The debate over which notetaking method, laptop notetaking (L-NT) or hand-written notetaking (H-NT) has riled up a storm amongst educators and students. Arguably, there are advantages and disadvantages to both (see “Digital vs. Longhand Note Taking: The Pros and Cons” by Alyssa Klingbyle ). One of the main arguments against L-NT is that it promotes mindless transcribing.
Mindless Transcribing. Pro H-NT claim that students take notes by hand are aware that retaining every word spoken is not possible, which forces them to summarize key points in their own words, which allows for a more in-depth processing of the material. L-NT makes it easy to type what teachers says verbatim, without thinking about what they are jotting down. This is called “mindless transcribing” (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014)
Past Investigation. A research study titled “The pen is mightier than the keyboard” claimed that although more notes are beneficial, L-NT leads to mindless transcribing content which decreases the chances that the content is encoded (i.e. stored) in mind (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). Even when allowed to review notes (for 10 minutes) after a week’s delay, participants who had taken notes with laptops performed worse on tests of both factual content and conceptual understanding, relative to participants who had taken notes by hand (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). However, one must interpret these research findings very carefully. First, the consequences of poor performance on a test is different for participants than for students in a real test situation. As such, the motivation to truly understand and retain the information may play an important role. Second, real-life students tend to review notes for more than just 10 minutes, meaning there is more opportunity to review and properly encode (i.e. store) the material. Third, to say that L-NT entails mindless transcribing is to make an absolute statement that may not hold true for all students who use this modality.
Nevertheless, the implied argument is that students who use H-NT engage with the content more so than students who use L-NT. To understand the limitations of this argument, let’s take a look at the underlying process of memory and retrieval that students engage in during notetaking, studying, and finally retrieving the information on tests.
THINK IT THROUGH: Read the following motivational metaphor from the author. The goat ate the watermelon because it believed in the freedom of the tastebuds, that would not conform to what the farmer’s thought goats should and should not eat! Don’t be afraid to taste the desires of your tastebuds.
Stop Sign means it’s time to stop and think.
Image retrieved from www.creativesafetysupply.com
The Pathway to Recall: The Multi-Modal Model
Originally proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), the modal model breaks down memory into three levels: a sensory memory, working memory, and long-term memory.
- Sensory Memory: The road to memory begins by some external event in the environment. In our case, it is the teacher’s verbal or visual explanations seen on the board/projector. This information is detected by the sensory organs (visual and auditory). Sensory memory only lasts a few seconds. If the student is paying attention that sensory information, then enters working memory.
- Working Memory: Working memory holds the information that is currently active in your mind. As you read “think it through” section, for example, you were attending to the words visually or auditorily (through alt text) and capturing the meaning of the sentence. However, you are not likely to remember the sentence verbatim a minute or two from now. You may remember the idea, but not verbatim what the sentence had said. However, if you return to rehearse the sentences or created a mental scene based on the sentence meaning, then the sentence is more likely to transfer into long term memory and you may remember the sentence verbatim two minutes, a week from now, or even a month from now.
Arguably, in the context of note-taking in class, Students who engage in L-NT or H-NT by computer will be more or less likely to remember this information on the test depending on the extent to which the content is rehearsed, conceptualized or related to the material. These practices will help the information move to long term memory.
- Long-term Memory: This is the “permanent” storage where information is stored. In order for students to recall information on a test, the information must be in long term storage. To say long-term storage is “permanent” is actually misleading. Often times, information makes its way to long term memory, but cannot be retrieved.
- Retrieval: In order for lesson content to be used on exams, it must be retrieved. One way to improve retrieval is relating information to what one already knows, creating association between the content, or using retrieval cues. Mnemonics are memory devices that create retrieval cues. ROYGBIV, for example, is a nmonic that helps people remember the colours of the rainbow.
Why Might Note-taking Modality Not Matter?
The extent to which students will remember the content taught in class will depend on their ability to remember and retrieve information. A student’s ability to recall information on a test is not necessary a function of the note taking modality, rather it may be a function of memory retrieval. L-NT students may outperform H-NT students because of how the material is engaged with in the working-memory stage. Some may engage in more rehearsal or create more retrieval cues by creating mnemonics (Craik & Lockhart, 1972).
In essence, the relation between the modality through which students take notes and academic performance is not direct, instead it is influenced by many third factors. Those who engage in L-NT might still be engaging in the proposed process that are associated with H-NT, specifically summarizing key points.
Future steps
Instructional education research should consider examining the factors that differentiate low and high academic performance between students who do use L-NT.
Tabarak
References
Atkinson, R., & Shiffrin, R. (1968). Human Memory: A Proposed System and its Control
Processes. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 89–195. doi: 10.1016/s0079-
7421(08)60422-3
Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of pro- cessing: A framework for
memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour,11(6), 671–684
Giphy. (n.d.). Test Stress GIFs – Get the best GIF on GIPHY. Retrieved from
https:// giphy.com/explore/test-stress 4
Floor Sign – Stop Sign with Hand. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.creativesafetysupply.com/floor-sign/stop-sign-with-hand/
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard:
Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25, 1159-1168.
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://i1.wp.com/media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m64 x7fWNgU1rrc78e.gif.
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