Best digital notetaking and digital education device?

[christian0710]

Best digital notetaking and digital education device??

Hi,

I'm looking for some digital device that allows me to take notes/make drawings, and adding audio or video to some of the explanations (Just like Khan academy) what would my best options??
I have been looking at the boogie boar, but it looks like it's not the best in terms of precision.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ZPZ5XW/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[robphy]

Get a TabletPC (a real TabletPC, not a so-called "tablet" [like the iPad])
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=3518273#post3518273

 

[christian0710]

Thank's i appreciate it :)
For Now I'm on a low budget so I think i have to stick to some wacom to begin with. I think tablet pc's are a bit too expensive for my budget at this point.

 

[spsuninja]

Here is a link to another forum that explains how I stopped using paper for my last two semesters of college.

http://crowdfundingforum.com/showthread.php/1982-(Indiegogo)-The-Infinity-Binder?referrerid=2582

 

[Drakkith]

Here is a link to another forum that explains how I stopped using paper for my last two semesters of college.

http://crowdfundingforum.com/showthread.php/1982-(Indiegogo)-The-Infinity-Binder?referrerid=2582

Interesting. What if the board itself could "photograph" what was on it? I find taking photos of things like this with my phone to be kind of a pain in the butt. Trying to hold it up and get it the exact right spot and not tilted is annoying. Still, an interesting idea.

 

[spsuninja]

Interesting. What if the board itself could "photograph" what was on it? I find taking photos of things like this with my phone to be kind of a pain in the butt. Trying to hold it up and get it the exact right spot and not tilted is annoying. Still, an interesting idea.

I see what you're saying, and you're right. I looked like a moron doing this in class. But I soon realized I could stand the binder up (like a tent), and rest the phone on the table so the pictures would never be blurry. Plus, I also realized I could wait until I got home before I started taking pictures. This reduces the nerd factor.

 

[John Creighto]

I see what you're saying, and you're right. I looked like a moron doing this in class. But I soon realized I could stand the binder up (like a tent), and rest the phone on the table so the pictures would never be blurry. Plus, I also realized I could wait until I got home before I started taking pictures. This reduces the nerd factor.

It's a dry erase board made into a binder. The only possible advantage I can see in this over paper is it might be easier for software to convert what is written to text. He shows that this can be done in ever-note. One could instead take pictures (or scan their standard notes) and PDF them. Adobe software is getting better at recognizing text in scanned documents.

The feature which he used from ever-note could be done instead by booking-marking pages of your notes with a social bookmarking tool (such as delicious). Anyway, there are lots of tools one can use to store and organize information. There are places online to store notes, pictures, office documents, ways of searching these (social bookmarking, Google custom search), and let's not forget wikis, we also have links to connect all these repositories of information. There are also document management systems, there are other systems which organize information based on cartographic hashes (such as P2P programing), and finally let's not forget both the paper you keep and what you keep on your computer organized into folders.

I think scanning your notes is probably the best approach and then using a bookmarking tool to tag it with keywords which you can recall later. The best tools should be able to integrate your local system with the web and will store the information with some level of redundancy.

I think that during school this might add more administration to your note taking then anything you get out of it but in the long run it may be invaluable after school as you start to forget what you learned, or if you wish to integrate new knowledge into what you had previously learned.

 

[spsuninja]

The greatest contribution of this binder is the fact that it can be digitized by the device that everyone now carries in their pockets: a cellphone. One has no need of any additional equipment. It is arguably by far the cheapest, simplest, and most user friendly way for any student to go digital today. And I cannot stress the importance of going digital enough. I will never go back to paper. Once I was sitting in my lab and overheard a fellow student say to another: "Man, Jimmy better give me my physics one notes back before next week. I need those for my test." *face palm*. On numerous occasions I was asked (even several times by my professors) to share my notes with other students. All I needed was an email address. Throughout the last two semesters, no matter where I was on campus or off, I was always within a few feet of my notes as long as a computer was nearby. Digital note taking is simply a game changer. As for tagging with keywords, please see the following link: . Furthermore, the thickness of dry erase markings make them much easier to photograph than pencil and paper, reducing the need to have steady hands as the notes are captured. Finally, I'd like to also mention another benefit of digital note taking, which is organization with other digital files. All the written notes can now be stored along side their audio and video counterparts. I recorded nearly every word spoken in class during my last semester. In fact, I spent most of my time in class just listening to the teacher speak, and on occasion I would mark down what was being discussed and at what time the recorder currently indicated. Going digital was amazing. Once you make the jump, I guarantee you'll never go back either.

 

[John Creighto]

The greatest contribution of this binder is the fact that it can be digitized by the device that everyone now carries in their pockets: a cellphone. One has no need of any additional equipment. It is arguably by far the cheapest, simplest, and most user friendly way for any student to go digital today. And I cannot stress the importance of going digital enough. I will never go back to paper.

