Note Taking and Information Processing

Education is essential in life because it provides people with the skills and tools they need to navigate the world. It teaches pupils numeracy and reading skills, as well as the capacity to execute tasks, collaborate with others, and communicate successfully. Education can also be the difference between completing duties correctly and safely and not completing them at all. Furthermore, education encourages individuals to positively contribute to society and the nation. Nonetheless, it aids in the resolution of life’s most pressing concerns or issues, such as how to work, live, and love.

However, practical education can only occur with proper knowledge comprehension. Students must synthesize and summarize information in the classroom before writing it down.  It through such retention that they can apply the new ideas learn and implement them in life (Mueller, & Oppenheimer, 2014). Learning requires students to take notes on the concepts that they come across as well as retain them. Taking note help to record information as well as provide an opportunity for reflection. Note taking can either be generative (paraphrasing, summarizing and concept mapping) or non-generative (verbatim copying). The non-generative such as verbatim note-taking leads to encoding and less processing. It can be done in the classroom or during personal studies. Nevertheless, it should aim at enhancing the student concepts comprehension irrespective of the place where it occurs (Botch & Piolet, 2005).

Note taking can occur through hands as well as through devices such as tablets. Tablets provide allow for easy, faster and accurate note taking. It also leaves complete records for future references. However, it causes distractions through multitasking as well as reduced retention of knowledge and reduced academic performance (Botch & Piolet, 2005). The use of tablets leads to transcription of more notes that use of paper and pen (Mueller, & Oppenheimer, 2014). Thus, the use of laptops to take notes leads to low performance on the academic assessment. However, the traditional note taking in classroom allow students to synthesize and summarize concepts before deciding which to put down in writing for future references. This research will compare the conventional and electronic styles of note taking using several literatures.

Information Processing Theory

Traditional Note Taking Style

The traditional note taking involve the use of hand to take note. It is also known as longhand note-taking. It requires the use of a pen and paper or book to jot down points mentions in a class by the tutor (Kiewra et al., 1991). Since it invention in Mesopotamia about 4000BC, longhand note-taking has had a significant impact on the life of students. However, the recent advancement in technology has led to the substitution of the use of hand to keyboard writing. Despite the rise in the use of laptops and tablets to record notes in classrooms, paper and pen remain the most efficient note taking method (DeZure, Kaplan, & Deerman, 2001).

Paper and pain note taking can come from handouts, PowerPoint presentation, and chalkboard. The transcription of the transcriptions require the use visualization, listening and active input of concepts in the paper. The power points provide summarized notes with headings from which learners can take notes. They decide to summarize and synthesize the available information for easy comprehension. The handouts, on the other hand, involve taking notes from lectures provided documents. They contain various class information on the course (DeZure et al., 2001). However, they may lead to less not taking, and this may adversely affect student performance. The third method dictation. In this case, the tutor dictates notes as students put them on paper. It has proven useful in many lands as it helps students to comprehend concepts.

Technological Note Taking Style

The increased invention and innovation information has led to the growing usage of technology in education. One area where technology is significantly applicable is in the note taking. With the invention of portable electronic devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptop, today students can transcribes notes given in their classrooms with ease (Stacy & Cain, 2015). The classroom as turn out to be a digital transcription area. These technologies allow students to handwrite notes, highlight text as well as handwrite notes while remaining in the digital format. Most courses have sophisticated diagram and contents for example pharmacy, engineering and nursing (DeZure et al., 2001). These courses require digital note taking for ease drawing and typing. Besides, the use of tablet has reduced the amount of paper required and the burden of carrying large books, the cost of printing as well as eliminate the need to carry bulky laptops (Stacy & Cain, 2015). The tablets also allow students to write many notes for future review.

Moreover, the mobile computers have spell checker and grammar checker programs that help students correct any misspelled words or grammatical issues with ease. Besides, applications such as Evernote, Penultimate, and Notability help in note-taking. They allow students to transcribe notes by using their tablets or cell phones (Mang & Wardley, 2012). Besides, they allow learners to take part actively in transcription and not just to copy and paste. They thus can review notes at their times (Stacy & Cain, 2015). Most of these applications allow students to summarize, edit, and highlight notes in an efficient way that allow cognitive involvement. Even though the use of programs is still in its infancy stage, some institutions such Abilene Christian Academy uses application programs in mobile devices to enhance learning (Mang & Wardley, 2012). They provide students with iPod to assist in learning complex molecules and identify the name of various chemical components. The use of smartphones, laptops, and tablets in classroom help students to use many programs and tools available to enhance their learning process.

