Non-motoring > Laptops in classroom Miscellaneous
Thread Author: movilogo Replies: 14
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 Mon 5 Sep 11 14:17 
 Laptops in classroom - movilogo
My colleagues said that their kids now use laptops/netbooks to take notes of lectures in the classrooms.

I have been out of univs for a long time and during then used computers only to prepare presentations and dissertations.

For daily lectures, pens and paper notebooks didn't pose any problem. (of course I could not afford a laptop during my student days - they were too costly then).

Has it become customary nowadays to use laptops even to take daily course notes?

What's wrong with pen and papers? It is faster (can't imagine how one can scribble equations quickly using keyboards), cheaper, doesn't run out of battery, no one will nick it and if preserved will last over 10 years easily.

PS: In my work, very few people carry iPads/laptops in meetings. Most carry simple paper notebooks (may be because they are from same/older generations like me).

I tried taking notes on iPad screen but I can write much faster using a pen and paper - so ditched the idea.



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 Mon 5 Sep 11 14:46 
 Laptops in classroom - Cliff Pope
I recall lecturers who got cross if they saw anyone writing notes. The purpose of the lecture was to listen. Course notes were distributed separately.
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 Mon 5 Sep 11 14:54 
 Laptops in classroom - Skoda
Total pain in my experience. My notes tend to end up as diagrams (faster to revise from) but I guess it depends what you're studying.

The smart kids record their lectures (can be replayed at 2x speed) but some lecturers take exception to that (why? - I'm paying to be taught, I don't give a stuff about your perceived copyright infringement or whatever the complaint was).

They do have a benefit in that you can search your notes but to be honest I'd prefer to be given a link to notes online.
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 Mon 5 Sep 11 15:02 
 Laptops in classroom - WillDeBeest
Generation comes into it but there are cultural factors too. I work in a small team that covers the world, with members on five continents. Recently we all got together, and while most of us scribbled in paper notebooks, some of those from Hong Kong and Singapore tapped away at tablet screens instead. I don't know if their notes were any better than mine but they certainly love their gadgets.

I haven't got an iPad or similar but I do occasionally use Freemind on my laptop for making notes in conference calls. Laptops in face-to-face meetings get in the way and I try to avoid taking mine. I just wish I were better at organizing and following up my paper notes, but that's not the fault of the technology.

As an aside, I've been using the same company-issued basic Nokia mobile phone for four years. That would never do for our Asian colleagues; we give them an allowance and invite them to choose their own and update it when it's in danger of becoming passé - usually about twice a year.
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 Mon 5 Sep 11 15:21 
 Laptops in classroom - movilogo
>> I do occasionally use Freemind on my laptop for making notes

Interesting - I often use X-mind to summarize the points after the meetings :-)

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 Mon 5 Sep 11 16:10 
 Laptops in classroom - henry k
My son and daughter are now in their 30s. It was agreed, when they were at junior school, that learning to type properly was a "key" skill that would help them in their future.
They enjoyed the learning phase and wow has it paid off.
They are both proficient typists and are well capable of fast typing and listening at the same time. My daughter still attends lectures and conferences and the laptop is well used to great affect.
IMO as many young kids as possible, in junior school, should be encouraged to learn to touch type.
Laptops in classrooms is a big bonus.
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 Tue 6 Sep 11 20:21 
 Laptops in classroom - Falkirk Bairn
>>Laptops in classrooms is a big bonus.
1/10 for grammar

Laptops in classrooms ARE a big bonus.

Laptops & typing are a good idea ONLY after the kids can spell and get sentences that are grammatically correct.

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 Tue 6 Sep 11 20:27 
 Laptops in classroom - Runfer D'Hills
Or even "which" are...

:-))
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 Tue 6 Sep 11 21:12 
 Laptops in classroom - spamcan61
and replace 'get' with 'construct' or 'produce'

:-))

darn, stared a sentence with a conjunction again.
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 Wed 7 Sep 11 07:11 
 Laptops in classroom - WillDeBeest
...sentences that are grammatically correct.

Or even 'which are'...

Humph, I'm surprised at you - and with a Scottish education an' all. That's a defining clause - one essential to the meaning of the sentence - and so requires 'that' rather than 'which'.

Defining clause:
The trousers that I wore to the meeting had a hole in one knee.


Non-defining clause:
My trousers, which I wore to the meeting anyway, had a hole in one knee.


}:---)

Anyway, Henry (I think it was he) is right: typing these days is an essential skill for any kind of knowledge-based work. Like most physical skills, it's best acquired early in life, so it makes sense for children to study as they will eventually work. But they also need to learn to concentrate, so no Facebook in class or in meetings!
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 Tue 6 Sep 11 22:40 
 Laptops in classroom - lancara
Or get a laptop with grammar-checker. Isn't the message more important than the medium.
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 Wed 7 Sep 11 01:27 
 Laptops in classroom - idle_chatterer
*rant*

Generation/culture...

In one of my first customer meetings when I got to Hong Kong a colleague typed away on his Thinkpad while I presented and answered questions, later when I was no longer the focus of the meeting there came a question directed to him by our customer and he clearly hadn't been listening at any point, I was so annoyed I had to resist the temptation to close his laptop lid on his hands....

I now obseve that people habitually attend meetings in HK with their laptops open, a casual glance round the side of their screen will reveal that they are on facebook....

Smartphones are almost universal, the iPhone being by far the most popular with people changing their iPhone 4 (black) for the 'new' white one a few months back. The great thing about these is you can do Facebook when you've forgotten your Thinkpad or even on the MTR (underground). The iPad is rather popular too - although I'm told the Facebook app is naff....

Did I mention that everybody appears to be permanently on Facebook round here ?

*end-rant*

As to laptops in school, both of my kids now have Macbooks for (primary) school, they are used as part of the curriculum but not for note taking. However I'd agree that over-use at this stage is not good for grammar or spelling.
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Wed 7 Sep 11 at 01:31
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 Wed 7 Sep 11 09:27 
 Laptops in classroom - Cliff Pope
None of them is (pedant mode) good for listening and understanding.
They should be forced to attend with no note-taking apparatus whatsoever. Then afterwards asked,
"What have you just learned?"
"What was I talking about?"
"Do you agree with what I have just said, or have you another view?"

If the purpose is merely to transfer written notes from the lecturer to the students, why have the lecture at all? Why not just email all the notes?
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 Wed 7 Sep 11 11:28 
 Laptops in classroom - WillDeBeest
That's rubbish, Cliff. }:---)

Taking notes is a valuable part of the learning process, because it activates parts of the brain tied to memory formation. In the same way as repeating someone's name when they introduce themselves to you makes you more likely to remember it, so writing down a new piece of information helps to transfer it from the brain's 'input buffer' to somewhere more permanent. It's why when you write an appointment in your diary, you remember it without having to look at it again. (Clicking Accept on an emailed invitation doesn't have that effect, at least for me.)
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 Wed 7 Sep 11 12:38 
 Laptops in classroom - Cliff Pope
I agree, but that's the student's job afterwards.
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