This might be true although, you certainly can't get as much text on one of your white board sheets as a standard piece of paper. This means to get a full class worth of notes it is going to be a lot of pictures and they are going to be spread out over more pages making the information more disconnected and harder to see as a whole. Your approach may be better suited to a less structured learning environment like a meeting or conference.

One thing I use to do when studying for a test is to try to compress a lot of information into one page. There is an advantage to not having to flip through as many pages and staring at a computer screen can be distracting. I'm not saying it is not a good idea but it may not be the best approach for school if someone is good at taking notes.

I think that your approach would be better for a humanities department course where one does not have to follow complicated derivations over multiple pages.

Once I was sitting in my lab and overheard a fellow student say toanother: "Man, Jimmy better give me my physics one notes back before next week. I need those for my test." *face palm*. On numerous occasions I was asked (even several times by my professors) to share my notes with other students. All I needed was an email address.

This sounds like a plug which makes me wonder if the actual events you are describing occurred.

Throughout the last two semesters, no matter where I was on campus or off, I was always within a few feet of my notes as long as a computer was nearby. Digital note taking is simply a game changer.

There is little actual content in these two sentences. Qualitative content like this more focused towards trying to sell something then communicating information may get moderated.

As for tagging with keywords, please see the following link: .

I already watched this. You missed the point. People use social boomarking so they can tag content with the key words that are most relevant. Many key words in the body of a document are much less relevant then words which are deliberately used to tag content.

Furthermore, the thickness of dry erase markings make them much easier to photograph than pencil and paper, reducing the need to have steady hands as the notes are captured.

This might be true now but may change as cameras and software gets better.

Finally, I'd like to also mention another benefit of digital note taking, which is organization with other digital files. All the written notes can now be stored along side their audio and video counterparts.

One can do this if they scan their documents as well.

I recorded nearly every word spoken in class during my last semester. In fact, I spent most of my time in class just listening to the teacher speak, and on occasion I would mark down what was being discussed and at what time the recorder currently indicated.

For some people writing down what is being said helps them remember it.

Going digital was amazing. Once you make the jump, I guarantee you'll never go back either.

Another sentence void of content which may catch a moderators attention. Your post sounds like you are pushing a product. The moderators may want you to become a premium member if you are going to link to your personal site. I will not report this post but if you keeping bumping up this topic it will catch the attention of a moderator sooner or later.

Note taking is an important exercise to learning but a proper discussion of the topic should discuss the various methods available rather then trying to push one specific product.

 

[spsuninja]

You make some very good points. I am obviously not your equal when it comes to debating. But here are my responses to your claims:

1. Not a plug. Maybe not word for word, but not a plug. (ie. the student's name might have been Jack instead of Jimmy.) But this is something I cannot and will not attempt to prove.

2. Ever been at Grammaw's house for thanksgiving and needed to access your notes? If your notes are in the cloud, then you don't have a problem. If your notes are all written in a bunch of binders back at home, then you have a problem.

3. I renamed and organized most of my picture notes when I added them to my google drive. This made up for the lack of tagging within the notes.

4. So you can either go paperless now with dry erase, or wait for camera technology to arrive that will make it easier to capture pencil and paper notes. I'm also waiting for technology to produce a cheaper electric car with a longer range. Until then, I drive the most economical gas powered car I can find. Pencil and paper = hummer. Infinity Binder = yaris.

5. It's easier to take a picture than scan a document. Multiply this fact by the number of pages of notes that a student goes through in one semester, and you quickly realize how important this convenience is. Otherwise I would have seen more students scanning their notes after class. It's simply not feasible to use one in this manner.

6. You are correct, however I'm one of the people who appreciates being able to relax in class and absorb the content better. Before I would often not even try to understand the material until after the class was over, because I was so busy trying to write down everything the teacher said or noted on the board. Not everyone is like this. But I doubt I'm the only one.

7. You are partly right about me pushing a product. Part of me wants to show people for my own benefit. However, another part of me simply wants the world to benefit. The dry erase binder is so simple it can actually be made by anyone. I explain how you can make your own binder here:

Ultimately, the difference between you and I is experience. I have actually used the binder so I know what it does and what it doesn't do well. Most of what you have claimed I have already heard from other nay sayers that haven't actually tried taking digital notes in class with any type of technology. So I ask you: Have you ever attempted to take digital notes? If so, what type of technology did you use? If not, than please recognize the experience that I bring to the discussion.

 

[spsuninja]

Here is a link to all my notes from my 2012 spring semester: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B26y8i_1zR8bNWNlZTUzN2UtNzA2Ny00MDA3LWI4MDktMDg0OTQ1ZjUwNzI1/edit

I took the following classes that semester:

Discrete Math
Intro to Nuclear Power
MatLab
Instruments & Controls

(Note: no humanities department courses)