Effect of Note Taking Style on Information Processing

Traditional Styles

Paper and pen writing improves student grammar. As the students paraphrase, summarize and conduct concept mapping they train their memory on various word spelling and learn of write words accurately (Botch & Piolet, 2005). While this is possible for users of laptops and tablets in class, technologies make the student have less focus on the word spelling and grammar as they automatically provide the correct any mistake carried out without explaining the reason for such changes. A study by Jean-Luc Vela Marieke and Longchamp at Aix-Marseille University on cognitive neuroscience involving 76 children at ages 3-5 proved that hand note recording improves student’s grasp of alphabets (Stacy & Cain, 2015). The study indicated that students have body memories that make them memorize words or letters quicker compared to uses of computers such as laptops. The study showed that the users of software are on the computers that automatically correct words eliminate the need for student to comprehend words

Furthermore, pen and paper writing discourages learners from writing everything from their tutors. Handwriting is slow, and thus students only write the main point at any learning session. The use of paper and pen encourages to use learning skills such as synthesis, paraphrasing, and building concept maps. These help to reduce the number of notes taken and thus promote high processing and deeper retention of concepts.

The longhand note-taking style also supports the non-linear style of transcribing notes, transformed syntax and different abbreviations (Pont art et al., 2014). These methods reduced the need to write many words. They also encourage conceptualization in a classroom setting. The use of computers to support nonlinear styles of note taking remains a challenging task for most students. Therefore, paper and pen note taking style allow for easily employ these techniques as well as improve their ability to comprehend concepts.

Electronic styles

The use of technologies in transcribing notes help the student to reduce the cognitive resources needs for production of ideas and thus allow for allocation of these resources for comprehension during class activities. Rather than write notes and comprehend at the same time, students only handle note recording and synthesize the information at a later period. The use of technology as ensures faster, accurate and efficient note taking. It allows learners to use other available programs such as word spelling checker to check any wrongly written words and also grammar checker to check the grammatical correctness of a typed document. Therefore, learners can transcribe more notes without difficulties of having to correct words and grammar

Besides, the mobile computers provide external storage vital for storing additional notes for references later. The note taking using laptops allow students to transcribe all notes given in the classroom. Taking all notes given class without paraphrasing ensures that no content is lost or ignored during class activities (Botch & Piolet, 2005). Therefore, learners are better equipped to grasp all the concepts and ideas presented in class by their tutors.

Nevertheless, the use of technology in transcribing notes poses a significant threat to learning. The use of laptops can distract the student from the primary learning activity. It may also impede the learning of those immediately surrounding the individual using the laptops. The distraction occurs due to engagement in multitasking during lectures (Sana et al., 2013). A student may engage in other unrelated activities such as chatting, emailing, watching video programs or listening to music. These activities may also force the other surrounding students to shift their class concentration to listening to music or watching the videos displayed by their colleagues. The distraction can also be in the form of the main strokes produced as one type notes. The sound generated by the keypad or keyboard may affect the other students listening ability as well as their concentration in a classroom setting. Therefore, proper policy framework should be in place to control the use of technology in notetaking (Zhu et al., 2011).

The greatest impact of the use of technology on learning is the multitasking. According to an experimental design carried out by Sana, Weston, and Capeda, The use of a laptop in the classroom for note-taking purposes affect the laptop user as well as those surrounding him due to multitasking (Sana, Weston, & Cepeda, 2013). According to the study participant who involved himself or herself in multitasking had poor notes as well as low memory retention. The similar result occurred for those who did not use laptops and was near laptop users (Sana et al., 2013). However, in another different study in biology class involving laptop-free and laptop-approved areas, the result indicated that the use of laptops did not affect those who surrounded the environment where the laptop was used (Aguilar-Roca, Williams, & O’Dowd, 2012). The contradicting results from these studies may be due to many other factors such as the preferences of learners, learning goals and motivation.

Conclusion

Furthermore, the paper has provided various benefits that come with the use of pen and paper in note taking. We have also seen the significance of the introduction of mobile computers in note taking in a classroom setting. Throughout this research, the focus has been the role of note taking in improving student comprehension of concepts. The article has highlighted that pen and paper note taking allow students to synthesize, summarize and paraphrase ideas provided in class and this has led to improved comprehension and retention of concepts (Bretzing & Kulhavy, 1979). It has also highlighted the weakness posed by the use of mobile computers in taking notes such as distraction, multitasking and reduced retention and recall of information (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). The article has also emphasized that without proper policies the use of laptops would lead to student performance in academic assessment (Zhu et al., 2011). Due to the significant adverse effect posed by the use of technology in a classroom setting and the difficulties of establishing policies to regulate the use of technology, it is, therefore, advisable for institutions to make proper use of paper and pen note taking. However, if technology must be applicable in the classroom, then appropriate policy framework should be in place to control the utilization of the mobile devices.

References

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Pont art, V., Bidet-Idea, C., Lambert, E., Morisot, P., Floured, L., & Alamargot, D. (2013). Influence of handwriting skills during spelling in primary and lower secondary grades. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 818.

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Stacy, E. M., & Cain, J. (2015). Note taking and Handouts in The Digital Age. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 79(7), 107.