Electronic Shorthand: Learn how to take digital notes (Udemy.com)

Learn how to take fast, accurate digital notes on a smartphone, tablet, or computer to improve work and study habits

Created by: Michelle Campbell-Scott

Produced in 2016

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What you will learn

  • Learn to take notes quickly and accurately
  • Use any device with a keyboard or onscreen keyboard to take digital notes
  • Be able to take fast, accurate notes without having to learn a complicated new language
  • Know how to customize Microsoft Word to autocorrect shorthand words to full words

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Quality Score

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Overall Score : 84 / 100

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Course Description

Her name was Angela. She came into my training center, ashen-faced, asking if we taught shorthand. We did ... but when she found out that the quickest course took 40 hours to learn and the shorthand could only be done with pencil (or pen) and paper, she burst into tears.
Over a coffee, she shared that she was terrified she was about to lose her job as a medical administrator.
She was responsible for taking notes during multi-disciplinary team meetings composed of all kinds of health professionals (surgeons, physicians, nurses, nutritionists, physiotherapists, etc.). She had to type the notes on a laptop, while the team members were talking - then produce the notes to be circulated to everyone the next day!
That would be a tough job even for a 1950s 160-wpm shorthand-taker.
For a harassed administrator with tons of other work to do, bucket loads of stress on her shoulders, and multiple people demanding her attention, it was an impossible feat. Her hands shook with the pressure when she tried to type the notes that the medics were calling out to her. She gave up completely when they started talking over each other.
She was on anti-anxiety medicine from her doctor.
Her Line Manager had called her in to ask if she was up to the job. He said she was starting to look like a rabbit in a car's headlamps.
She was at the end of her tether.
Budgets had been slashed, there were no secretaries to take the notes; security/confidentiality was tight, there was no option to write 'proper' shorthand on paper that could possibly be lost, she had to use the encrypted laptop; jobs were scarce, there were other people waiting in the wings for her to screw up, to take her job.
What could I do to help?
I had learned shorthand back in high school(when I had wanted to be a reporter - I ended up in PR, journalism's little brother!). And I taught several shorthand systems in our training center. But Angela didn't have 40 hours spare to learn, and she wasn't able to use pen and paper during meetings. Traditional shorthand wasn't going to help her.
I rang a friend who taught journalism. Surely they had faster ways of learning shorthand?
No. They didn't even teach it anymore. They advised students to try to find courses in community colleges. Most couldn't find any and generally tried and failed to learn from books. But he also said something interesting ...
Lots of reporters had switched to using electronic devices for note-taking. He said a method of taking fast notes on an device or laptop was sorely needed.
I set to work to invent something new.
My first system - created to prevent Angela's nervous breakdown - wasn't perfect but it enabled her to type quickly and produce comprehensive meeting notes without it taking up her whole day. It eased her stress and saved her job. Her efficiency and serenity also impressed - and surprised! - her colleagues and managers.
I worked on the system over the next two years, working out kinks, refining and honing down the method to the four simple steps that it is today.
It is now used by:
Reporters when out in the field - and then back at their desks, transcribing audio recordings faster than their colleagues could believe was possible! They even use it in a way Ihadn't thought of ... pen and paper! They aren't allowed to take devices into courtrooms, so they simply use electronic shorthand on paper, then type it up when they get back to their desks.
College/University Students - taking notes during lectures helps keep them awake and alert. Note-taking is known to improve concentration and focus. It also gives them valuable tools for revising. Many use the Cornell system with electronic shorthand, to further improve understanding/recall.
High School Students - this method helps in schools, too.
Online course takers - taking notes improves understanding and memory. It's too easy to just watch/listen to a course and not be actively involved. The act of jotting down important points really helps with learning.
Business people - lawyers report their satisfaction at being able to take extensive instructions from clients; entrepreneurs love having the ability to jot down ideas as fast as their brains come up with them!; attendees at conferences and trainings find that they are very popular with colleagues, because they have extensive notes of all the good stuff.
Do you wish you knew how to do shorthand?
We all have smartphones, tablets, and/or laptops now and those squiggles don't transfer to electronic devices. Yet the ability to do digital note-taking has become more and more important to many of us.
Perhaps you need to take fast, accurate notes for your job; maybe you're a student who would love to be able to get down more of what a lecturer/professor is saying during lectures; or you could be one of the thousands of people who struggle with their memory or concentration. The ability to take notes quickly and accurately is a valuable skill. It's brilliant for journalists and students, of course, but it is also a huge bonus to anyone who enjoys studying online courses, attending webinars, or just jotting down ideas. It is also a vital skill for professionals who need to take instructions from clients. It makes the workload easier and the stress lighter. While traditional shorthand takes many, many hours to learn, this course in electronic shorthand will take you just couple of hours of study and practice to become comfortable with the system. Then it's just of matter of adding to your own personal abbreviations dictionary (included in the course) and building your speed naturally as you use your new skill. It's fun, useful, and great for the ego to learn this skill because you'll be thrilled you picked it up so quickly.
This course is designed to help you learn quickly and easily and enable you to take notes on any device that has a keyboard or onscreen keyboard.
It is taught via four main 'Super Simple Rules' with activities, quizzes, and dictations throughout. There are also tons of downloadable materials in the form of worksheets, dictionaries, and PDFs. Unlike traditional shorthand methods, there isn't a whole new language to learn. My digital note-taking method uses the alphabet - which you already know if you're reading this! It is a little like the 'text' language so many people use on smartphones, where they leave the vowels out. But try reading back some text language, it's like gobbledy-gook! That's not something you want to risk if you are taking important notes. This method teaches simple principles of which letters to leave out and when, then adds in other principles to make sure that you will be able to read back everything you write using digital note-taking, even if you come back to it six months or a year or more later. Even master shorthand practitioners can't always do that! You'll love it! Enrolling in this course will: Enable you to learn a new skill - quickly and easily.
Give you the ability to write notes on an electronic device

