My profs. policy: No Laptops

[JEDIYoda]

such a rule as no calculators is a far different situation. That forces you to actually know what you are doing. Many people can do math if they have a calculator that holds their hand, but actually doing it with pencil and paper makes a lot of people cry. I don't get it - don't get into math if a calculator is a crutch. It might take longer by hand but it helps you memorize the methods.

Taking notes is different. Some professors lecture on and on and breeze through slides while adding a ton of content in speech, and expect you to remember what they talk about as they test you on it later, even if what was said isn't covered in any other material. And to expect EVERYONE to keep up with handwritten notes would be ridiculous.

really....what do you think they did before the computer age....hand written notes.....and YES people did keep up!!
You peeps are wussies!!

 

[wonderflu]

If in college you take enough notes that you can't physically write them down, you're doing it wrong. That's why you own a textbook. Last semester, I completed a very difficult upper division cell biology class. I usually wrote down about 3 sentences in any given day on the printed outlines. The notes were for clarification of points by the professor. If I want a detailed explanation of something, I refer to the text.

That said, I do take notes in math courses, because the memory of the explanation is always more helpful to me than the textbook. I suppose having a tablet and recording the lecture would be the best way to keep all of that information.

At my school, people only bring laptops to class when there's a long reading they don't want to waste paper on (printing is free here).

 

[HybridSquirrel]

If in college you take enough notes that you can't physically write them down, you're doing it wrong. That's why you own a textbook. Last semester, I completed a very difficult upper division cell biology class. I usually wrote down about 3 sentences in any given day on the printed outlines. The notes were for clarification of points by the professor. If I want a detailed explanation of something, I refer to the text.

That said, I do take notes in math courses, because the memory of the explanation is always more helpful to me than the textbook. I suppose having a tablet and recording the lecture would be the best way to keep all of that information.

At my school, people only bring laptops to class when there's a long reading they don't want to waste paper on (printing is free here).

the class im taking doesnt have an assigned text book, only various clippings of readings that we are to read. and the tests will be about what he talks about in class, so i have to write as much shit down as i can.

 

[RedArmy]

HybridSquirrel, I think you meant 300 and 400 level classes.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

HybridSquirrel, I think you meant 300 and 400 level classes.

nope, they are 3000 and 4000 level classes.

HIS 3120 - Medieval History
3 (3 + 0)
Prerequisite: Satisfaction of Level I General Studies course requirements
This course covers the history and culture of Europe from circa 325 to 1300, emphasizing such themes as the transition from ancient to medieval civilization, Latin Christianity, the Carolingian empire, the papacy and the development of feudal society.

and the 4000 level class isn't listed because it's not offered this semester.

 

[TallBill]

nope, they are 3000 and 4000 level classes.

HIS 3120 - Medieval History
3 (3 + 0)
Prerequisite: Satisfaction of Level I General Studies course requirements
This course covers the history and culture of Europe from circa 325 to 1300, emphasizing such themes as the transition from ancient to medieval civilization, Latin Christianity, the Carolingian empire, the papacy and the development of feudal society.

and the 4000 level class isn't listed because it's not offered this semester.

The history class sounds good. I learned that stuff for about 3 weeks as part of a broader survey class. The whole feudal society not being like it's portrayed in movies/books/games/history books thing blew my mind. The Carolingian's are pretty interesting too, although I like Charles Martel because that's a sweet name

Anyways, my school doesn't use 1000's, only 100's.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

After reading the entire thread, I have to say I am amazed at the number of people in school who either can't take legible notes or are able to do it only one way.

Note taking is a necessary skill for all students. While I have known a few students who did well and did not take notes, the vast majority are lost without notes.

Look, everyone learns differently and each prof. teaches differently. The secret is to put the information presented in a format that works for you. Note taking is all about organizing, consolidating and, emphasizing the class lectures so you don't have to go through all the material in the book, handouts and power points.

I got straight A's in biology without ever opening the book but, I take great notes. I have also taken classes that were taught straight out of the book. For those classes, I read the book and only went to class to take tests.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

The history class sounds good. I learned that stuff for about 3 weeks as part of a broader survey class. The whole feudal society not being like it's portrayed in movies/books/games/history books thing blew my mind. The Carolingian's are pretty interesting too, although I like Charles Martel because that's a sweet name

Anyways, my school doesn't use 1000's, only 100's.

class should be pretty interesting, minus the whole i cant use my laptop thing. yeah idk why we use 1000's because as far as i know no one else in state does.

@magnus, if this were a math, rather than history class, i wouldnt use my laptop to take notes. but in math there isnt as much writing as there will bei n this class

 

[shortylickens]

I wish I could have nostalgia and recall the good old days when I was that stupid and naive and spoiled and ignorant. But it never happened.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Do you even need to take notes at the Metropolitan State College of Denver?

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Do you even need to take notes at the Metropolitan State College of Denver?

you're cute.

 

[wiredspider]

For history class, I usually took paper notes so I could doodle (no wifi at the time), lol. For some later history classes, instead of taking my heavy laptop (no netbooks then, damn I feel old), I took an old PDA with a keyboard to type up the notes.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Not only should you drop the class, you should probably drop out of school altogether if 'ability to use laptop while attending' is important.

You can do this all day long at Starbucks for much less money, though you might be forced to buy a Mac or risk being uncool.

 

[DrPizza]

My professor allows laptops in his class.

To combat people looking at porn or facebook or anything not dealing with the class, he gives extra credit to the first person who spots this inappropriate behavior.

