Your Instructor Is to Blame if You Find Note-Taking Challenging
Note-taking during lectures is a common method of learning for college students. The benefits from taking notes of a lecture include the ability to rehearse the information later for long-term retention, as well as promote active learning (Schwartz, 2018). However, according to two studies, college students’ notes may contain only 11% of critical information in a lecture (Kiewra et al. 1985, as cited by Chen et al., 2016; Raver and Maydosz 2010, as cited by Chen et al., 2016). How could students improve in their note-taking and subsequent learning? Would the provision of guided notes and outline notes each influence students’ note-taking and learning performance? How would the students perceive the effects of guided notes? These were the hypotheses posed by Chen et al. (2016) that initiated the purpose for their study: to examine the relationship between instructor-provided guided notes and the quality of college students’ lecture note-taking and learning.
The independent variable in this study was the type of notes, and the dependent variables were lecture note-taking and learning performance. These two dependent variables were operationalized to be the quality and quantity of notes in lecture, and the students’ performance on achievement tests as an indication of learning. Potential confounding variables included lecturer, lecture duration, the method of teaching and the content being taught.
Sixty-five undergraduates from a public university in Southern Taiwan participated in the study. The participants were divided into two groups, one experimental group and one control group, between two psychology classes taught by the same instructor. The experimental group was provided with both guided notes and outline notes, while the control group was only provided with the latter. Both groups were administered a course pre-test, post-test and delayed post-test to determine the effect of guided notes on their note-taking and learning performance.
The results of the study showed that the experimental group exhibited better noting-taking skills, learning performance, and a more positive attitude towards using guided notes than the control group. A number of factors are responsible for the outcome of this study, namely how information is cognitively processed and retained.
Two Models of Memory
Memory is divided into three different stores known as the Multi-Store Model: the sensory register, working memory (previously known as “short-term memory”, as demonstrated in the model below) and long-term memory. The sensory register is where sensory input from the five senses is initially processed. That information is then transferred into working memory via one’s attention to the stimuli, where it remains accessible for a short period of time with a limited capacity as it’s consciously maintained. Through elaborative rehearsal (processing the meaning of the information) and maintenance rehearsal (repeating the information over and over), that information then has a chance of being moved into one’s long-term memory for extended retention (Schwartz, 2018).
One’s working memory consists of the central executive, visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop, episodic buffer and articulatory control. The central executive is the organizational component of working memory. The visuospatial sketchpad stores visual information, and the phonological loop stores the audible. The episodic buffer then behaves as a time-keeper between the two, and the articulatory control process is that inner voice in one’s head, capable of rehearsing information on loop. These functions of one’s working memory allow an individual to process different kinds of incoming information simultaneously, as long as the kinds of information being processed aren’t similar to each other. Information requiring either the visuospatial sketchpad or the phonological loop can only process one task at a time, such as texting while driving. Because both texting and driving require use of one’s visual attention, both will compete with each other. This is why doing two visual tasks such as texting and driving are difficult to do — and quite dangerous. However, one may find that listening to music while driving isn’t. This is because one requires the phonological loop, while the other the visuospatial sketchpad (Schwartz, 2018).
Listening to a Lecture and Taking Notes at the Same Time
Listening to a lecture while taking notes on it requires the phonological loop. This means that adequate note-taking requires note-takers to not only comprehend the information but simultaneously record it as well. Due to the limitations of an individual’s working memory, listening and note-taking becomes a rather complex activity since the phonological loop can only process one audible task at a time. Notes that are completely accurate to the lecture material become nearly impossible without some sort of structure or guidance (Chen et al., 2016).
Outline notes and guided notes are two common types of instructor-provided notes for students. Outline notes offer a learning material subject outline for a given lesson; guided notes offer learning prompts that a student can fill in during a lecture. Both aid a student from missing vital learning material by providing structure to his or her notes, however guided notes promote further reflection and application than just an outline.
There are three different levels of processing in one’s working memory: structural, phonetic, and semantic. Structural processing is to visually acknowledge the information, while phonetic processing is to audibly acknowledge the information. Both are shallow methods of processing compared to semantic processing, which is where the meaning of stimuli is deliberated. The deeper information is processed, the longer a memory trace will last.
Because of the self-reference effect (a tendency for people to remember information if it is personally related, or meaningful, to them) note-taking can become not only a means of avoiding the primacy and recency effect of the serial position curve (only remembering the first and last components of a list of information), but it can become a means of improving one’s learning in of itself.
In conclusion, Chen et al. 2016 demonstrated that through their research that structured, guided notes can accomplish all of these things by being handwritten rather than typed, and prompting short and concise answers (so that they minimally interfere with the phonological loop) that are in one’s own words rather than rote dictation of the lecturer for deeper cognitive engagement, and therefore, understanding, of the material being taught.
Chen, P., Teo, T., & Zhou, M. (2017). Effects of guided notes on enhancing college students’ lecture note-taking quality and learning performance. Current Psychology, 36(4), 719–732. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9459-6
Schwartz, B. (2018). Memory: Foundations and Applications (3rd ed.). N.p.: SAGE.
