After I was in school, in 2002, laptops weren’t actually commonplace but. Most college students took notes by writing with pen and paper. In the present day, most college students take notes with laptops, tablets, cell telephones, or different digital gadgets. The times of pen and paper appear to be fading. Some college students even wait till the tip of sophistication and use their cell telephones to take an image of the whiteboard, so in impact, they don’t seem to be absorbing any of the data as a result of they “can simply take an image of it and take a look at it later.”
Is it simpler to take notes on an digital gadget?
I feel that largely relies on choice. I kind quicker than I write, however I nonetheless choose to take notes on paper.
In response to researchers at Princeton College and the College of California, Los Angeles, college students who take handwritten notes usually outperform college students who typed them.
Writing notes assist college students be taught higher, retain data longer, and extra readily grasp new concepts, in response to experiments by different researchers who additionally in contrast note-taking strategies.
Whereas most college students can kind quicker than they write, this benefit is short-term. As the WSJ points out, “after simply 24 hours, the pc word takers usually forgot materials they’ve transcribed, a number of research mentioned. Nor had been their copious notes a lot assist in refreshing their reminiscence as a result of they had been so superficial.” So whereas it could take a bit longer to seize the notes by hand, extra probably than not, you’ll retain the data longer in the event you put pen to paper.
As I train English Composition on the College of Oklahoma, I’d additionally prefer to say that whereas I discover this to be true for myself, each scholar has a unique studying type. Typed notes are a lot better than no notes in any respect. Some college students detest writing by hand and I perceive that. All the pieces in our world has gone digital from telephones to cable tv so it is sensible, even when I don’t prefer it, that college students gravitate extra in the direction of digital note-taking than pen and paper.
Whereas I wish to see extra college students take notes by hand, I actually received’t require it. Some college students are navigating studying disabilities, anxieties, and different impediments that make taking notes digitally extra advantageous.
I think about the identical is true for different areas as nicely: as an alternative of typing assembly notes, what would occur in the event you wrote them by hand? Would you keep the data longer? Maybe, and maybe not; once more, I feel this relies on your particular person studying type.
I wish to recommend that if you’re one of many extra “electronically-minded” writers, use a flashcard app, or one other finding out device that will help you overview your classroom notes or assembly notes to make them “stick” a bit higher. Whereas I discover such a analysis intriguing, in the event you get pleasure from taking your notes electronically, I wouldn’t change my technique primarily based on this.
If it’s working for you, hold doing it. Don’t thoughts me, I’ll be over right here, writing every thing down with pen and paper.