Taking Class Notes on Your Laptop?

Posted by Naomi Rockler-Gladen Jul 8, 2008

When I was a professor, I always felt a pang of envy when I watched students take notes on their laptops. Being a bit of a techno-geek, I would have loved that!

Sadly, back in the day when I was an undergraduate, I didn't even own a computer. Very few students, as those coveted little Apples ran around $3000 apiece--over three times as much as the fabulous laptop I use to type these blog posts-- and contained only laughable amounts of memory. I stood in line for hours sometimes for the privilege of typing my papers on a computer in the campus lab. So the concept of being able to actually carry around a computer and use it to take notes in class was like something out of a science fiction movie.

So I'm the kind of student who would have loved to have taken notes on a laptop. But is this the best strategy for you? Cool as this concept may sound, it requires that you have above average typing skills and lots of comfort with your computer. It also means you need to be able to resist temptation. Sadly, my own powers of concentration aren't stellar, so I suppose Facebook and IM and Solitaire and all the other cool stuff you can do on a laptop besides listening to that soporific history professor would have a problem for me! If you can't resist the goodies, maybe you should stick with a pen and paper.

Here are some pros and cons to keep in mind of laptop computer class notes versus paper class notes.