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Assistive Technologies and Tools for Digital Productivity: Writing and Notetaking

Enhance your study skills with these smart tools designed to improve your learning experience. Explore resources that help you manage your time, organise your notes and stay focused on your academic goals.

Digital notebooks

 

These tools help you stay organised by providing a space to create multiple notebooks, sections, and pages, which you can arrange by course, session, subject, or research topic. They are perfect for organising your study materials, collaborating with classmates on group projects, and enhancing your notes with multimedia elements like images, videos, and audio.

You might want to use digital notebooks if you:

  • are frequently on the go and need access to notes from various devices
  • need to organise notes by different courses or subjects
  • prefer adding multimedia elements to your notes for better understanding
  • are working on group projects and need to share notes with classmates
  • prefer reducing paper use and contributing to environmental sustainability.

 

Links to digital notebooks

Speech-to-text software

 

Speech recognition and dictation tools (also known as speech-to-text or STT) convert spoken words into written text. You can use these tools to draft essays and other assignments and take notes whilst at home or on the move. Additionally, you can use speech-to-text software to quickly capture feedback from your tutors or important discussions during group work.

Speech-to-text software may help increase your productivity as a student if you:

  • experience barriers to writing using a pen or keyboard due to a disability or injury
  • process information best when you speak out loud or struggle to capture your thoughts through written language
  • are looking for a quick way to capture information to review later in addition to other forms of writing and notetaking.

 

Links to speech-to-text software

Visual notetaking

 

Mind mapping and visual notetaking tools help you organize your ideas in non-linear, dynamic and visual ways. These tools are great for project planning, notetaking, research processes and communicating complex relationships. Many of these tools are also designed to facilitate online collaboration.

These tools might help you study more productively if you:

  • are neurodivergent
  • want to incorporate more spatial and visual learning methods into your routine
  • are doing collaborative group work.

 

Links to visual notetaking software