In today’s digital age, there are countless note-taking tools and apps that can help you take notes efficiently. However, even the best note-taking app can’t replace good old-fashioned pen and paper when it comes to taking notes during a meeting or lecture. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of taking notes and how to do it effectively – both by hand and digitally!
The Benefits of Taking Notes and How to Do It Efficiently
It’s no secret that taking notes is a critical part of the learning process. Whether you’re attending a meeting, training session, or lecture, having good notes can help you remember everything that was said – and act as a reference document in the future. However, there are some common challenges associated with note-taking: for example, what do you do when the presenter speaks too fast? Or when your hand cramps up from writing too much? In this blog post, we’ll discuss some tips and tricks for taking notes efficiently – so that you can make the most of your learning experience!
Fortunately, taking notes electronically on a computer or with a recording tool is far quicker and can be more thorough than handwriting. You can also select from a range of technological options that will aid in organization and editing. Finding out how you take notes is the greatest approach to get started.
Simple and effective way to take notes on your computer
Without technology, what would we be doing? One of technology’s best applications is the variety of electronic note-taking choices it provides. Try out many tools to see which suits your learning style and environment the best before settling on one. We’ve featured a few of our favorite electronic note-taking tools below.
Audio to Text Transcription
The third best way to take notes electronically is by recording the lecture or meeting. You can do this by either downloading an app on your smartphone or buying a separate voice recorder specifically for note-taking. What are the main benefits of using a recording device?
- You’ll actively be listening
- You might notice that you’re more engaged, and even participate when the speaker asks questions
- Your typed notes will be shorter and more concise
- You will notice that nothing from the meeting has been missed
Is this too good to be true? Definitely not! After you’re done recording your lecture or meeting, you can use an online transcription company for audio to text transcription, or you can even DIY.
Please note if you do try this option, it’s extremely important to get permission to record before you take notes electronically with a voice recorder.
The best application to convert audio into subtitles today is Subtitle Generator. Converting audio to text is also known as creating subtitles. With this application, Subtitle Generator will create for you the right text to say the contents of a conversation or a movie and save you part of the cost of hiring a translator.
Download and experience the application: Subtitle Generator
Using a tablet and a stylus
A tablet and premium stylus or smartpen are excellent tools for taking notes digitally. We do advise purchasing a wireless keyboard if you intend to use a tablet for prolonged typing. In addition to being laborious, touching on the screen could also result in a few typographical errors.
With these add-ons, a tablet can perform the same functions as a laptop or desktop computer. Additionally, you can handwrite notes directly in a digital format using a stylus or smartpen. You can also draw, mind-map, or write in cursive. A tablet can significantly improve the quality of your notes compared to other electronic note-taking devices.
Additionally, taking notes on a tablet is lot simpler to organize, edit, and correct than it would be with a pen and paper. The cost of some of the accessories is the only drawback.
Hand-typing
One of the best ways to take notes on a computer is to use the traditional Microsoft Word program on your laptop or ultrabook. Simply typing key points and notes requires very little investment. It also creates word documents that are easy to search through for select key phrases when reviewing notes. To find a key phrase, all you have to do is open the Word document and click ctrl + f at the same time. Either a window will pop up or a navigation side pane will open up on the left and you can enter in the words you’re looking for.
However, even typing can lead to distracted listening and missing key points during the lecture or meeting. It can be hard to accurately type as fast as the presenter is talking, which can lead to trouble deciphering your notes later on. Plus, laptops can open the world of distracting websites. While it might seem innocent enough to open Facebook for a minute or two, oftentimes it becomes more of a distraction thus eliminating the sole purpose on why you should take notes electronically.
Taking notes through electronic means
Make wise investments in the appropriate tools and accessories once you’ve figured out the most effective technique to take notes on a computer to make note-taking as simple and fluid as possible.
Recording through the application on the phone
You can enhance your notes using audio to text transcription by using a voice recorder app. How so? The next time you have a meeting or lecture, you can record it on the voice recorder, then type the audio into notes. What a cool thing! It’s reasonable to assume that transcription is rapidly replacing paper-based note-taking as the preferred method of electronic note-taking.
Although the majority of smartphones provide recording apps for free or at a moderate cost, the sound quality will decrease. You’ll find that in noisy situations or huge rooms, low-quality recording tools or applications will pick up background noise. Your audio to text transcription won’t be as exact as it could be as a result. It can also imply that some crucial meeting details are absent from your recording.
Computer
We suggested that you can use a laptop or an ultrabook to take notes electronically. The main distinction between the two is the power and price of a laptop, which is significantly greater than an ultrabook. You can probably stay with buying an ultrabook if all you want to do is take notes and browse the internet because you won’t need a powerful system. In addition to being more lightweight and less expensive than laptops, ultrabooks are also portable.
Software
Software for taking notes is similar to a digital notebook with several features that go beyond what is possible with a pen and paper. For instance, note-taking apps can sync your notes across numerous devices and store them in the cloud. For easier editing, you can take notes during a presentation, upload them to the cloud, and then download them to your laptop.
We also appreciate these apps’ search features. Instead than looking through pages and pages of handwritten notes, you can literally find your notes in just a few seconds.