If you’ve ever wished for a tool that captures the essence of your meetings, lectures, or discussions, Jamworks might be your next must-have app. Designed as an AI-powered note-taking and summarization tool, Jamworks listens, records, transcribes, and highlights the key points of conversations, offering a seamless way to retain and organize information.

How I Discovered Jamworks

I first heard about Jamworks through a classmate in my PhD cohort. She was a staunch advocate of the app, crediting it with transforming how she captured key points during meetings and lectures. Our collaboration on a book chapter about her theatre company’s work offered me firsthand experience with Jamworks. We’d sit together, discussing the key themes and how the company’s artworks responded to them, with her running the app in the background.

By the end of each session, we had a recording, a transcript, and a concise summary of our discussion. The summary proved invaluable in structuring the chapter’s sections when it came time to write. I was amazed by how effectively Jamworks streamlined our creative process, capturing not only the raw content but also distilling it into actionable insights.

Bringing Jamworks into the Classroom

Fast forward to this term, and I’m now lecturing. Some of my students have accommodation needs that require additional support, and I realized that sharing lecture summaries could be a game-changer for them. However, creating detailed write-ups after every class is time-intensive, especially when our discussions often evolve spontaneously. Enter Jamworks.

I decided to experiment with the app, letting it record my lectures and generate summaries and transcripts. The results have been mostly excellent. I’m able to share concise overviews with my students, ensuring they can revisit key points at their own pace. While I position this as a pilot project, the feedback has been positive, with many students appreciating the added clarity and support.

There was one hiccup: on one occasion, the upload froze, and I lost the lecture. While frustrating, this hasn’t deterred me from seeing the potential of Jamworks. I frame it as an added resource rather than a guarantee, setting realistic expectations with my students while I fine-tune its use.

Beyond the Lecture Hall

Jamworks has proven so effective in the classroom that it’s got me thinking about its potential for other uses. As an undergraduate student, I would have loved to use this app to record and summarize the countless lectures and seminars I attended. Additionally, my background in theatre as a stage manager reveals even more applications. Imagine using Jamworks in production meetings, where complex schedules and creative discussions often require meticulous note-taking. Having a “back-up brain” to capture it all could be a game-changer for anyone juggling creative or organizational tasks.

The Verdict

As I near the end of Jamworks’ two-week free trial, I’m leaning toward subscribing through the term to continue supporting my students. Whether I’ll find uses for it beyond teaching remains to be seen, but my experience so far has been overwhelmingly positive. The convenience of having key points summarized and organized in minutes is hard to beat.

The app isn’t without its flaws—occasional technical glitches and the potential reliance on AI summarization instead of personal synthesis are things to consider. However, its ability to capture the essence of discussions and lectures in real time makes it an incredibly useful tool.

Have You Tried Jamworks or any other assistive AI notetaking apps?