No laptops back in my school days, so I wrote notes by hand.
And it worked for me -- just the process of "writing" seemed to help with the "remembering" later on.
Worked on the railroad, too, when it was time to learn new territory or in classes there as well. For getting qualified on new territory I hadn't seen before, I would take a small looseleaf binder. The pages would have one or two vertical lines pre-drawn. As I went along, I'd add the significant "characteristics" of the line -- stations, switches, signals, highway crossings, etc. Then for review I'd hold a blank sheet of paper over the notes, and see if I could "progressively recall" each recorded detail.
When I could take a blank sheet of paper and enter everything in from memory, I knew I was ready to see the rules examiner and "get qualified".
(...did I ever tell ya the story about my first trip west on the Erie's "Delaware Division" from Pt. Jervis into Pennsylvania -- where the engineer "put me in the seat" running a train on railroad I'd never seen before, going up Gulf Summit mountain? I was holding the throttle in one hand, and my notebook in the other, trying to make notes as I ran the train. Still have that one, drawn out in a somewhat shaky hand!)