Beckie Arden, Study Skills Tutor, continues her series on all things skills!
Have you ever seen the film Legally Blonde? Stay with me—this is relevant, I promise. There’s a scene where Reece Witherspoon’s rather frivolous character arrives for her first day at Harvard Law School in a carefully curated ‘law school outfit’. She glances around, taking cues from her peers about what to do next. Ah ha—they’re taking notes! So, she pulls out her notetaking kit: a fluffy pencil and a heart-shaped notebook, conspicuous in a sea of grey laptops. Later in the film, to show she’s ‘getting serious’ about study, she buys a (bright pink) laptop—which ultimately leads her to academic success and respect. When we first shared our research findings with the team, one of my colleagues was immediately reminded of this scene.
In my first blog post, I explained how we turned an initial idea into a research project. We were curious about how, as a Study Skills team, we could best support students with their notetaking. To do that, we needed to understand how students actually take notes—and what influences those choices. This second instalment shares how we gathered our data, and what it revealed about the notetaking decisions of University of Bristol students.
What did we find?
Data was collected between January and May 2022 using JISC online survey (n=123) and followed up with four focus groups (n = 17). Whilst a relatively small number, this represented a cross section of schools and years of study.
The data told us that 94% of survey respondents took notes in lectures. Of those, 69% took their notes digitally. Interestingly, of the paper and pen only users, about half had tried digital methods and reverted to pen and paper.
Fig 1. Type of device used for digital notetaking comparted to pen and paper, as a percentage of questionnaire respondents (n=123) (Arden et al., 2024)
But we wanted to know how they made these choices. Thematic analysis of the focus group data revealed that decisions about what to use and how to use it were made in response to three key aspects of the university learning environment:
- Perceived social pressure
Remember Legally Blonde? Students responded to typically unspoken cues in the lecture environment – like the ‘furious’ sound of typing.
“At some point I was the only one with an actual notebook and pen and everyone had like their own laptop. So that felt like I was from medieval times and everyone else was progressing”
- 2nd year undergraduate, Sociology
“I gave in to the pressure initially and I also started like violently typing, but what I found is that . . . I’m not paying attention while I’m typing”
- 1st year postgraduate, International Relations)
- Lecture content, delivery and future assessment
How we teach – and how we assess – influences students’ notetaking choices. The format of the lecture, the pace, and the timing of resource sharing all had an impact.
Fig 2. Type of device used for notetaking by subject area as % of questionnaire respondents (Arden et al., 2024)
Students across most subjects preferred laptops, but engineering and science students favoured handwritten notes, either on paper or using a tablet and stylus. Assessment types also played a role, as students responded to whether they were preparing for an essay or an exam:
“You’ve picked what you’re gonna write . . . the lectures that come after that point I’ll just go and like absorb the information rather than take notes because I don’t need to. It’s more about like just enjoying it than ever revising”
- 2nd year undergraduate, English and French
“Some lecturers definitely gear you more towards a certain style of notetaking. So some of them will give you basic sheets which you can either just annotate or print off, whereas others will just give you slides or others will give you nothing”
- 2nd year undergraduate, Mechanical Engineering
Affordances of the technology
Student’s choices were also shaped by what their devices were able to do, and how confident they were in using them. Laptops are well suited for text-based notetaking, but less so for notes requiring mathematical symbols and diagrams.
“Although we have LaTex…if you have mastered it enough, that would be quite quick. But what I prefer is like writing up a handwritten version because like the symbols can be written much quicker”
- 2nd year undergraduate, Mathematics
“If it’s a recorded lecture like it’s easier for me to take perfect notes ’cause you can keep pausing the video”
- 1st year undergraduate, Psychology
What can we do about it?
Three overarching messages came through, which are worth bearing in mind when supporting students with notetaking:
- Students want to be informed of and exposed to a variety of notetaking techniques allowing each to find what works for them, but not explicitly instructed on how they should be doing it which allows less flexibility.
- They often learn about notetaking tools and techniques informally, from peers over time
- They often balance speed with a sense of learning during the notetaking process and would welcome advice on how to take notes actively
So, some possible take aways
- Design resources intentionally: Lecture slides, handouts and asynchronous content could be developed to encourage constructive notetaking practices
- Share information early: sharing common notetaking approaches and device preferences to students’ before arrival could encourage more informed device purchases
- Promote support resources: We’ve used these findings to design resources including an interactive online tool, notetaking workshops and student written blog posts, all aimed at supporting students’ notetaking development
I’d love to hear how these findings relate to your own experience of students’ notetaking. Do they resonate? Do they raise questions? Do share your thoughts – or get in touch if you’d like to chat about how this research could inform our teaching and student support.
Next time…
In the final instalment I will share my post write-up journey – from final edits to multiple conferences as a first-time researcher.
References:
Arden, B., Norris, J., Cole, S., & Gamble, S. C. (2024). Digital notetaking in lectures: how students adapt to a multi-faceted university learning environment. Cogent Education, 11(1). https://doi-org.bris.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2373552
It would be interesting to explore note taking practices when lecturers do provide notes/handouts or slides, and to what extent students enhance or annotate or elaborate (depending on whether provided in advance or after class).