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> Even if you have the discipline to just use a laptop for simple not taking, research suggests that this impairs learning compared to talking notes by hand. Se

by leoc 12y ago

> Even if you have the discipline to just use a laptop for simple not taking, research suggests that this impairs learning compared to talking notes by hand. See "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking", Psychological Science June 2014 vol. 25 no. 6 1159-1168 [1]. That leaves you with a sheaf of longhand notes. So then you have to, what, go away and type them up into a text editor in order to get them into a tractable form? Well, I suppose that's going to further aid retention ... win-win? I must admit that I have a personal grudge against this nonsense as I can't write quickly enough to take adequate notes; in fact it's touch-and-go even when I can type. But even if you can generally keep up with the lecturer's pace taking notes on his output is a tightrope-walking exercise: one lapse of concentration or understanding and you have a permanent hole in your record. Then of course this whole process is being repeated by each of the n students at the lecture. In this day and age (or really at any time since photocopying got cheap several decades ago) organising a course where getting a complete copy of the important course materials requires you to turn up and spend hours transcribing someone else's speech in person is an insulting farrago and a mass time-wasting exercise. If it's important enough to be examining students on then it's important enough for the teacher to type it out or read it to video camera.

graeme 12y ago
Your comment, while long, did not respond to the cited article. The paper's abstract cites specific benefits to using handwritten notes, including: * laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning. * even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. It sounds like the study indicates that processing by hand is different from taking notes on a computer. To rebut the study, you should address those points, rather than just talk about advantages you have perceived to using laptops.
WalterBright 12y ago
> go away and type them up into a text editor in order to get them into a tractable form? Run them through a scanner, store as image pdfs. There won't be enough of the notes to justify making a searchable database out of them. > in fact it's touch-and-go even when I can type. I sometimes wished I'd used an audio recorder, though perhaps that might have made things worse as it'd engender laziness on my focus. > hours transcribing someone else's speech in person is an insulting farrago and a mass time-wasting exercise. Taking notes has the nice benefit of fixing it in one's memory.

by leoc 12y ago

graeme 12y ago

Your comment, while long, did not respond to the cited article. The paper's abstract cites specific benefits to using handwritten notes, including: * laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning. * even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. It sounds like the study indicates that processing by hand is different from taking notes on a computer. To rebut the study, you should address those points, rather than just talk about advantages you have perceived to using laptops.

WalterBright 12y ago

> go away and type them up into a text editor in order to get them into a tractable form? Run them through a scanner, store as image pdfs. There won't be enough of the notes to justify making a searchable database out of them. > in fact it's touch-and-go even when I can type. I sometimes wished I'd used an audio recorder, though perhaps that might have made things worse as it'd engender laziness on my focus. > hours transcribing someone else's speech in person is an insulting farrago and a mass time-wasting exercise. Taking notes has the nice benefit of fixing it in one's memory.