How to prepare digital notes for students?

Summary

The article outlines a five-step process for medical students to create and manage digital notes efficiently, leveraging technology to overcome the limitations of traditional note-taking.

Abstract

The author presents a methodical approach for medical students to transition from traditional to digital note-taking. The process begins with acquiring a PDF version of the desired textbook and using the Liquid Text app on an iPad to annotate and organize notes. The notes are then synchronized across devices using cloud services, with a preference for Microsoft OneDrive. The article emphasizes the importance of editing and file management to maintain organized notes, recommending the use of a PC for these tasks. Finally, the author suggests converting notes into audio format for ease of study during commutes or workouts. This digital workflow aims to save time, prevent loss of notes, facilitate editing, and allow for easy sharing and access across various platforms.

Opinions

The author believes that traditional note-taking is time-consuming, prone to loss, and less conducive to editing and sharing.
Digital note-taking is seen as a superior alternative, offering features such as easy editing, cloud synchronization, and the ability to convert notes to audio.
Liquid Text is highly recommended for its versatile annotation and organization capabilities, particularly when used with an Apple Pencil.
Microsoft OneDrive is favored for its cross-platform compatibility and the additional benefits of an Office 365 subscription.
The author acknowledges that the mechanical voice in text-to-speech applications may mispronounce terms, suggesting readers familiarize themselves with the material beforehand.
The workflow is adaptable, with the author encouraging readers to tailor the steps to their individual needs.

5 steps to prepare notes in an efficient way

If you are wondering how to use technology to create digital notes and read them wherever you are, this post is for you.The syllabus is vast in medicine, and unless we have excellent notes, it becomes virtually impossible to read.

Though there are specific merits in using a traditional notebook, I often faced many difficulties like -

Time consuming to write? yes

Possibility to Lose your notes? yes

Difficult to edit and add new points? yes

Must you physically carry the books? yes

Cannot share with friends because they have difficulty in understanding handwriting? Yes

Cannot Read during commute and workout? Yes

Difficult to find chapters in notes? Yes

To overcome the above-said limitations, I started taking digital notes, and I feel I made a great choice of shifting. So, I follow specific steps to gain maximum benefit in my workflow and optimizing my notes taking. There is no right or wrong way to prepare notes it all depends on the individual, so please tweak the steps according to your needs.

Step 2 — Use liquid text to make digital notes

Liquid text is am fantastic app in Apple Appstore (now also available for windows) . It contains a workspace in the app, and it allows you to pull and drop the important text, works like copy and paste. It also has options for dragging images, highlighting, handwritten notes, linking various sections of notes. Use this app to highlight or excerpt the text that you feel important. Apple pencil helps a lot for this purpose.

And here comes the best part, you can export the working area or highlights in either PDF or word format into your file manager — how cool is that? Export both PDF and the word file, trust me keeping two copies will always be handy. Liquid text is a free app you can upgrade it for additional features if you like it. The disadvantage is there is no option to export different sections separately, so please export your notes before you start reading another chapter.

Step 3 — Synchronizing your notes across platforms

I use the iPad for making notes but have a windows pc and an android phone. So, I started using a cloud service to synchronize my notes. I tried using various platforms like apple cloud, google drive, Dropbox, Microsoft One-drive.

I personally loved Microsoft One-drive of the lot. There is a robust app for it across the platforms which allows you to keep an offline copy if you need it. Though it is paid in comparison to other cloud options, it more than makes up for the investment you make. Besides, if you are as tech-savvy \ 1Tb of cloud space offered by one drive always comes very handy. I purchased a family plan of office 365 and shared with my friends for one year. On the plus side, you also get Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, etc.) subscription along with it.

Step 5 — Changing your notes into an Audio-book

This addition is a personal preference. You can stop at step four, but I personally prefer hearing audio chapters during my commute and working out. So I convert all my notes into audio chapters, I use my phone app called T2S which converts text files into audio chapters, I export them back to my cloud account so that I can access them across platforms.

The voice will be very mechanical, and some medical terminology may be mispronounced, so I recommend reading the chapter before listing to get familiar with the terminology.

This is my workflow in simple five steps we can overcome the limitation of traditional notes.

Time consuming to write? No, works like copy-paste

Possibility Lose your notes? No, all the notes will be synced on the cloud.

Difficult to edit and add new points? No, word document can be modified easily.

Must you physically carry the books? No, any smart device will do, phone, tablet, laptop etc.

Cannot share with friends because they have difficulty in understanding handwriting? No, since it will be in typed format.

Cannot read during commute and workout? No, we can listen to audio chapters with ease.

Difficult to find chapters in notes? No, we can just search the chapter we want.

How to prepare digital notes for students?

5 steps to prepare notes in an efficient way

Step 1 — Download a book PDF of your choice

Step 2 — Use liquid text to make digital notes

Step 3 — Synchronizing your notes across platforms

Step 4 — Editing and file is managing your notes

Step 5 — Changing your notes into an Audio-book

Requirements for the workflow