By Kaity Kempf | LTVN Reporter
When I first came to college, I had a list of school supplies I needed to be fully prepared for courses. There’s the obvious: notebooks, pencils, erasers, highlighters and the list goes on. Besides those, I knew there was one thing I absolutely needed more than anything else. The holy grail for college students — a computer.
I went up to the store, bought myself the expensive device, and I felt prepared for college. My freshman year, I used my laptop all the time in class. I would take notes and keep up with ease. Now I’m a junior, and I find myself rarely using my laptop in class at the requests of my professors.
I understand the logic behind not using computers in class. They are a distraction to some, and others go as far to say you can retain information better by taking notes by hand. It sounds perfect in theory, but practically, taking notes digitally is by far the better option.
When I take notes by hand, I find myself not being able to catch up. Some might be able to, but for me, writing by hand is difficult to do quickly and with a lot of information in class. My notes are more messy because I’m so worried about getting all of the information, I don’t have time to organize it.
I also find myself getting so frustrated keeping up with my handwritten notes during lectures, I end up taking pictures of the slides to later try and take notes on a lecture that occurred hours ago. The notes were never as thorough as the ones I took on my computer.
Besides this, the idea that all college students must have laptops is absurd if we are then asked to not use them. It doesn’t make sense financially. If we are asked to not use them by professors, I believe it’s only fair to upload the slides on Canvas so students can follow along during the lecture.
Everyone has their preference when it comes to taking notes, but I believe we shouldn’t be restricted on the form of media we take notes on. Let’s give computers another chance in the classroom.