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Instructor Details

Michelle Campbell-Scott

Author of the bestselling books, 'Goodreads for Authors', 'Make Your Book Work Harder' (perma-free on Kindle), 'Inversion Therapy', & 'The 10-Day Skin Brushing Detox', among others. She is a former teacher & trainer, chicken keeper, and field archer who has recently returned to the UK from a 2-year roadtrip around North America.
She started her career in Public Relations then, while her children were growing, she did any work she could get that allowed her to be at home with them. That included: writing, course creation, editing, book indexing, book formatting, document and presentation production, and more.
After becoming a teacher and then an IT trainer, she still freelanced, writing and creating courses for others - before eventually taking the plunge and creating her own books and courses.
She writes as Michelle Campbell-Scott, specializing in publishing and marketing; Mia Campbell, specializing in health (including 'Inversion Therapy' & 'The 10-Day Skin Brushing Detox'), and M.C. Scott, specializing in hobbies and children's fiction.

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Reviews

4.2

57 total reviews

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By Marcela Ball on 12/20/2020

introduction too long

By Brent Fowler on 11/26/2020

This speakers voice is actually charming. The best voice I have heard in all of my Udemy courses. She also has everything laid out well and seems to have quite a bit of experience in quick note taking even before the digital age took over. I'm hoping her knowledge and past experiences will help me take better notes quickly as that is now my bottleneck in learning.

By Patricia Shanks on 11/25/2020

Excellent. And it complements the handwriting speed writing course that I am looking at. Similar enough that it supports the BakerWrite method in some ways. Very easy to listen to this program. Sometimes I want to move too quickly for my own good. This pace made me behave! Thank you.

By Ravi Joshi on 10/26/2020

I am Looking for the Course on Pitman English Shorthand. Can you please add some info. on this course???

By Sean M on 9/2/2020

I never seriously thought about how removing vowels would shorten my notes, but the game changer is using AutoCorrect. I used ShortKeys for a long time and never thought about turning Word into an advanced ShortKeys. I am certain this class will help me with personal and professional notes.

By Nilu Jain on 8/19/2020

I expected much more from this course,as these things we hv already been using from decades.

By S Ines Jimenez on 8/6/2020

Thank you for having this class available, it's a great tool. However, I do use a Mac and not a PC so I had to figure how to personalize autocorrect on my own. I also received my certificate immediately which was great but my screen name was on it not my actual name but then I figured out I could change my profile name.

By Alana Ross on 7/24/2020

Quite enjoying it so far

By Rajesh Bangera on 7/17/2020

I loved the way it was taught. Thank you.

By Paul Ripley on 6/23/2020

I am loving the system that is being demonstrated. I have tried many times to pick up systems like EasyScript and, more lately, Bakerwrite - both from books - and have given up every time. ...too complex or not something that I learn well from books I do not know, but I have just taken this in within an hour and am already confident that I have finally found the answer to my shorthand challenge.

By Becki Hill on 6/17/2020

Seems like a lot of explanation so far. I understand the need for explanations, but it's boring.

By Akash P Jingade on 5/21/2020

Very interesting! i have understood the vowels, how to use the English language especially while taking notes.
Thank you