Just wondering about the differences in learning ability when you take notes on a laptop vs writing the notes down by hand. Which one do you think is better, or more efficient during a lecture?
its definitely a personal preference, typing notes is faster and might allow you to catch more of what the lecturer is saying if they are a fast speaker and don’t tend to repeat themselves. I personally like to write my notes because I feel it helps ingrain them into my memory better but 90% of my friends type them
Personal preference - some studies indicate notes by hand results in better memory retention and other benefits, but if your lecturers don’t put much information on slides then it’s difficult to copy down all relevant information by hand.
If you’re prone to getting distracted on facebook then take by hand. I’ve found the slower pace of handwriting too frustrating to work for me.
As a (semi-?)perfectionist, I prefer taking notes on a laptop. I get discouraged when my notes are sloppily written, illegible, disorganized, etc. Often times I don’t know exactly how I want to organize my notes while I’m taking them, but typing them allows me to go back and rearrange them if I feel the need. Plus it’s much easier to color coordinate my notes on a laptop. I definitely prefer the more organized style that typing notes provides, but it’s not a big issue if I have to handwrite them as well.
I feel like this topic comes up on this forum once every three days, lol. Anyways, I prefer handwriting notes. I can easily freehand diagrams, arrows, boxes, and so on. If I find that my notes aren’t as neat as I would like, I’ll just rewrite them after class (with that method, I have a “raw” notebook for the lecture and a “permanent” notebook for the final, more organized rewritten notes.) Also, the act of rewriting the notes serves as a pretty effective study device.
Studies show you learn/retain more if you write notes by hand.
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away
@bopper Studies with questionable real world applicability to college courses (on a small duration of lecture time and tested on recall shortly after). It’s possible that taking by hand will help in college but not proven as of yet.
Definitely writing. At times I have taken notes by computer, but I usually only do that for easy classes that also require no symbols that are not already on my keyboard (or any diagrams). My linguistics classes require me to write a lot of symbols, so typing is quite the time-waster. Also, I tend to enjoy the freedom afforded me by pencil and paper in that I can draw crazy arrows everywhere, or underline and SUPER-underline things.
Also, I too believe that I retain things better when taking notes by hand, although I have heard that this is due to the manipulation of information that happens as we paraphrase for the sake of time.
I take mostly math classes, and there I have to write by hand because I can’t type math as fast as they write. (I don’t really use the notes to study because the book is always better. It’s more so I don’t zone out.) With humanities classes, I prefer typing. If I sit where people can see my screen, I’m too self-conscious to get distracted by the Internet.
Studies may show that you retain notes better when you handwrite them, but most of my classes have been lectures where notes are not posted online to view later, and the professor goes beyond what is written on slides. I can’t write fast enough to keep up with what’s on the board and what my professor is saying, and when I have to, my notes end up very scribbly and awful. So I prefer typing on a laptop because it saves time, I can write more, I can edit them whenever I want, and it never looks messy!
As a person who did both - writing with hand and taking notes on a laptop i can tell you that it depends. If you have a laptop - sure, go for it. Take notes but don’t forget to make copies since data can be lost. Same goes to writing tbh. But writing works good only if you have no position to make a laptop note or your laptop is discharged or whatever. Here at [college homework help](College Homework Help Online At Affordable Price ($14/page)) we are doing both laptop and hand writing notes.
Research has also shown that the more senses you use, the more material you learn. Even if a student is a visual learner, adding auditory & kinesthetic components (any combo of the three) provide more opportunity for better meta cognition. The best way to learn is to do both: initially notetaking on a computer then handwritten (or vice versa) and taking it a step further with highlighting key points/vocabulary from either placed on notecards and/or create quizlet after the lecture. Some students may go back to the auditory component and record key points/reflections/vocabulary. Either way the more you work with the material in a variety of ways, the more it sticks.
I handwrite notes on a tablet (microsoft surface). Its the best of both worlds because I have the freedom to move stuff around, change colors, cleanly erase stuff, and have everything backed up on the cloud. I also do that rewriting notes thing, expect I only select the most important things to rewrite.
Also check out the LiveScribe pen. This device lets you write on paper, which can easily be converted to digital format. This is a good way to hand-write the information to increase retention, but then also have easily retrievable digital copy.
For both of my linguistics courses, notes by computer would be slower for me for the reason @halcyonheather mentioned