like PC (yes, PC, F apple) tablet specifically designed for note-taking, with the ability to run light PC applications, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Having said all of that, I believe if your intention is purely on taking notes, the Livescribe Echo pens beat out PC tablets. In the end, it's still just an expensive pen and you're just writing on paper. However, the extra usage you get out of the pen and the ease of access trumps any benefit you'd get from a tablet pc available today. The #1 feature of the pen is the ability to record as you write, then go back to your notes, hit playback, click your pen tip on a word, and it will begin playing what was recorded as you were writing.

To give an example, a teacher starts a new powerpoint slide. You tap record on your notebook paper (yes, the controls are on your paper and you tap it with your pen tip), you write notes as the teacher talks about that slide. When the teacher is done, you tap stop on your notebook paper. What you have now created is a collection of a voice recording AND written notes that are time-related. You can tap playback, then tap any word in that collection, and it will begin playback of the recording at the very second you wrote that word. This alone, is worth more than its' weight in gold, to me, considering it's so light.

The sharing features, such as uploading your notes/recordings to your PC, to your free online storage, to Evernote, and being able to share notes on-line with friends are great and functional. You can search your notes after uploading them to your PC. The various apps you can download to the pen are incredible as well... there's an app to translate your written word to voice, an app to play a piano on your paper, and even an app to help you learn to draw chemistry molecules.

One downside, if you can even call it that since you have to buy paper regardless, is that you have to buy special notebooks from Livescribe OR you can print your own paper with a laser jet printer. The paper is reasonably priced not much higher than normal notebooks. I bought 4 one-subject notebooks, 150 pages each, for $10. They sell 3-subject notebooks, smaller journal-type notebooks, and even smaller notepads. You save each notebook in your PC app and/or upload to your online space. It keeps everything separate and you can name your notebooks to keep track.

Considering I've searched and used numerous different types of note-taking technology, I would most highly recommend the Livescribe pens. The only thing I can't help you with is how much memory you need, as they're sold in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB pens. I bought the 8 to ensure longevity, but it may have been a waste, who knows.

Good luck.

SteveLord

I used my HP Elitebook 2740p tablet with OneNote for my Network+ and Security+ studies. Worked great. Was able to write, highlight and even copy/paste terminology from Books24x7, of which I have a subscription.

No more paper for me.