Do Faster Note-taking Methods Really Work?

With the rising use of laptops and tablets in class, many stress the benefits of using technology to take notes – electronic note-taking is faster, more efficient, easier to find when going back to reference, and it is easier to connect notes to online materials like graphics and videos. However, the benefits of handwriting notes may outweigh these new advantages.

When writing notes by hand, students have to pay attention to what professors are saying, what PowerPoint slides are showing them, remember this information long enough to write it down, and then pay visual attention to what they are writing. This creates a loop in which students are constantly repeating the information they have just learned in their heads through both audial and visual pathways, making it much easier to remember said information when recollection is necessary (Goldstein, 2011). Electronics also pose the threat of distracting attention from class, with abundant entertainment available online at the hands of social media and news websites, etc.

An article in NPR also suggests that longhand writing of notes forces students to be more selective in the information they choose to write – in effect, they need to pay attention to relevance of information they are given, which both streamlines notes for future use and forces additional processing of stimuli to determine which pieces are absolutely necessary to remember (NPR, 2016). In another study published in Psychological Science, it is suggested that generative note-taking that requires summary and processing of relevant information helps retention and encoding much more than non-generative notes that copy class lectures verbatim (Mueller, 2014). This is similar to the streamlining process in that additional analysis of information is needed, which benefitted students’ memory and retention of material in the long run.

The type of material being recalled can also display differences between laptop notes those taken by hand. In Mueller’s study at the University of California, students in each group scored equally when tested on facts and dates, but more semantic or “conceptual-application” questions heavily favored students who took notes by hand (Mueller, 2016). This suggests that while taking notes on a laptop or electronic “shortcut” may provide short term efficiency or speed, students who reinforce their learning by writing and streamlining are more likely to understand the information well enough to provide application of material and answer semantic test questions.

As a college student, I often find that I remember class notes better when I write them down. However, it is impossible to ignore the convenience of typing notes and the possibilities that come with note-taking software and the connection of notes to the Internet. Obviously this class is online, and I don’t think that the absence of in-class or handwritten notes is detrimental to my learning in this course. I also think the way this specific course is designed as an online class helps tremendously, as we are given textbook pages and learning modules to read and note, and then retain and reference those notes and sources in weekly quizzes, blog posts and labs that require us to look at the information again. Because of this repetition, it is much easier to recall information on tests and students can successfully apply what we have learned.

References:
Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Chapter 2: Cognitive Neuroscience. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience (3rd ed.)(pp. 23 – 45). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is Mightier than the keyboard. Psychological Science, 67(1), 1159–1168. doi:10.1177/0956797614524581

NPR. (2016, April 17). Attention, students: Put your laptops away. Retrieved July 13, 2016, from http://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away

3 thoughts on “Do Faster Note-taking Methods Really Work?

  1. Paul Hernandez

    In the method of taking notes via PC, it changes the way the brain takes action and formulates the action from sight, thought, process, and action to PC. This process minimizes the amount of retention as it is not as intense of a focus that is using other regions of the brain unlike when you use pen/pencil to paper. Let’s go down the writing pen/pencil to paper process; first the mind has been conditioned to know when writing with pen/pencil that mistakes should be at the minimal. With this stipulation, the focus is added to minimize error and concentration on the professors words and writings which are now being processed differently as other parts of the brain are now being used. But as the action of listening, trying to concentrate on organizing the notes in a fashion that makes functional sense and finally writing them down. This action increases the method of memory from short term to long term for key facts. But also the act of writing engraves visual cues of the words written in the process. Overall, the process of manually inscribing notes increases the memory dynamics by adding memory cues for the recall of the information scribed.

  2. Helene Therese Aardema

    Hi Emily,

    I appreciate your written communication skills.

    One argument in favor of hand written vs. electronic note taking applies to the use of retrieval cues that assist with remembering information stored in long-term memory. (Goldstein, Bruce E. 2011)

    How does that process apply to an argument for or against hand written vs. electronic note taking? Taking hand written notes using my own words generates more effective retrieval cues because I am creating the cues. I am also strengthening the encoding process. (May, Cindi 2014) (Goldstein, Bruce B. 2011)

    To your point, electronic note takers may transcribe lectures in lieu of writing down salient points. So instead of focusing on the transcription process, I might be engaged in an elaborative rehearsal as a result of taking hand written notes. I employ prior knowledge in addition to generating meaningful associations. The end result is a more effective transference of information into long- term memory. I think of the information represented by my hand written notes as possible visual images that would serve as visual cues for memory. (Goldstein, Bruce E. 2011)

    With respect to “conceptual application” information, it would seem that the process of taking hand written notes strengthens metal representations in the form of concepts, which reflect my perception of and attention to my environment, and has greater relevance when I am required to recall the information.

    There must be a balance between the use of hand written vs. electronic note taking specifically in terms of determining which is more effective for specific applications.

    As a side note, I observed that Demonstrations provided in the text ask participants to “write down” answers to questions, not boot up their computer and type them into a Word document. (Goldstein, Bruce E. 2011)

    Works Cited

    Goldstein, Bruce E. “Glossary.” Cognitive Psychology Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. 3rd Edition. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Copyright 2011, 2008. Pp. 182, 183, 177, 178.

    Web Publications
    May, Cindi. “A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop.” Scientific American. Copyright 2106. Web 19 July 2016. n. pg.

  3. Lauren Michelle Echols

    As I was reading your post Emily, I immediately thought of the study tips that we read about in the last lesson. Goldstein (2011) mentioned that many of the issues that we have recalling certain memories are not problems with the memories themselves, but problems with the way in which we have encoded them. This forced me to think about my study habits and the adaptive behaviors that I have formed in order to get from one semester to the next. Unsurprisingly, it seems as though when I cut corners in order to save time, I actually make the task of retrieving the information that I have learned a much harder feat. I am someone who would prefer to take longhand notes, but I sometimes convince myself that I just don’t have the time to do so. However, now I finally realize that when I take notes on my computer, I am not generating my own information and I am taking part in an automatized process, which is not helping me to later retrieve this information. Instead of taking short cuts I should always opt to take longhand notes because this process forces me to synthesize the information that I am hearing and generate my own summary of what I have heard. According to Goldstein (2011), generating your own information creates “strong encoding and good long-term retrieval”. This in turn, although it may be time consuming, will save me more time in the long run as these memories will be easier to retrieve.

    Goldstein, E. Bruce. “Perception.” Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Third ed. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. 173-188. Print.

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