During my class debate I was on the pro side of allowing laptops to be used in classrooms for taking notes. This was extremely difficult for me to argue for since I was actually against it. I remember the first time I hated taking notes on laptop was when I transferred to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. It happened right after everyone was almost done taking an exam that a student decided to take out their laptop to work on an assignment. Honestly, I didn’t care if they needed to use their laptop, what I care about are the loud noises that was coming from the laptop while I was taking a test. It was like this person was pounding on their keyboards and purposely trying to make me fail the test. Mind I tell you I’m a slow test taker, therefore this bothered me very much as they kept typing away in a quiet room.
Anyway, as against as I was to be on the pro side, I did find myself to be changing my thoughts on people taking notes on the laptop. during the debate, my classmates mentioned that laptops was more convenient for people to carry and has a better way to organize files compared to writing them on a notebook and not being able to read their handwriting. There would be Powerpoints posted online and it would be much easier for me to take extra notes and examples on the powerpoint. Sometimes I would use it to copy a graph of the Bronfenbrenner Ecological model onto my notes on Google document since it is a theory that is still new to me. This makes it efficient for me to review my notes that are organized and to have a visual interpretation on my notes instead of me trying to create a sloppy version of the graph.
I know I am not alone in this when I say I Google a handful of terms when my professor is asking me a question or to do an activity. There are some days that I am trying really hard to stay awake for class and it just doesn’t work so I sometimes rely on Google to help me process the information. For example, I literally forgot how to spell rely and I had to Google this before I wrote it. As a student I think it’s best to use a laptop when I know that there are tons of notes that I would have to take during lectures. Also don’t take your laptops out when people are still taking a test, especially if you are mad nervous about the assignment, you are probably (most likely) pounding on the keys.
Houa Lee Blog 