Longhand versus Digital Notes

I read the recent Learning Scientist blog on taking longhand notes versus doing slide annotations and wondered whether longhand or digital is better for notes in general.

I know from earlier reading that writing or learning to write is the kinesthetic piece of learning to read.  The muscle activity helps students learn the letters and how the letters are put together to create words. 

When young children learn to type, it uses the muscles in a different manner and they often find it more difficult to learn to read.  Typing does not provide the same kinesthetic element that longhand does. 

There is research that when a student takes notes using longhand rather than digitally, they tend to score higher on tests.  One big problem with taking digital notes is the easy access to the internet during class.  Most educational facilities offer internet to students as part of the educational experience.  Unfortunately, students often chat with friends, send emails, or surf the web while taking notes so their attention is not fully on the lecture.

One reason for using the internet is based on the fact that typing is often faster than writing notes out by longhand and digital note takers often have to wait for the others to finish writing.  Unfortunately this "multitasking" means students are not focused on the material fully. Consequently, it slows down their ability to comprehend or retain the information.

It has been found that digital note taking decreases retention and recall while shortening a person's attention span.  Remember, yesterday I said a neuroscientist indicated that most people are only focused on a talk or lecture for 50 percent of the time?  This is one reason for a decreased attention span.

On the other hand, writing out notes is slower but it gives the brain time to absorb and store the information while providing the opportunity for deeper engagement.   In addition, research indicates that writing notes by hand uses kinesthetic activity to help the brain encode the information when learning. 

The motor skills involved in handwriting require a person to be more actively involved in learning because of the brain connections which are not found during the passive activity of typing.  The brain is more involved in the physical process of writing.  It uses a more complex thought process because you have to paraphrase the material rather than typing it verbatim. 

Furthermore, it is much easier to write out mathematical equations by hand then try to do the same thing on a laptop.  There are apps out there which allow you to hand write your notes but the app changes your writing into printed form.  I do not know if those allow you to do mathematical expressions or equations.

So this is one good argument for staying old school on notes.  I'm in transit to Hawaii where I'm presenting at the Kamehameha Schools Educational Technology Conference.  I plan to continue publishing every day.  If I learn something cool, I will share it. 

I hope to try out a couple of those convert handwriting to type apps and report back on how they work for math.  This type of app might allow students to take handwritten notes but leave them in a readable form.  My notes resemble chicken scratch so I appreciate that type of app.

Have a good weekend.  Have fun.