I used binder, and almost everyone in Engineering with me also did.
The way I see it, today the point of the note taking is to help you memorize the material through repetition. When you organize the data on the page to write stuff down your brains goes over the data and it helps you retain the info.
Laptop (text) notes don't allow that. You aren't able to shift data in a more creative form on the fly, everything is just plain text. You can type more words in, but it will be in a very monotone repetitive form. You won't be going over it either, since unlike 50 years ago, today the profs provide pdf/slides of the lectures (not to mention informative textbooks)... so as a pure information source for references the notes.
Bottom line, the pen and paper still wins. It's quicker to format, quicker to change format, it helps you retain information and it's cheap.
Actually, as I approached my 3rd year I kinda realized that myself, and basically had just 1 or 2 binders for everything. As opposed to having 5-6 binders for separate courses.
Laptops are generally needed for slides, report writing and whatnot.
Now, Surface Pro is kind of becoming a popular choice. Because it can do everything laptop can, but also provided the flexibility of pen and paper. (Those who didn't use pen and paper in Engineering used Surface Pro).
PS. I saw a lot of people in business or life sci actually type in lectures using laptops. But I think it's because most of them are hipsters with macbooks and they try to show them off. If you are actually serious about note taking, I don't think it's the way to go.
PPS. Well, this is emberassing. I didn't read your post, and by notebook I assumed you meant a laptop..... oh well.
Binder is better than paper notebooks, because you can easily swap papers out. Whereas if you screw up in the notebook you will have to permanently remove a page. Also I personally use blank A4 sheets in my binder so that I'm not restricted by line markings, and so binder was the optimal choice for me.
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McMaster Software Engineering:
Worse than AIDS
Last edited by GeorgeLucas : 07-14-2017 at 04:55 PM.
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