Capitalizing on Technology

Besides the humor in this text, "There's a widely shared image on the Internet of a teacher's note that says: "Dear students, I know when you're texting in class. Seriously, no one just looks down at their crotch and smiles..."  a valid question being addressed in this article over on WSJ: Should Students Use a Laptop in Class? I seriously love my iPad, iPhone and '07 Macbook. These devices have been my tools for the past 5 years, they allow me to do everything. As a career MIS professional who has been in the industry for 12 years, I doubt that I could be as effective with out all the interconnected apps and programs.

I am going back to school at Penn State, The Behrend College. I am exclusively using legal pads and pens in class for my notes. Everything I do gets written down and then later I transposed to digital medium. The reason for this is my thought process, I find that my hand/pen/paper combination is not as efficient at to attempt to do the same thing digitally.

A good example is outlining, I may be writing down unassociated items in class and writing down key words in the margin (something I haven't figured out how to do on my devices). I realize that the items are associated. At this point I start outlining them by adding the relevant leading letters and numbers with quick simplicity and a few short strokes.  However, this same task digitally would take all of my concentration on the laptop or iPad. WHich would prevent me from focusing all of my attention on the professor. 

I don't know if there is a reasonable, effective, direct and precise note-taking tool as there is with paper and pen. I am also comfortable with that.