Non Generative Note Taking

Think about which style of note-taking is beneficial on your behalf. Is the method as effective as it is thought to be? Today, numerous individuals often prefer to type their notes instead of to write their notes. In contrast to most people, I prefer to write my notes. For instance, when I work in history class, I choose to be one of two students that write their notes. I find that when my computer is open, the tendency to online shop, text, or play games are higher. For me, I have proven my own case that taking notes on my computer, instead of writing them, has negatively impacted my ability to retain information and perform well on tests. I think that high school and college students should write their notes instead of type their notes.
By writing notes, students can process and create notes according to how they learn.
This is the act of generative notes. “Generative note-taking is more interpretive. For example, when students paraphrase what’s being said, draw little mind maps, and write down their own thoughts, their brains are doing a lot more cognitive processing (Kerr).” When students write their notes, they are required to analyze the material that they are recording, and can therefore can be digested. When students type notes, fractions of the lecture can filter in one ear and out the other. This is called non generative note-taking. “Non generative note-taking occurs when students write down word for word what they hear (Kerr).” Since students are using active or generative learning by using the writing approach, they can recall the information significantly easier than while typing, which leads me to believe that it is a better option, and high school and college students should try writing their
notes. Having the ability to take notes on a laptop may be nice, but it comes with a great deal of distractions. With just one click, or a short search, we are able to access almost anything we desire. When bored in class, everyone’s immediate instinct is to go on their favorite social media website, or play their favorite game. Within seconds, any website can suck people in, which takes away from recording the information from the lecture that day. Later, when you are trying to review, part of the notes might be missing, and you will not be able to fill in the gaps, since there is no recollection of the information. If there were a pen and paper in front of you, the distractions will become minimal, and paying attention and absorbing information will be a breeze as well as somewhat enjoyable. On the other hand, I understand the convenience of taking notes electronically. The documents are easily accessible from most devices, more information can be written in a shorter amount of time, and a quick search can easily be made in order to dive deeper into the material. The issue with this method is that even though typing is faster, you are using “non generative learning” (Kerr). Most people are likely to write down all of the information word for word. Studies have shown that when you are writing your notes, one internally evaluates the information and only notate the crucial pieces to save time. There were 3 studies done at Princeton and UCLA to evaluate how well college students could remember information from lecture videos from writing their notes versus typing. The first time they did it, after the first video, they asked simple questions to the students. The people who wrote their notes did a much better job of answering these questions. The second time the test was done, the laptop users were encouraged to take short little bullets and interpret their notes. A fair amount of them couldn’t help but write the entire video. The study showed that the students didn’t even have a general understanding of the video. The third trial lets the students record notes how they normally would, and review them before the test. Since the laptop users wrote down much more information, one would think they would perform better on the test. Surprisingly, the people who hand wrote their notes still achieved better test scores (Tietjen). In short, high school and college students might want to consider writing their notes instead of typing their notes. Writing is beneficial by virtue of activating the mind through the extra step of processing the information before it is written. People do not realize how much extra knowledge they are missing out on by typing their notes. Now that you have read about the differences between note taking, try taking notes both ways and compare the outcomes. When finished, analyze the differences and think to yourself, “Which method honestly worked best?”