In the 21st century, we are surrounded by technology designed to help us accomplish a multitude of tasks. While this is beneficial in many ways, we should not assume that going high tech is always best. Sometimes a low tech, time tested approach is still the best way to approach a situation.
Recent research conducted by Pam Mueller of Princeton University and Daniel M. Oppenheimer of UCLA revealed that using a laptop to take notes in class may not be the best thing to do in order to truly learn the material. While several prior studies have indicated laptops can be problematic in the classroom because they present opportunities for distraction, Mueller and Oppenheimer found that even when laptop users stayed on task, their notes tended to be close to word-for-word transcriptions of lectures rather than the students' own processing of the material. This quasi-transcription phenomenon even persisted when students using laptops were advised ahead of time to put their notes in their own words.
The impact of this approach was clear: students who had taken notes on laptops performed significantly worse on conceptual test questions than students who had taken notes by hand. In one part of their study, while students' performance on factual questions was similar regardless of notetaking method, the laptop users were unable to apply those facts to solve more complex questions. The act of handwriting combines recording of information with simultaneously processing the information, thereby jumpstarting the learning process.
Since many of my students report never having been taught anything about how to take notes, I am planning a future post on the art and science of effective notetaking. Keep an eye out for it.
