In a regular classroom, note-making skills are one of the most prized skills a student can possess. Making your own notes can make you ace the most troublesome exams with ease. It can help you process large amounts of information with little difficulty, and the best part you know what & where you have written a certain concept. So, in moments of need, when you want to brush certain concepts or have a quick revision, having your notes handy can be a blessing.
Since March 2020, we have been sitting at our homes, and most students are having a tough time making notes, but save yourself the pain!
I have compiled a few methods which you can use to make your own notes but to make things work, you need to pay attention to your lectures first. Now that we are all set, here are a few ways by which you can make notes during online classes.
(1). Simplenote:
Simplenote is a minimalist, light, easy-to-use application that’s built particularly for making notes. Its functionality is quite basic. You can turn the voice recognition on as soon as your online lecture begins. It will automatically start converting voice to text which you can later edit as per your needs, and its accuracy is mostly on point. You can also add voice notes or links to websites in between texts. It also does a pretty good job when it comes to text formatting and punctuations.
(2). Microsoft OneNote:
It’s a boon for students who own a stylus paired with a tablet. You thought voice to text was better? OneNote takes it to the next level.
Using OneNote, you can run an AI-assisted voice-to-text recognition sequence while simultaneously adding side notes with a stylus without disrupting the voice recognition. The best part is once you are done, the file goes through a text recognition program, and your entire work becomes searchable. That implies you don’t have to go through your entire notes to hunt for single terminology; You can search using Ctrl+F. Also, while using OneNote, your notes get synced, and you can access them from all of your devices.
(3). Evernote:
While Evernote comes preloaded with all sorts of features, you would expect from a note-taking app like AI-assisted voice-to-text, OCR document scanning, etc. It has some added benefits like webpage clipping, where you can add sections of a webpage to your notes without ads and edit them on the go. The best thing about this app is you can use all its features including, voice-to-text recognition, without the internet.
(4). Notion:
Besides the regular features, it’s probably the best online note-taking software. Using Notion, you & your friends all can work on a single project. This way, you can create the best notes ever, and this feature might be beneficial, especially for working on group projects & review papers. Also, Notion’s 3rd party app integration is quite a treat.
(5). Good Old Hand Written Notes:
While the AI-assisted note-taking apps have gotten better, they still fail to engage our senses and mimic the haptics like the ones produced while writing with a pen on paper. The indulgence produced in the brain while writing on paper is something that AI-based softwares can’t mimic. This indulgence activates different regions of the brain and enhances the learning process. So in my view, watching lecture recordings on myclass platform and making handwritten notes is still the best way to go.
At the end of the day, it does matter if you are sitting in front of Pandora’s box typing notes or writing notes on your desk, but the thing that matters most is reviewing your material. Periodically reviewing your notes ensures your knowledge that you just acquired stays fresh in your brain.
