Over the last month or so I have noticed our students seem to lack the ability to stay focused when someone is teaching, lecturing or performing for any extended period of time. It was embarrassing to me as a teacher librarian to witness them talking and on their phones during a performance at Geva theater or when a guest speaker came to our school to share important information with them about issues of social justice. I felt they should have been responsible to answer some basic questions outlined ahead of time by the teacher. That would have required them to be focused while listening for specific information and taking notes.
After listening to the podcast Notetaking: A Research Roundup, the benefits of handwritten notes is clear. I loved the information in this Cult of Pedagogy podcast by Jennifer Gonzalez and have added this series to my podcast library of shows in my iPhone. I will also share this with teachers. It would be beneficial for students to receive some lessons on taking notes. From my perspective, they are not good at it. Our school doesn't allow cell phones in the classroom anymore, but they all have access to chromebooks. Hopefully, they are not doing all their notetaking digitally. I read the NYT's article about the problems with students using laptops instead of a notebook for recording notes. I agree that they are generally too distracted by other options on the laptops while a lecture is taking place. Also, the evidence in favor of written notes and memory is strong. Hopefully, the students can still write legibly with paper and pen (probably considered old-fashioned). The biggest disadvantage is the need for digital devices for students with special needs - who will not want to be singled out, when they are the only ones with a Chromebook. Still, this was a great article - event the comments were interesting.
Sketchnoting is an interesting concept and I expolored it for a while. I will definitely share the presentation by Sylvia Duckworth with our art teacher, but I think basic notetaking is more important than learning to add sketched visuals in your notes. Visuals are great though, especially for this generation, so my favorite digital notetaking tool is Google Keep as it has many advantages:
FREE for anyone with a Google Account
Available on Chromebooks, which our students use
Super easy to learn & use
Nice visual layout - appeals to younger users
Can add photos
Easy to organize by color
Automatic syncing to other digital devices
Reminder bell - just click to choose a day/time
Quick search feature
Collaborate with others
Audio notes transcribed automatically
Students are already using Google Docs but for notetaking, I like Google Keep better - it is just more fun! I often see students taking photos of important information & they can send the photos to Google Keep to organize according to subject. I have my own account which I intend to use a bit more. FYI, if you are looking for an awesome "list making" app, I highly recommend Wunderlist, which I use almost daily, especially to keep track of what groceries to pick up at the store.
Lastly, I just received a new iPad for Xmas and will be checking out some of the cool apps for sketchnoting once I am all set up. I like the idea of annotating photos, especially for teaching. I also learned some handy features with the iPad Gesture Guide - thank you!
Such good points! I generally use paper for notetaking too, though I also switch to digital at times. But as you say, the temptation of all the other online distractions can be overwhelming. When I use paper for notes, I'll often type them up later, that probably helps reinforce the learning.
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