As a college student, I take a lot of notes for my classes. Over time, I have experimented with different methods and found what works for me and I thought I would pass along some tips for taking notes with low vision.
Pick how you are going to take notes
Are you going to take notes digitally or on paper? I prefer to take notes digitally as I have more options for how I insert content and I find that I am better able to keep up when I take notes digitally. Personally, I use the OneNote app by Microsoft on my Connect 12. Using OneNote, I am able to type my notes, but I can also insert drawings or handwrite text using my finger or a stylus if I want. I prefer to type my notes using a Bluetooth keyboard, but will occasionally draw diagrams or handwrite text. The keyboard I use also allows me to connect to my iPad or phone by just pressing a button, which I feel is a very useful feature. I prefer not to take pictures of the board with the Connect 12 as the camera resolution is a bit low for distance, so if I need to take a picture of the board for some reason, I will use my phone and import the picture into OneNote. I also like the organization structure of OneNote with the ability to have different notebooks, sections and pages. I like to have a different notebook for each of my classes and different sections for units. I primarily use this method for taking notes from textbooks or assigned readings. I don’t record voice memos through OneNote and instead like to do that using my phone.
Don’t be afraid to use multiple devices (if possible)
I am often seen using both my Connect 12 and iPad or a desktop computer in the library and my Connect 12 at the same time. I very rarely do this in class, as I don’t take my iPad to campus with me. This has been something that has really helped my efficiency when taking notes from textbooks or assigned readings. Instead of having to switch back and forth between the textbook and my notes, I have the textbook open on one device and my notes open on another. This allows me to take advantage of available screen space, while not having flip from app to app. My desk at home has enough space to fit both my Connect 12 and my iPad and on campus the desktop computers are on large tables so I can fit my Connect 12 on the table as well. I don’t like to use split screen because than I have to do a lot of horizontal scrolling which can aggravate my nystagmus and make my eye fatigue worse.
Annotate PowerPoints
During high school, I found it relatively easy to copy down everything the teacher wrote on the board or was showing on the slides. This was not the case in college and I quickly figured out that annotating a copy of the professor’s PowerPoint during the lecture was actually useful. Using my bioptic, I usually don’t have trouble seeing what is on the board and I also have a copy of lecture slides in front of me as well. If I do happen to run into an issue where I can’t see what is on the board, I will either use the magnifier on my phone to zoom in, or ask the professor what they wrote. I like to use Adobe Acrobat on my Connect 12 for annotating PowerPoints that I convert into PDF’s and then I save them to OneDrive so I can see my edits from any device. When I annotate PowerPoints, I mainly use a stylus to highlight anything important or write down short notes about content directly on the slide.
Record the lecture
This varies based on the professor, although if you receive accommodations through your college’s disability office, this can be added as an accommodation. I use the voice memos app built into my phone and start the recording at the beginning of the lecture. This way, if I miss something the professor said, I can go back and reference it at a later time. I would recommend writing down the time of the recording for every time you want to go back and reference as this can help eliminate having to listen the entire lecture over again. I don’t use this as a substitute for taking notes. I take notes in addition the recording and I just use the recording in case I missed something during the lecture and want to go back to reference it.
I hope you find these tips for note taking helpful and that they can help you become a better at taking notes.
by CWhoDat
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