In order to examine students’ perceptions of electronic note taking devices, we administered a survey to the students of a medium-sized public university, focusing on laptops, tablets, and phones, and their usage as note taking devices. This paper analyzes the results of that survey and their implications for the adaptation of electronic interfaces into classroom note taking routines. We examined the survey with four specific research questions in mind: how students have adopted electronic interfaces into their note taking habits, whether students utilize symbols and diagrams in their notes and how, what environmental factors affect students’ use of electronic interfaces, and how students feel about electronic note taking in general.The results of this study show that students are currently wary of adapting electronic interfaces into their note taking habits, likely because of the change in note taking styles that may be required to use electronic interfaces effectively. The results also show that laptops are currently the most widely used of the electronic interfaces. In fact, laptops were the highest-rated electronic device in every category except when recipients were asked about the availability of desk space. However, it seems that the biggest obstacle for the adoption of electronic interfaces may be their potential for distracting students in the classroom