That's an awesome idea! I'm going to start implementing that tomorrow!

 

[Hacp]

That's an awesome idea! I'm going to start implementing that tomorrow!

Someone will find a way to abuse the system.

 

[dbk]

get that pen that remember everything you write

 

[grrl]

while I think banning shit in class is retarded, he makes a great point.

Just the mere excercise of writing it, proofing it, and typing it will increase your retention of it probably 3-4fold

I did that when I went back to school in 2000. I took handwritten notes then transferred them to computer. It was a slight PITA sometimes, but it allowed me to review the whole lecture and remember stuff I had failed to write down in class.

And in none of my classes did anyone use laptops. I guess a lot has changed in the last 10 years.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Cleaner? How is taking notes dirty? I've never had to shower after taking a page of notes. I type around 90-95 WPM with 90%+ accuracy and there's no way that's faster than physically writing notes. Of course, my handwriting really isn't readable to anyone but me. The few kids in class that I've seen taking notes on laptops are definitely not typing 100+ WPM, not to mention, rarely a professor is every speaking above, what, 70? It seems like a lot of people just take notes on laptops for the sake of doing it.

Cleaner as in, easier to organize and read. Trying to write fast produces hard to read notes and a "messy" document. Also faster to hit backspace and rewrite a word then to erase and rewrite in the event of typo/misswright. Typing is also much faster.

At work if I need to take notes at a meeting I always bring my laptop. Way easier to keep up with the person speaking.

As for what I studied it was compsci, so most of the stuff we learned as common sense/logic vs having to learn by heart, and the classes where we had to learn stuff by heart (ex: math, cisco) we had resources to look at. We had this one business class that was all "by heart" stuff so we used to take notes like mad but about half way through the semister I realized it was pointless. You can't possibly try to remember all that. It's best to try to see the logic behind and try to remember as the teacher speaks then trying to keep up with what he's saying without having time to try to understand it.

It also turned out that all his tests were just taken from some website so we just had to study that website. For the final exam everyone got near perfect since I made a php web based exam with all the questions from the website so we just kept doing it until we got them all right.

Though you do get teachers that actually are very sneaky and you DO have to learn what they say off hand, they'll shoot pointers that may not seem important then suddenly the whole test revolves around that, so that's when being able to type notes works nice.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Cleaner as in, easier to organize and read. Trying to write fast produces hard to read notes and a "messy" document. Also faster to hit backspace and rewrite a word then to erase and rewrite in the event of typo/misswright. Typing is also much faster.

At work if I need to take notes at a meeting I always bring my laptop. Way easier to keep up with the person speaking.

As for what I studied it was compsci, so most of the stuff we learned as common sense/logic vs having to learn by heart, and the classes where we had to learn stuff by heart (ex: math, cisco) we had resources to look at. We had this one business class that was all "by heart" stuff so we used to take notes like mad but about half way through the semister I realized it was pointless. You can't possibly try to remember all that. It's best to try to see the logic behind and try to remember as the teacher speaks then trying to keep up with what he's saying without having time to try to understand it.

It also turned out that all his tests were just taken from some website so we just had to study that website. For the final exam everyone got near perfect since I made a php web based exam with all the questions from the website so we just kept doing it until we got them all right.

Though you do get teachers that actually are very sneaky and you DO have to learn what they say off hand, they'll shoot pointers that may not seem important then suddenly the whole test revolves around that, so that's when being able to type notes works nice.

Squirrel minds think alike <3. I just don't understand why the teacher, who knows there is a huge amount of information coming in, and saying the tests will solely be based on what he discusses in class, will say people can't use laptops. There is no possible way someone can write done word for word what he says, but you can type it

 

[alevasseur14]

The point is you don't have to worry about every word he says. I write 4-5 word sentences on what I feel will be tested. It's the only way you can manage in a class that won't allow laptops.

 

[coldmeat]

We use 1000s. Don't know why since the last number is always a 0, except for some very rare cases.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

There is no possible way someone can write done word for word what he says, but you can type it

You shouldn't be taking notes word for word anyway.

 

[BeauJangles]

After reading the entire thread, I have to say I am amazed at the number of people in school who either can't take legible notes or are able to do it only one way.

Note taking is a necessary skill for all students. While I have known a few students who did well and did not take notes, the vast majority are lost without notes.

Look, everyone learns differently and each prof. teaches differently. The secret is to put the information presented in a format that works for you. Note taking is all about organizing, consolidating and, emphasizing the class lectures so you don't have to go through all the material in the book, handouts and power points.

I got straight A's in biology without ever opening the book but, I take great notes. I have also taken classes that were taught straight out of the book. For those classes, I read the book and only went to class to take tests.

I couldn't agree more. I'm sure there are people out there who take good notes on their computers, but most of my friends in college did so took awful notes. They tried to write down everything the professor said and their notes lacked any sort of organization, clarity, or synthesis of the information.

To this day I prefer taking notes in a notebook versus using a computer. Paper is a far more flexible medium than any computer application and, without the ability to type as fast as the professor speaks, you are forced to consolidate your notes into something that is actually useful for studying.

This is coming from a guy with a BA and MA in history.

 

[Raduque]

Just record the douchebag on a digital recorder with a directional mic.

If you want to be really obnoxious, get one of these and one of these and point the mic directly at him. Bonus points if you sit up front and everybody can see you.

 

[nageov3t]

taptaptaptaptaptaptap

I don't blame your professor... I was in a few classes in college where people were taking notes on their laptop and found it to be super annoying/distracting.