Notetaking Options
Evernote
Notetaking Style: Visual, Verbal, Kinetic, Logical, Social. Typed, drawn, imported documents.
Pros: Syncs across all devices, reliable organization system, records audio, supports attached files like photos or diagrams, doubles as a scanner for importing documents.
Cons: Handwriting support is limited.
Noteshelf
Notetaking Style: Visual, Auditory, Verbal, Kinetic, Logical, Social. Handwritten, typed, drawn, recorded audio, imported documents.
Pros: Annotative style allows you to input diagrams, photos, and pdfs and provides the ability to write directly on the images. Saves to Google Drive for storage, organization, and sharing.
Cons: Records audio but does not sync audio to notes and requires a $4.99 one-time purchase.
OneNote
Notetaking Style: Visual, Verbal, Kinetic, Logical, Social. Typed, imported documents.
Pros: Excellent formatting mimicking a binder: pages can be rearranged, edited, and shared. Works with full Microsoft suite and has cohesive offline functionality.
Cons: Limited features on mobile apps and browsers; the breadth of features can take time to explore and learn.
Available to all current UChicago faculty, students, and staff as part of Microsoft Office 365. For more information, visit the ITS Resource page on Office 365.
AudioNote
Notetaking Style: Auditory, Kinetic, Solitary. Recorded audio, typed, handwritten.
Pros: Records audio and syncs with notes.
Cons: Lacks some organization. While you can handwrite notes and draw from a tablet, some features like highlighting are only available if you type out notes.
Livescribe Smartpen
Notetaking Style: Visual, Auditory, Verbal, Kinetic, Logical, Solitary. Handwritten, recorded audio.
Pros: Immediate control over your notes, ability to return to the record-ed lecture synced with your handwritten notes. You can return to fill in gaps, add drawings, and write indicators in the margins to stay organized.
Cons: The smartpen, notebooks, and desktop software are individual tools to learn and maintain. Audio quality may be poor in lecture halls.
SDS can help with demos, trainings, and materials!
Notability
Notetaking Style: Visual, Auditory, Verbal, Kinetic, Social. Handwritten, typed, recorded audio, imported documents.
Pros: User-friendly and clean organizational tools, import files, work with documents side-by-side, convert handwriting to searchable text, and export notes to save or share.
Cons: Does not sync across devices and requires a $9 one-time purchase. Available for iOS only.
Google Keep
Notetaking Style: Visual, Verbal, Kinetic, Logical, Social. Typed, drawn.
Pros: Simple interface resembling a bulletin board of “sticky-notes” for short-form notetaking: make lists, record voice memos, and collect diagrams and photos with captions. Cloud based, syncs across devices., and pairs well with other technology.
Cons: Not ideal for long paragraphs or outlines.
Available to all current UChicago faculty, students, and staff as part of G Suite. For more information, visit the ITS Resource page on G Suite.
Otter.ai
Notetaking Style: Auditory, Social. Recorded audio, transcription.
Pros: Records audio and transcribes lecture in real-time with high accuracy and recognition of lingo and terms, highlight key points, generate a word cloud of important terms, insert photos or other audio tracks, and sync to Zoom. Can export files to save, collaborate, and organize.
Cons: The transcriptions may require “quality control” for punctuation and some harder vocabulary. Available for iOS only.
Peer Note-Taker
Notetaking Style: Visual, Verbal, Solitary.
Pros: Another student in class takes notes and uploads them to AIM for you to download, even if you miss class. This is a low- tech option.
Cons: Notes are “filtered” through another student and are not a transcript of the lecture. There could be a delay in receiving notes—sometimes hiring a notetaker can take time and uploads may not be consistent. Notetakers may also prefer different styles and methods, so notes may not match your personal preference.