Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MICHAELSD

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
5,491
3,501
NJ
The 6s Plus particularly seems well-suited for note-taking of all types. With the ability to sketch (with 3D touch!) and type comfortably I see it as a great device for the classroom. I know personally I would be much more inclined to study my notes and create great notes if they're electronically saved. Who has experience with this in the classroom? I'm sure some teachers would initially frown upon a classroom of kids using their phones but I see no reason to carry an iPad or a tablet when I already have a capable iPhone in my pocket other than for productivity vanity.
 
The 6s Plus particularly seems well-suited for note-taking of all types. With the ability to sketch (with 3D touch!) and type comfortably I see it as a great device for the classroom. I know personally I would be much more inclined to study my notes and create great notes if they're electronically saved. Who has experience with this in the classroom? I'm sure some teachers would initially frown upon a classroom of kids using their phones but I see no reason to carry an iPad or a tablet when I already have a capable iPhone in my pocket other than for productivity vanity.

When I was in college I used everything from my laptop to an HP Jornada 680. It was not a problem. However, more teachers are aware more than ever that everything is connected to the Internet, so I hear that it is frowned upon now. I used to say, hey can I use this computer for open book tests, all my notes are on it. That used to work. I don't think it does anymore.

Good luck in whatever happens.
 
Maybe I'm just old school, but in any classroom environment, or even in a business meeting, I use a notebook and pen. Bring extra pens. When done you can take a pdf capture of the pages with your phone if you want to have them better accessible.

Notes are way too important to have only a digital copy. I like a real life copy and a digital one.

I can take notes way faster by hand anyway. Definitely faster than on a 5.5" screen.
 
I don't think I could do this, even as tech savvy and top heavy with devices as I am. I am old school and need pen and paper. To show how different we all are, I have two college daughters. One only uses her laptop for everything (even notes) and my other ONLY takes old fashioned pen and paper notes.
 
It's one of those things which is fine so long as no one abuses it.

Sure, in a class of 40 students, some might be conscientiously taking notes on their mobile devices, but not all will be. We have been through lectures before. How many were doing other stuff on their laptops? As a teacher, it's simply not feasible to ensure that everyone is on-task with their handphones.

I have tried taking notes on my iPhone 6S+. Okay for taking quick bullet points in Notes. Screen still feels too small for me to sketch or draw anything.
 
I probably couldn't do it either, it's not that I'm not good with a stylus, but lectures used to go too fast. I used to just scribble them down and rewrite them in Evernote later on in the day. That took care of the actual studying for ME. The Plus is still smaller than even a Field Notes notebook by the looks of it.

(not my photo)

tumblr_nc8v66OdiV1qzuzufo1_500.jpg
 
The 6s Plus particularly seems well-suited for note-taking of all types. With the ability to sketch (with 3D touch!) and type comfortably I see it as a great device for the classroom. I know personally I would be much more inclined to study my notes and create great notes if they're electronically saved. Who has experience with this in the classroom? I'm sure some teachers would initially frown upon a classroom of kids using their phones but I see no reason to carry an iPad or a tablet when I already have a capable iPhone in my pocket other than for productivity vanity.

I can not imagine taking all my notes on a 6S+. As much as I like mine I would stick to pen and paper with an image of same on my devices.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BeeGood
Most professors in my classes allow laptops and iPads but not cellular phones.

I still whip out my iPhone 6 Plus anyway but only to enter reminders. I prefer to use pen and paper for taking down notes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessica Lares
Screen is too small for me to do that. I used an iPad in college. It was pretty cool. It sucks that I didn't decide to get a Surface Pro 3 until after I graduated, I'm heading back now though, so looking forward to using that.

Could never use my laptop for notes. Felt like I was sacrificing a lot of control, just for the sake of using a laptop.
 
Most professors in my classes allow laptops and iPads but not cellular phones.

I still whip out my iPhone 6 Plus anyway but only to enter reminders. I prefer to use pen and paper for taking down notes.

My teachers will scream at you if you take anything out that has a battery. Taking notes using electronics has always sounded interesting to me but has never really worked in practice. I use a pen and paper for a hard copy and then all my teachers will upload there in class copy so that we have a digital version.
 
I take handwritten notes in most meetings and then take a picture of those notes into Onenote where I summarize and do followups from there.
 
I was actually a firm believer of doing it the "old school" way, but after a while, I found out that doing it pen-and-paper was more trouble than digital.

I can obviously type faster than I write, and my handwriting is abysmal to begin with. Lectures became too fast, too long, and too frequent to reliably write down all the important info. And if I did manage, I was stuck with dozens upon dozens of sloppy papers, spread across multiple notebooks that just got too confusing for me to handle. Not to mention that I end up losing them very easily.

Of course everyone is different, but for me personally, doing it old school was an absolute chore that required at least twice the amount of work, for worse results, than typing digitally.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aristobrat
I'd need keyboard input (not digital) to even consider this. Same on an iPad. Lectures just go too fast.

If you're good at making bullet points for note and not writing down every single word the professor says, this may be an option. Most people aren't good at that thouhg, in my experience.

I took all my notes on a laptop years ago, aside from math courses, and it worked out just fine. No way in hell I could do it on an iOS device (without keyboard).
 
The phone is just too small. I allow my students to use their phones to do things like take photos of the Smartboard screen if there's something intensive that would take them too long to copy, or a homework assignment they don't want to forget. (Mind you, I send them all screens after class anyway.) There's just not much else you can do with the phone in class that helps what you're supposed to be doing.

An iPad is another matter. It's large enough to take notes in multiple forms. I use my iPad for all meetings, and even having faculty sign for attendance. (ZoomNotes FTW!)
 
I'm also a fan of handwritten notes, but I stay better organized with digital notes. Others have already mentioned snapping pics for PDFs, but I find this not ideal.

I've honestly found my iPad Air 2 to be ideal for note taking. Sometimes I use onscreen keyboard, but for longer confer nudes or lectures, I bring along my Bluetooth keyboard.

I prefer the apps Evernote or Notability.
 
I've been out of school for a little under two years now... but, if I had to absolutely choose, I'd still go with hand-written notes over electronic.

I took electronic notes (on my iPad attached to a bluetooth keyboard) in classes where I wasn't required to use all sorts of symbols, graphs, and other visuals while note-taking. Purely text-driven notes, it's not bad. But I wouldn't want to write the notes out as if I were texting!
 
The 6s Plus particularly seems well-suited for note-taking of all types. With the ability to sketch (with 3D touch!) and type comfortably I see it as a great device for the classroom. I know personally I would be much more inclined to study my notes and create great notes if they're electronically saved. Who has experience with this in the classroom? I'm sure some teachers would initially frown upon a classroom of kids using their phones but I see no reason to carry an iPad or a tablet when I already have a capable iPhone in my pocket other than for productivity vanity.

Old school here. Writing always seem to help me better understand. To this day I rely more on notebooks/journals. If I want to make the notes electronic, I scan to text and add pics/docs as needed.

Have used it all (school never ends) and tried phablets for this. I now use a Note 5 (stylus) for quick ad hoc notes.

Be interesting to see what Apple does with 3D Touch in this regard.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.