Note Taking Technologies

Engaging in class lecture is crucial for academic success.Taking notes can be a big challenge for students registered with the Disability Service. Students may struggle with writing while listening. Or they may have trouble keeping up with a lecturer because of slow processing speed. The below resources are aimed to support students.

A person writing in a book

If you need further information, please contact askds@tcd.ie.

TCD Supported Software

Listed below are a number of technologies that will allow you take notes effectively within a lecture environment and reduce that hectic feeling of trying to keep up with your note taking:

Live Scribe LogoLivescribe Pen

What starts on paper, doesn't have to stay there. Livescribe smartpens bring your words & ideas into your digital world. The pen lets you write digital notes using special paper and a pen with a tiny built-in infrared camera that tracks the nib's exact location on the page. Conveniently, this new pen uses a built-in Wi-Fi adaptor to communicate with your PC rather than a wired USB connection.

Online Help & training

Visit our training page to learn more about the Livescribe Pen training

Glean

Glean offers a visual and interactive form of note-taking one where audio, text and images are used to create truly comprehensive notes. Instead of the single stream of information you get with standard audio, Glean splits your recording up into individual phrases and displays them on screen as a bar. You can then organise these bars by colour-coding great sections and removing not-so-great sections.

A 30 day free trial available from the Glean website by clicking on this link. If you would like to continue to use the software after this period just get in touch with your Disability officer.

Online Help & training

Click this link to learn more about Glean visit our training page

Glean offers a visual and interactive form of note taking

 

Digital Dictaphones

Digital Dictaphones to record lectures

Students can use the digital dictaphone to record lectures, assignments and research information. Students have fuller control over the playback, they can pause and rewind much more easily than using a cassette player. This is useful for visual impaired students, those with dyslexia and learning difficulties. Digital dictaphones have the added attraction of being able to transfer recordings onto PC and even synchronise with some voice recognition software.

Online Help & training

Click this link to learn more about Audio Notetaker visit our training page

Free Resources

Microsoft OneNote

QR code and link for OneNote mobile. Click or scan to access OneNote on iPhone or Android

OneNote is a digital notebook that automatically saves and syncs your notes as you work. Type information in your notebook or insert it from other apps and web pages. Take handwritten notes or draw your ideas. Use highlighting and tags for easy follow-up.

Login to office.tcd.ie to access OneNote.
You can also download OneNote on your mobile by clicking or scanning the QR code.

Click here to check out our dedicated guide for OneNote

A Beginners Guide to Microsoft OneNote for Windows 10

In this beginners guide to Microsoft OneNote for Windows 10, we show you how to organise your notebooks with sections and pages; how to add content; what type of content you can add, and also how to share your notes, giving you tips along the way.

Caption.Ed

Live captions and effortless note-taking

Add captions instantly to your meetings, lectures, or seminars, either in-person or online.

You can also add timestamped notes, synced to your transcript, and highlight key information so you never miss out on the important stuff.

Learn more at our Caption.ed page.

Video Introduction for Caption.Ed

Caption.Ed provides you with captions any media - live or pre-recorded. From a Zoom meeting to a recorded lecturer, simply install Caption.Ed in your browser or on your computer or Mac, start your media and enjoy.

Apps for your smartphone or tablet

You can buy microphones attachments that will turn your iPhone into a digital dictaphone (see above) to record lecturers, notes etc.

Live Transcribe for Android

This app is only available for Android. We are currently looking for an iOS equivalent.

Live Transcribe is an Android application developed by Google. This app uses the accessibility icon in your phone's navigation bar so you can easily access it.

You can download Live transcribe as a regular app if it is not already present on your phone. You can then enable it in your phone's accessibility settings.

You can find more information at the Android Accessibility Help page for Live Transcribe.

Microsoft Lens

Microsoft Lens is an app that allows you to scan your physical documents using your smartphone's camera, and convert them to PDF documents, and store them in OneDrive for your TCD account or your personal account. It can be used for saving a digital copy of your written notes, or for digitally uploading your written assignments.

Lens is available for both iPhone and Android devices. You can download it by clicking or scanning the QR code.

Academic Support

For further help and gaining strategies to help you take effective notes please view are academic support page which give you information on:

  • How to use your lecture note effectively
  • Strategies for taking notes in a lecture
  • Introduction to the Cornell method of note-taking