Students frequently use laptops to take notes in lectures or seminars. There is, however, evidence that taking notes on laptops is not as efficient as taking notes in longhand with pen and paper. In a recent study, Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014), set out to explicitly test whether note taking on laptops may impair learning. In their paper, note that previous studies have shown that the presence of laptops (and other devices) leads to students being possibly distracted and not on task in class (Yamamoto, 2007), even though students report that they feel the use of laptops is beneficial to their learning (Kay & Lauricella, 2011; Kraushaar & Novak, 2010; Skolnick & Puzo, 2008; Sovern, 2013).
This belief derive from the fact that typing in a laptop is generally faster, allowing the student to record more content by transcribing the lectures almost verbatim. However, while this kind of note taking increases the amount of information recorded, it also leads to shallow processing (e.g. Craik & Lockhart, 1972). When taking notes in longhand, information needs to be summarised as verbatim transcription is difficult to achieve, leading to deeper processing and encoding.
In a series of experiments, Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) therefore explore how the recorded information differs between laptop and longhand note taking and explore how these differences have an impact on learning. Participants watched short lectures on youtube and were either given a laptop or pen and paper to take notes. 30 minutes after watching the lecture and after engaging in a distractor task, participants were given a questions of a purely factual nature (“How many years ago did the Indus civilisation exist?”) and conceptual application based questions (“How do Japan and Sweden differ in their approached to equality within their societies?”). By asking these two different types of questions, the authors attempted to distinguish between shallow (factual) learning and deeper (conceptual) learning.
As expected, the authors found that, on average, participants using laptops wrote more words and had a greater proportion of verbatim transcription compared to participants taking notes in longhand. Participants were equally good a recalling factual knowledge from the talks (requiring only shallow processing), whereas there was a significant difference between laptop notetaking and longhand notetaking for conceptual question: as hypothesised, participants taking notes in longhand, therefore encoding the information on a deeper level, had an advantage over participants using laptops. In a second study, Mueller and Oppenheimer encouraged laptop users to use laptops to take notes with less verbatim transcription - this intervention did not have any effect on how participants recorded notes and the results from study one were replicated.
In conclusion, this study highlights some issues with the use of laptops as note taking devices. Not only seem laptops a source of distraction - despite students reporting that the use of laptops is beneficial to them, but there also seems to be a difference in how notes are taken in information is encoded when using laptops., with mostly shallow encoding taking place.
References: Craik, F. I., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671–684.
Kay, R., & Lauricella, S. (2011). Exploring the benefits and challenges of using laptop computers in higher education classrooms: A formative analysis. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 37(1). Retrieved from http://www.cjlt.ca/ index.php/cjlt/article/view/565/299
Kraushaar, J. M., & Novak, D. C. (2010). Examining the affects of student multitasking with laptops during the lecture. Journal of Information Systems Education, 21, 241–251.
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological science, 0956797614524581.
Skolnick, R., & Puzo, M. (2008). Utilization of laptop computers in the school of business classroom. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 12, 1–10.
Yamamoto, K. (2007). Banning laptops in the classroom: Is it worth the hassle? Journal of Legal Education, 57, 477–520.
This belief derive from the fact that typing in a laptop is generally faster, allowing the student to record more content by transcribing the lectures almost verbatim. However, while this kind of note taking increases the amount of information recorded, it also leads to shallow processing (e.g. Craik & Lockhart, 1972). When taking notes in longhand, information needs to be summarised as verbatim transcription is difficult to achieve, leading to deeper processing and encoding.
In a series of experiments, Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) therefore explore how the recorded information differs between laptop and longhand note taking and explore how these differences have an impact on learning. Participants watched short lectures on youtube and were either given a laptop or pen and paper to take notes. 30 minutes after watching the lecture and after engaging in a distractor task, participants were given a questions of a purely factual nature (“How many years ago did the Indus civilisation exist?”) and conceptual application based questions (“How do Japan and Sweden differ in their approached to equality within their societies?”). By asking these two different types of questions, the authors attempted to distinguish between shallow (factual) learning and deeper (conceptual) learning.
As expected, the authors found that, on average, participants using laptops wrote more words and had a greater proportion of verbatim transcription compared to participants taking notes in longhand. Participants were equally good a recalling factual knowledge from the talks (requiring only shallow processing), whereas there was a significant difference between laptop notetaking and longhand notetaking for conceptual question: as hypothesised, participants taking notes in longhand, therefore encoding the information on a deeper level, had an advantage over participants using laptops. In a second study, Mueller and Oppenheimer encouraged laptop users to use laptops to take notes with less verbatim transcription - this intervention did not have any effect on how participants recorded notes and the results from study one were replicated.
In conclusion, this study highlights some issues with the use of laptops as note taking devices. Not only seem laptops a source of distraction - despite students reporting that the use of laptops is beneficial to them, but there also seems to be a difference in how notes are taken in information is encoded when using laptops., with mostly shallow encoding taking place.
References:
Craik, F. I., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671–684.
Kay, R., & Lauricella, S. (2011). Exploring the benefits and challenges of using laptop computers in higher education classrooms: A formative analysis. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 37(1). Retrieved from http://www.cjlt.ca/ index.php/cjlt/article/view/565/299
Kraushaar, J. M., & Novak, D. C. (2010). Examining the affects of student multitasking with laptops during the lecture. Journal of Information Systems Education, 21, 241–251.
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological science, 0956797614524581.
Skolnick, R., & Puzo, M. (2008). Utilization of laptop computers in the school of business classroom. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 12, 1–10.
Yamamoto, K. (2007). Banning laptops in the classroom: Is it worth the hassle? Journal of Legal Education, 57, 477–520.