Students pretty much consider the pen and paper as the classic (but old school) way of taking notes. But is good old fashioned typing becoming yesterday news, too? Technology is progressing so students may not have to choose – you can take classic notes with a pen then upload to a digital document.

Virtual Class is in Session
Lecture podcasts are becoming more common for traditional and online colleges, taking the place of recording the professors’ words using an actual tape recorder reminiscent of old-school reporters. You can miss class but still catch the lecture at any time, bringing another level of convenience to higher education. Computer companies are aching for students to fall in love with the tablet notebook, too, but it just doesn’t bring the same level of convenience as the podcast.

Writing in Space
The newest addition to the techie way of recording a lecture is the digital pen. Options include EPOS, Anoto, Logitech, and Livescribe (barely on the market this month). Most current pens provide the option to upload via Bluetooth and save to a USB port. One blogger has even synced his digital pen to upload automatically through his blogging software. Most versions are only compatible with Windows XP SP2 or Vista – sorry, Mac users.

But is the pen a losing market? It needs to be more convenient and less expensive to really catch on with college students. Logitech doesn’t even own the product anymore (they sold it to UK-company Destiny back in December), and Nokia doesn’t sell a pen anymore despite breaking into the market way back in 2004. Companies need to provide a more affordable product with the most convenient attributes for student note-taking. Maybe the real question is: are companies actually asking college students about their technological product wish lists?