Laptop Note-taking Research Update

This week, I would like to share additional research on the enduring topic of taking notes in class. I had early shared research on February 15, 2019 by Morehead et al. that found "performance did not consistently differ between any group". Also, on January 31, 2020 I shared an article by Chen (2019) entitled, In-class and after-class lecture note-taking strategies that found "the most frequently employed strategy was key point selection, followed by comprehension-monitoring , organization, copying and elaboration.” This week I would like to share an updated article entitled, “The  effect  of  laptop  note-taking on students’ learning performance, strategies, and satisfaction” by Shi,  Y. &  Yu,  Z. (2024). 

The authors realized that many inconsistencies in the area of note-taking still existed with intense debate towards academic performance, learning strategies, and student satisfaction. There are conflicting findings on whether laptop note-taking improves or hinders learning performance. Some studies found it improved performance due to faster typing speed and ability to record more information. Others found it led to shallow processing, distraction, and lower performance compared to longhand note-taking.

The study applied a comprehensive review by objectively selecting all relative literature from  online databases, with a main focus on learning areas. Tackling the major concerns of distraction and multitasking, this study argued that these concerns might not be the main cause of low performance, but individual’s characteristics and preference for the teaching styles shall be taken into consideration.

Regarding learning strategies, laptop note-taking tends to promote more verbatim transcription, while longhand encourages summarizing and spatial mapping strategies. However, verbatim notes may benefit those with poor working memory. Overall, there is no consensus on which method is definitively better across contexts.

The  study suggests educators integrate laptops into their pedagogical designs as well as learn more technology-based teaching strategies. Laptop note-taking applications can tremendously enhance learners’ ability  and  offload  their  cognitive  pressure, so indiscreetly abandoning laptop note-taking is unwise, and further investigation is encouraged.

References

Shi,  Y. &  Yu,  Z. (2024). The  effect  of  laptop  note-taking on students’ learning performance, strategies, and satisfaction, The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 22(1), 78-91.

Chen, P. (2019). In-class and after-class lecture note-taking strategies. Active Learning in Higher Ed, 1-16. 

Braun I. J. & Knuckles, M. (2012) Cognitive and affective learning strategies. In: Seel NM (ed.) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. Boston, MA: Springer, 563-566. 

Chen, P. H., Teo, T. & Zhou, M. (2017) Effects of guided notes on enhancing college students' lecture note-taking quality and learning performance. Current Psychology 36(4): 719-32.

Kobayashi, K. (2006) Combined effects of note-taking/reviewing on learning and the enhancement through interventions: A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychology 26(3), 459.

Morehead, K., Dunlosky, J. & Rawson, K.A. (2019). How much mightier is the pen than the keyboard for note-taking? A replication and extension of Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014), Educational Psychology Review, 1-28.