Over at the Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzalez has a FANTASTIC post summarizing lots of research on note-taking.
Some headlines:
Note-taking is a skill we should teach.
Visuals improve notes.
Pauses for revision and reflection help a lot.
I should note: Gonzalez cites the well-known Mueller & Oppenheimer study showing that handwritten notes help learning more than laptop notes do. Long-time readers know that I don’t think this study supports that conclusion.
In fact: I think it suggests that the opposite is true. My argument is here.
Despite our disagreement on this one point, there’s so much to savor in this summary that I recommend it highly.
Thanks for your post, Andrew.
I work at a university and started seeing this semester more students using tablets to take notes in class. The system as explained by various students is to download the professor power points before class. During class they use Notability or apps like that, to complement the notes handwriting notes using a e-pen.
I don’t have any research or data on how this will work in the learning process but seems like a perfect marriage between handwritten vs laptop note taking Curious what you think.
Hello, Beatriz–
My thanks for your fascinating–and practical!–question. This article is the best research answer I know…