"Note-taking could happen on plain, boring pieces of foolscap paper too, with pages and pages of scribbled ballpoint pen inked notes, sometimes organized, sometimes wildly illegible to anyone except yourself."
Note-taking for students generally conjures up cute little notebooks, pages inked with a rainbow of colours – and more. Notes are also covered with doodles because that’s the time when you have to make it seem like you’re listening to the teacher and writing things down, when in reality, you’re kind of bored or tired and have lost track of your teacher’s voice already, forcing you to take a doodle break before getting back into the mix.
Note-taking could happen on plain, boring pieces of foolscap paper too, with pages and pages of scribbled ballpoint pen inked notes, sometimes organized, sometimes wildly illegible to anyone except yourself. For me, this form of note-taking often occurs when I am truly in the zone, capturing the essence of almost everything the teacher is saying. No doodles adorn these pages – there isn’t time – and these notes are often handed around to lazier, sleepier fellow classmates, to copy or digest as they see fit.
Few students know it at the time, but note-taking is actually therapeutic. You are producing your understanding of what your teacher is imparting, creating a little bit of art out of it and using colours to create something aesthetically pleasing. Research into colour therapy has even resulted in recommended colours for note-taking. Try using yellow when you know you’re taking down something that needs to be remembered and memorized, and use blue to draw your focus to something.
As the therapeutic nature of note-taking intertwines with technological advancements, students can now enhance their academic pursuits by utilizing a variety of innovative apps designed to optimize their note-taking experience. Technology has made headway into the world of note-taking, and some tools are just absolute must-haves for the trendy student. Here are 5 great apps that will help you to ace note-taking.
Goodnotes is great for writing as smoothly and colouring as quickly as you would on paper, but the truly fantastic bit to me, is the search function, which allows you to hunt down a handwritten note! Also, you no longer have to print out notes uploaded into SLS by your teacher. Import it into Goodnotes and go ahead and annotate virtually right on the document itself! Get rid of your bulky files and random loose notes from who knows when, Goodnotes folders keeps them all organized.
Ginger Labs
As a serial doodler, Notability is a ton of fun for me. Being able to add in photos is a cute function as well. Try using it for group projects as a collaboration tool, and if you’re lazy to type in comments, you can use the audio tool to verbally convey your thoughts and ideas.
Inspiration Maps
This one is for the mind mappers. Some people think and work better with maps and Inspiration Maps’ beautiful interface is the perfect app for them. Concept maps, cause and effect diagrams, process flows, family trees and just about any kind of mind map is possible. What I find enticing is that unlike paper, where a mistake involves scribbling out or starting over, with Inspiration Maps I can simply drag and drop to organize and categorize concepts and ideas as many times as I want.
OneNote
OneNote is a great note taking tool that allows for easy revision with highlighting and ink notations. Organization is made straightforward across notebooks, sections and pages while coloured tags are available for reminders or for categorizing your notes. You can also record voice notes and upload videos. Sharing notes with desperate friends the night before the exam is made easy with this app.
LiquidText
LiquidText is a phenomenal app that has already created waves in the medical, legal and business worlds. While it has all the usual features which allow you to take notes, annotate and organize, it also draws relationships between notes and ideas, so that you will not forget, say, a foundational concept while learning a new one. A little pinch on the screen shows up connections with everything else the idea could possibly be connected to. It almost – I daresay – works like (some of) our brains!
Technology is here to help, but for many of us, a hybrid of note-taking on paper and on an app might be the solution. While keeping our notes organized is an invaluable function of note-taking apps, there is a deep sense of satisfaction to be derived from handwritten notes as well. Check out hand-written note-taking instagrammers like @studyfel, @studyrella and @studyscript for inspiration! Meanwhile, you do you.
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