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posted by chromas on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the ♪♫ dept.

Phys.org:

If you're a student looking for the most advanced learning machine available, give laptops a pass—and pick up an age-old notebook.

You'll absorb and retain more information if you take notes by hand, according to a study by UCLA, giving you an edge on your tests.

That spiral-bound stack of paper has other advantages, too: You can't zone out on Facebook and Instagram during a lecture, so you are more likely to stay focused.

Putting pen to paper requires a different kind of mental processing than typing does. Sure, typing on a laptop gives you the power to record a lecture nearly word for word—but transcribing verbatim is associated with what's called "shallow cognitive processing." The words may be captured on your screen, but they basically went in one ear and out the other.

Also, your notebook doesn't run Fortnite.


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Kell on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:28AM (11 children)

    by Kell (292) on Thursday May 09 2019, @01:28AM (#841120)

    As a student, I always found that in classes where the teacher provided copies of the class notes, I could focus on paying attention and understanding the content rather than taking notes. In the classes where I had to make notes myself, I spent all the time writing and then had to go back and try to interpret my (sometimes less than complete) notes with the textbook. It reduced classroom activity to being a stenographer.

    Now as a professor, I always always provide as complete and concise notes as I can. They are posted online immediately after the lecture, and I tell students during the lecture who I see taking notes "You don't need to write anything down - just pay attention and ask questions". They're welcome to write if they think it will help them, but everything is in the notes. I even had an FAQ session where I went through every question I'd been asked via email and directed them to the appropriate slide that answered it (with explanation, of course!) "There's a slide for that!".

    Making students take notes by hand or by laptop, is completely unnecessary in this day and age. I do not believe it is good for learning outcomes.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:04AM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:04AM (#841142)

    People generally "learn to study" in one way, and taking notes is sometimes necessary - so, taking notes all the time is just following their ingrained pattern.

    I tried a tape recorder one summer session - I had a 7am BIO lecture that generally put me to sleep by 7:15. Unfortunately, just listening to the audio later that evening would put me to sleep even faster. Lucky most of the material was a rehash of things I had been taught 3 or 4 times before.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:32AM (6 children)

    by Immerman (3985) on Thursday May 09 2019, @02:32AM (#841159)

    Perhaps you have your reasons, but might I suggest making the notes available *before* the lecture? Provide plenty of whitespace and students can then print out your notes before the lecture and annotate them with the details they find relevant to themselves.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Kell on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:04AM (5 children)

      by Kell (292) on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:04AM (#841173)

      I have actually toyed with this, and some of my colleagues attempted it. It was found that if the lecture notes are provided ahead of time, students do not attend the lectures as much (and thus do not ask questions to help with their understanding). Though we record all our lectures and attendance is not compulsory, attendance is strongly correlated with a good outcome in the course. Correlation != causation, of course, but from my own observations the students who are questions most definitely understand the work better than those who don't. Subtly manipulating students into attending the lecture in person is therefore my goal in releasing notes after the lecture.

      --
      Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @09:32AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @09:32AM (#841265)

        In my day, 20 odd years ago now, if you wanted the notes you had to turn up to the lecture to pick them up.
        This did not stop some people from turning up just for the notes then leaving. It did improve attendance. Of the I'm Here So May As Well Stay kind.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:34PM (2 children)

        by Immerman (3985) on Thursday May 09 2019, @04:34PM (#841388)

        Curious. I suppose reviewing the notes beforehand might make them think they already understand the topic and would be wasting their time attending class.

        In principle I like AC's idea of having them available in class - but having done some teaching myself I shudder at the thought of the mountains of wasted paper, or inevitable shortages.

        Of course there's also the fact that it seems that something about the process of taking notes actually improves comprehension and retention, so perhaps it actually would work better having them take their own notes in class, knowing that they'll be able to supplement them with your comprehensive ones, so they can focus their own notes on the things they find difficult or counter-intuitive rather than trying to capture everything.

        One idea I'll pass on from one of my favorite chemistry professors: He'd put up an outline of the day's lecture on one edge of the board before class, and then stick to it (pretty well, obviously questions tend to interrupt the linear flow). I'm not sure how much was him publicly committing to following his lecture notes, versus students knowing the structure of what was coming, but I found taking useful, well-organized notes in that class easier than in any other. And it did seem to reduce the number of interruptions by questions of the "I'll be getting to that shortly" variety.

        • (Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:59PM (1 child)

          by looorg (578) on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:59PM (#841452)

          That should be the standard way. Students are supposed to read ahead, so if they come to class you should already have read what is to be the topic of the day. That way it is easier to follow what is said and taught and they can also ask suitable questions.

          • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday May 10 2019, @12:42AM

            by Immerman (3985) on Friday May 10 2019, @12:42AM (#841625)

            The topic is one thing - the specific path of coverage is another.

            I suspect a large part of the benefit was that he always had a (seemingly at least) well-planned path to cover the topic, while many professors tended to meander across it, sometimes revisiting the same or closely-related topics several times over the course of a lecture, making it all but impossible to take well-organized notes.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by dw861 on Saturday May 11 2019, @05:32PM

        by dw861 (1561) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 11 2019, @05:32PM (#842388) Journal

        I getting around this by taking a hybrid path. I post my slides in advance of the lecture. That way, students can write all over them during the class, if they choose.

        However, I also make a point of telling students in our first meeting, that my slides are in no way a substitute for being there in person. When lecturing, I provide more detail than is written on the slides. Some slides are simply a photo with little to no written commentary at all.

        By slides alone, a student can pass my classes. However, they can only get a high mark if they attend and reflect on the more detailed commentary.

        This may not work for other disciplines, but it works quite well in mine.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:47AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @03:47AM (#841185)

    You really shouldn't do that, it's doing the students a disservice. The point of the notes is that they force you to pay attention to what's going on rather than tricking yourself into thinking that you're understanding things just because you're hearing them.

    This is the 21st century, chances are that the information the students need about how and what things are is available somewhere. What isn't available is the priorities of the instructor or the personal experience of parsing through the material and identifying what is and isn't important.

    I remember getting the notes for calc 3 and it was the only math class I have ever failed. And I failed in large part because I was trusting the notes. It's much more useful to have worked out examples to analyze than notes anyways and the notes themselves don't always include the bits that you personally find to be confusing.

    If a lecture is so unclear that you have to hand out lecture notes to every student, not just the ones getting accommodations, then you really need to fix the problem. Handing out notes is at best a bandage.

    • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday May 09 2019, @08:05PM (1 child)

      by Wootery (2341) on Thursday May 09 2019, @08:05PM (#841507)

      The point of the notes is that they force you to pay attention to what's going on rather than tricking yourself into thinking that you're understanding things just because you're hearing them.

      You're referring to note-taking, I take it? I agree that note-taking is, as best I can tell, a valuable learning process, and like you, I disagree with Kell discouraging students from taking their own notes.

      Assuming for a second that my admittedly ungrounded pro-note-taking opinion is accurate, I'd go a good deal further: if students don't understand that being given lecture-notes by a lecturer, is not a substitute for taking their own notes during lectures, they've not been properly introduced to undergraduate study.

      But perhaps we're wrong. It's an empirical question after all, and I don't think either of us have looked at the studies. Maybe I'll get round to it some time.

      I disagree with your opposition to lecturers providing lecture-notes, though. If students use them instead of taking their own notes, it's on them for studying ineffectively.

      I remember getting the notes for calc 3 and it was the only math class I have ever failed.

      And I failed in large part because I was trusting the notes.

      You were given inaccurate notes? Then you were taught badly. I'm not seeing a compelling argument here against teachers giving out their own 'official' lecture-notes.

      You're suggesting that it's counter-productive for a lecturer to provide additional learning materials to their students. Your anecdote doesn't really support this.

      This is the 21st century, chances are that the information the students need about how and what things are is available somewhere.

      You can use the same line of reasoning to argue against giving lectures in the first place.

      If a lecture is so unclear that you have to hand out lecture notes to every student, not just the ones getting accommodations, then you really need to fix the problem. Handing out notes is at best a bandage.

      Offering lecture-notes does not necessitate giving an inferior lecture.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @04:23AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @04:23AM (#841707)

        The point is that sitting in lecture without taking notes is basically pointless. Perhaps if the instructor uses a style of lesson that involves plenty of interaction or group work, showing up without taking notes might make sense. But, it was the kiss of death to actual learning in that class.

        And no, the existence of materials elsewhere isn't an argument against going to lectures in the first place, people have had access to those materials for decades and possibly even centuries via libraries and assigned readings. The point of attending lectures is that the instructor cuts through that and prioritizes the things that need to be learned. They probably also present it in a different way from what's on the net or in publications.

        As far inferior lectures, if the notes cover the entirety of the lecture, then yes, they are inferior lectures. A good lecturer covers the material, but also adjusts and elaborates when the people attending need that. A proper set of notes for a lecture can't be had until after the lecture is completed. This is one of the reasons why a common accommodation is for a different student in the class to take notes on a carbon copy set up.