Taking Notes in College

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Hello All,
I am the parent of a high school sophmore who is planning on going to college. I am a little concerned about her note taking abilities and was wondering a couple of things:

1. Can she bring a laptop and type her notes? - she is an incredibly fast typer and thinks this will work.
2. Can she bring a digital recorder and record the lectures to listen to later? She tends to learn best when she can listen to the material repeatedly.

I know different colleges probably have different rules, but I am just looking for some general ideas here. I don't know why I am so worried about this aspect of college (rather than how the heck we are going to pay for it) but I just can't seem to let it go.

Thanks for your help.

Yes to both.

Often, the TAs video record the lectures and put them on the class website too.

a fellow student taped the lectures for our philosophy course. we all listened later. professors generally welcome anything to enhance learning.

Yes. If a professor says no, you can have it as an official accommodation under the ADA. You can also have the collage provide a note taker if she has an official diagnosis. Collage classes are funny these days in that professors look out onto a sea of laptops. With a note taker, she can turn off the computer and focus on the class.

I gotta say, I'm still a bit bitter about how much adults in my life threatened me with how hard collage would be if I didn't take better notes. They were all full of horse-hockey. Note taking was pretty irrelevant to my collage experience. (I went to a very competitive state school and graduated with honors. And I did so with significant diagnosed learning disabilities.) And this kid is only a sophmore. Why are you talking about collage? Does everything need to be a race to the finish line?

If you must focus on collage for your daughter, it would better serve her to learn how to write good papers, time management, test taking skills, and how to recognize when she needs help and ask for what she needs. These are the things that make for good collage experiences, alone with the social skills she'll need to make connections towards her future career.

for many courses, typing isn't the best option; graphs/math are too slow to enter into word, no matter what you try.
If you try this though, be sure to explain to the professor first, as most will object to an open laptop during lectures.

Personally, i prefered (video) taping and quickly typing in the timestamps of important bits (i had a laptop with one of those turnable webcams, so i could have the screen facing me while still recording the whiteboard).

Yes, that is possible. I actually use a voice recorder in my classes at college now. You'll need to register with the schools disability services (I have to believe that all colleges have some form of this by now) with all the proper documentation they'll require, where they will give your daughter that will 'alert' her professors that she is documented with the disability offices and needs additional accommodations. They are not required to know what is the reason she has the letter. I have accommodations that allow me to record my lectures, have additional time on tests and exams, and the ability to take tests and exams in a quiet place by myself with minimal distraction or stress.

Hope this has helped. All I can say for paying for it is tell her to do really well in high school now so that she could get some nice scholarships, grants, or financial aid. Going to the most expensive school in my state, I am aware of this all too well.

This was true in my time, but things have changed. (We would have looked weird dragging our late 80's word-processors around. lol ) http://tusb.stanford.edu/wp-content/upl ... ecture.jpg

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Yes. If a professor says no, you can have it as an official accommodation under the ADA. You can also have the collage provide a note taker if she has an official diagnosis. Collage classes are funny these days in that professors look out onto a sea of laptops. With a note taker, she can turn off the computer and focus on the class.

I gotta say, I'm still a bit bitter about how much adults in my life threatened me with how hard collage would be if I didn't take better notes. They were all full of horse-hockey. Note taking was pretty irrelevant to my collage experience. (I went to a very competitive state school and graduated with honors. And I did so with significant diagnosed learning disabilities.) And this kid is only a sophmore. Why are you talking about collage? Does everything need to be a race to the finish line?

If you must focus on collage for your daughter, it would better serve her to learn how to write good papers, time management, test taking skills, and how to recognize when she needs help and ask for what she needs. These are the things that make for good collage experiences, alone with the social skills she'll need to make connections towards her future career.[/quote]

Thanks so much for your input - I agree it probably feels a bit early to be talking about college, but Junior year is all about the process of getting ready for college with testing, college visits, applications etc. I tend to be a very tactical person so I often focus on the specific tasks involved (such as taking notes) as I work through a task. I am happy to say that she already tests well and writes good papers, now we are focusing on asking for help when she needs it.

Thanks again for your insight.

I'm attending a four year university, and the disability services office has been really helpful. Most, if not all, professors allow labtops in the classroom. A labtop can be approved as an accomodation if necessary, but nothing that official should be required.

A digital recorder NEEDS to be approved as an accomodation, because it's considered an "advantage". Again, disability services should be receptive and willing to grant it to you. Whatever school your daughter winds up at should be going the distance for her. College is expensive, as we all know, and you're paying for your daughter to have a positive experience.

Taking good notes is really important, and everyone should have the ability to possess those notes. Some classes are entirely based on tests, which themselves are based on class lectures.

My best recommendation would be to research the disability services programs at all of the colleges that she is interested in. You can also try calling undergraduate admissions, as they can redirect you to any other department, or office.

Thank you everyone for your help and insight. I feel much better now. We are just starting to look at colleges and are focusing on those with support services. We will just have to wait and see what we can get for financial aid etc.

Hey Dmarcotte.

Everyone's pretty much answered your questions, but I thought I might add my experiences. The majority of my classmates actually use laptops to take notes, and I am one of the very few that take handwritten notes. There are perks to typing: easy to read and the ability to share your notes online with classmates, but I often find that they're easily distracted by Facebook, online shopping, etc lol. Also, I've noticed a shift towards computer-based exams, so who knows...in a few years when your daughter goes to college, maybe a laptop will become a requirement.

If she has difficulty taking notes on her own then she may qualify for note taking assistance through the school's program for disabled students. Check into this ahead of time as they may require that she undergo testing to qualify for such services. Most instructors do not have a problem with laptops in class, except during exams, however some course material is such that typing it on a laptop would be difficult. She will have to seek permission from the instructor to audio record her lectures. There is a device called LiveScribe which she might find useful if she prefers to and feels she can take her own notes. It comes with a pen that records the audio and also records via technology what is being written on the page of the notebook (these are special notebooks). The recording will play back at the point in the notes it was recorded at with a tap of the pen on the point in the notebook, and the speed of playback can be controlled. The pen can also be plugged into a computer, laptop or desktop, and the video recording and audio of the notes she wrote in the notebook will be uploaded to the interface program, allowing her to watch the notes play back as she wrote them. It also has the advantage of digitizing her notes.