Sure, taking lecture notes via laptop is quick, but isn’t nearly as effective as handwriting notes. Your school board wants the best (and most expensive) and up to date equipment for the students at its district schools but do they ever think it through? No, and here’s why: Spending more money should help to ensure reaching educational goals – it hasn’t. In fact, our students are being less and less educated with every dollar (or million dollars) our districts spend.
As laptops become smaller and more ubiquitous – typing notes is faster which comes in handy when there is much to copy. It turns out though that there are still significant advantages to doing things the old fashioned way. Typing is fast but will you go back to reread these notes? Whereas handwritten notes actually help you to learn as they are written.
Research has proved that laptops and tablets have a tendency to be distracting – so easy to click over to Facebook during that dull lecture. Other studies show that while you have to be slower, and more deliberate taking notes by hand is what makes them more useful.
Of course you can type more words per minute that you can hand write, and when questioned re facts, like dates, students in each group do equally well; however, when asked about concepts students with handwritten notes do significantly better.
So, why are districts throughout the Country dropping cursive? Computers – yes, they are useful in any number of instances – but as for studying, not so much. Why then are they the replacement for inexpensive pencils and paper?
Follow the money is not any hollow expression. To make money on level after level our so called educational leaders are willing to seriously impair the ability of our students to truly learn.
Not okay with me.