Curtis is an intern in our Specialist Team Unit, focusing on
modern workplace. His core job role is to work closely with customers to help
them achieve more in their day to day roles with Microsoft Surface and Microsoft
365 solutions. Being a student, Curtis is a big advocate of Microsoft
technology and loves using his Surface to jot down notes in OneNote whilst he’s
in lectures or learning on the job.
All students know the pain of note taking during a lecture: hand
cramp, ink smudges, and the inevitable missing page; the all too familiar woes
of traditional note taking. Then it comes to exam season and you look back
through your notes to pull together a revision plan… But you can’t find what
you’re looking for. And if you are lucky enough to find it, then you probablycan’t remember the context of your notes.
In the spirit of the new year and setting resolutions, why not
see how you can leverage technology to transform the way you make notes. You’ll
certainly thank yourself for it later when you no longer have to worry about
missing pages or searching through several reams of paper to find what you’re
looking for.
The future of note taking – a skill you need to master
Since working at Microsoft, I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed
to lots of different technologies and really get under the skin of how they
work. Often when you’re given a new piece of tech to use, you don’t really use
it to its full potential, either due to lack of instruction or time to find out
how you can really use it to make your life easier. At Microsoft, we’re
provided with monthly ‘Work Smart’ training sessions to make sure we have theright skills to use all the technology we’re given access to so we can work atour best.
OneNote is one of my favourite Office 365 applications that I
use on a daily basis. Through my time at Microsoft I’ve learned lots of little
hints and tips on how to fully take advantage of its capabilities. It’s not
just simply for typing random notes and there’s lots of things you can use it
for – from prioritised to-do lists to meeting minutes.
If you’ve not already used it before, OneNote is available for
Windows 10, iOS and Android and allows you to collate your notes into one
central location, usually within your OneDrive so you can access them from
anywhere – whether you’re at home, at work or travelling to a lecture on the
bus.
‘Sections’ can be created within OneNote to separate your notes
into easily organisable locations, allowing you to access your most important
notes whenever you desire and do away with the notion of losing your important
jottings. You can apply this to taking notes for each module you attend and are
able to easily combine all your notes from that module into one section.
Typing your notes is great, but writing them down is better
Many people are not yet comfortable with typing their notes on a
keyboard, and several studies have shown that this could be less effective than
handwriting your notes, especially if you’re a visual learner who likes to
create mind maps and circle important bits of information. Surface is a great
alternative to replace both the tedious method of pen and paper as well as
error-ridden keyboard typing. With the Surface Pen and its inbuilt 4,096 points
of pressure, handwriting digital notes has never been easier. Paired with thefact that you have access to hundreds of colours, highlighters, ink-to-math, a
ruler and various other utilitarian features within OneNote, like the ability
to search your handwritten notes, your school or university days become a breeze.
If you still want your hand-written notes in the form of a
document, then you can use the ink-to-text feature which turns your writing
into text. This can be great for noting down points in a group meeting and thenconverting the notes into text for sending out as a follow up email.
Once you’ve finished writing with the Surface Pen, you can
attach it to your Surface device by using the magnets; you’ll never lose your
pen again!
Choosing the right device for your unique working style
As well as the benefits of noting things down, you’ll generally
need a powerful, portable, and reliable machine that can carry you through your
days in education.
As somebody who loves to handwrite my notes, the Surface is
perfect for me. And there’s something for everyone. If you do a lot of
presentations, the Surface Pro 6 could be perfect for you, with a detachable
keyboard that you can carry with you and use for your presentations notes – no
need for those tiny little note cards that will inevitably get muddled up. If
you prefer having a more compact device then you could look at the Surface Go,
or if you need something more durable then perhaps the Surface Book 2 or
Surface Laptop is better suited to you.
With a huge battery life, you won’t have any problems of your device
making it through the day. All Surface devices are touchscreen too, so you can
interact with your device with more than just a keyboard and mouse.
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