Featured Student - Michaela O'Neill

Michaela O'Neill needed help. Asperger’s Syndrome kept her mind wandering and losing focus during class. She knew she needed to pay attention but she couldn’t seem to make it happen.

She feared she was going to fall behind.

Her psychologist recommended that Michaela take notes and record lectures. That way, she could rein in her wandering brain and be an active participant instead of an observer.

Still, Michaela was still having trouble keeping up. Traditional note-taking methods weren’t working for her or meeting her needs.

“Early this year, I was diagnosed with Visual dyslexia as well, which explains why it takes me a really long time to read the required materials, and even to keep up with the lecture notes.”

Michaela found the answer to her solution while browsing the app store: Otter.

Otter Voice Meeting Notes is an AI-powered digital assistant that generates notes from live conversations. It's the perfect solution for an on-the-go college student like Michaela.

“I love that I can scan the words on the screen, it helps me to keep my mind on track in class.”

With typical recording apps, you need to listen to the whole recording. Since Michaela found Otter, she doesn’t have to try to review her tapings all at once.

Otter is different. Michaela can search for a specific keyword and skip over the rest of the slog.

“I also love being able to search through the entire recording to find the part that I need, it saves so much of my most precious commodity: time.”

Otter helps students stay engaged. Michaela can add images from her textbooks, whiteboards, and slideshows from within the app.

Using Otter has another perk. While gaining the benefit of a recording can be invaluable to students in a college setting, where every lecture counts, sometimes even professors make mistakes.

“I recorded a lecture once where my lecturer accidentally said the wrong name of a book which would have totally changed the meaning of what she was talking about. I was able to use Otter to find her mistake so that I could ask her about what she actually meant.”

Now, Michaela finds Otter to be an indispensable tool in and out of the classroom.

“I use Otter to record all of my classes. I can also use it for things like church sermons.”

Michaela, like scores of other students, has found that the old-fashioned ways of taking notes aren’t always the most effective. Otter presents a new, dynamic way to stay engaged in any setting – and can carry over from the lecture hall to an interview or a meeting. Take advantage of Otter’s 600 monthly minutes of free transcription today!

Whether you’re just getting started or you're already a pro, we’d love to hear your experience using Otter as a student.

Submit your story here for a chance to be featured on the Otter blog or social media channels. All featured students will receive 1 year free of Otter Premium.