This is what I do as well. I use word to take notes in classes that don't provide powerpoints.
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- Thread starter Apannone
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This is what I do as well. I use word to take notes in classes that don't provide powerpoints.
So I have been messing around with my laptop and all the things it can do, apparently you are able to record audio in ms word natively.
I have downloaded the 15 day trial of things and I absolutely love it, I will buy the app as soon as the trial runs out.
I have downloaded the 15 day trial of things and I absolutely love it, I will buy the app as soon as the trial runs out.
for me while in college the laptop was great for the early years but as I moved farther into my degree it just was not as useful to take to classes. I was down to less than one class a semester. The laptop just was not useful for notes in math and engineering just have to many diagrams and forumals for laptop to be that good.
As for orginzing notes and files. I would break down my folder by semester (like fall 07 spring 08) and then by class. Notes that i did take in class where broken down by test. Just would be a grown word document until a test.
As for oginizing notes I went with the 3 ring binder method. each class had a 1-2" binder where all notes, test and paper where stored. I graduted with a lot of 3 ring binder full of stuff. Quite a bit of it has been thrown away. But I still have like 15 binders.
That was how I did it.
As for orginzing notes and files. I would break down my folder by semester (like fall 07 spring 08) and then by class. Notes that i did take in class where broken down by test. Just would be a grown word document until a test.
As for oginizing notes I went with the 3 ring binder method. each class had a 1-2" binder where all notes, test and paper where stored. I graduted with a lot of 3 ring binder full of stuff. Quite a bit of it has been thrown away. But I still have like 15 binders.
That was how I did it.
I'm against typed notes. I find it easier to remember my notes if I write them down. I tried typing once but had to review twice as much.
I use my mac mainly for typing papers, IMing friends when I'm bored in class, reviewing power points, but I use it extensively in my elective courses (photoshop, web design, etc.). I'm planing on taking an iPhone dev class over the summer which I can't wait to unleash the mbp on.
I use my mac mainly for typing papers, IMing friends when I'm bored in class, reviewing power points, but I use it extensively in my elective courses (photoshop, web design, etc.). I'm planing on taking an iPhone dev class over the summer which I can't wait to unleash the mbp on.
This is what I have done. I have the ScanSnap S510 hooked up to my windows/linux desktop, but they do make a mac version (now). It made my life so much easier. I didn't go this route until my last year in undergrad, but it enabled me to have the best performance of my academic career with 17 credit hours and working 10-20 hours/week. Now I'm using it for receipts, mail, grad school work, and everything else that ends up trapped on paper. It frees up a lot of my mind and nothing is ever lost. Plus, now I can realistically file a Schedule A next year with my taxes.
For your original question, I just thought I'd interject that Textwrangler works fine for me for in-class notes. My portable is a mac, and my desktop runs both windows and linux. I haven't found anything more cross-platform than plain text. I'm in Computer Science now, so diagrams are far and few between...and when they come up, I get to draw them with hyphens and pipes! When I'm taking notes from a textbook I'm reading, I use FreeMind...which is just as cross-platform, but displays things in a mindmap.
I have more things digital than is arguably practical; I'm a total convert to paperless information. One thing to keep in mind is backup solutions. I read something a long time ago from a place I don't remember: "If your data doesn't exist in three places, it doesn't exist."
I have MobileMe and a USB drive on my keyring that I use to keep multiple copies of current things. These current things are synchronized daily to four places quite easily thanks to MobileMe and Microsoft's SyncToy 2.0. When something isn't relevant anymore, like all the stuff I had from high school that I scanned (in a snap!), I archive it and leave it on everything but the keyring. When and if MobileMe gets full, I plan to take it off there and burn it to two discs. I'd keep one at my place and send one to my parents. Some would say this is overkill, and some would say it's not enough.
Excellent thread, by the way. I've picked up a few tips I'm going to try next semester. Thanks to all for your contributions.
For those who are against taking the portable to class because of distractions on the internet, I had this problem too at first. I got rid of the time wasted by opening up stickies and always having one note in plain view. On that note: What I have paid for school so far; how much I owe for school so far; what I made at my last job hourly; how many hours it would take to pay back what I owe. It was a rather sobering experience for me.
You NEED to check out iOrganize, it is exactly what you asked for ("like... a virtual binder for my notes, and PDFs of scanned handouts etc... "), it is great for taking notes and organizing them, it can handle pictures, pdfs, links, even videos, and export them to several formats, or email them.
It is a great piece of software.
yeah i just don't see the problem with recording audio and dating it - then naming the note file from that class with something similar...
Care to elaborate on why?
Obviously I'm on the other side, trying to get rid of paper in every feasible area of my life, but I'm very interested in why others are not.
I always set up a folder entitled "Spring" and whatever the year was.....and then started new folders inside that for the classes and put notes for each class in there
I use One Note and actually bootcamp to use it along with other programs for my school. Love one note because you can import pdfs and powerpoint slides to type straight on the "print outs" of the files. Also organizes everything amazingly so that they are accessible and keyword searchable. Opens really fast, and I am amble to print out the notes that I took on those PDFs and powerpoints to study from them. Awesome.'
I just used TextEdit, I didn't need fancy editing on notes and I types fast enough that it worked well for me.