Why You Shouldn’t Use a Laptop to Take Notes in Class
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Given all the apps and digital tools available to improve your studying, and how quick and easy it is to type notes compared to how time-consuming it is to write them, it seems obvious to bring a laptop to class. However, there’s good reason to believe that taking notes by hand helps your brain retain information better. Here’s why it’s worth trying to leave your laptop at home and how to ease the transition back to the good old-fashioned way.
Digital notes aren’t perfect
Numerous studies have shown that handwritten notes are superior to computer notes, despite the fact that typing is much faster and paper allows for more information. This is precisely the problem: when taking notes by hand, you have to carefully select what is important enough to record. You need to think critically, plan, and listen carefully to determine which parts of the lecture are valuable enough to warrant taking notes. When typing, you can simply transcribe the entire lecture in real time if you want, and perhaps even do so on autopilot, without delving deeply into the material.
I made this mistake in graduate school: I typed out everything the professor said, so focused on every word that I didn’t actually hear the lecture. Worse, I ended up with only transcripts, and most of what the professors said during three-hour classes was irrelevant to my specific learning goals. I ended up feeding my disorganized “notes” to AI tools and asking them to take notes. I should have simply listened more thoughtfully and purposefully the first time.
A recent study confirming the undisputed superiority of note-taking was published in the journal Teaching of Psychology in 2022. The researchers divided participants into four categories: those who took notes by hand and completed the test on a computer; those who took notes on a computer and completed the test by hand; those who took notes and completed the test on a computer; and those who completed the test entirely by hand. Overall, regardless of the test method, students who took notes by hand performed better both overall and on conceptual questions.
Your computer is distracting
It’s convenient to be able to review information, take notes, and browse tabs with additional materials during class, but it’s just as convenient to switch to a new window and scroll through social media or send work emails. Being distracted during class doesn’t contribute to retention or academic performance, regardless of whether the tool you’re using could help.
A 2012 survey published in the Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning found that of 478 students and 36 faculty members surveyed at one university, nearly half found non-educational technology use in class distracting. Numerous other studies have shown that non-educational use of phones or laptops during class negatively impacts academic performance. This is why we see many jurisdictions across the country promoting phone-free school zones for children . Journal articles reporting these findings have fairly straightforward titles, such as ” Divided Attention in Class Reduces Exam Performance ,” and make it clear that anything other than note-taking or tracking course materials on a computer only impacts your ability to acquire and retain valuable information.
And since taking notes on a computer isn’t all that enjoyable at first, you might not want to take the device with you at all.
Plan your notes
If you’ve been typing your notes for years, returning to your old notebook and pencil will be a real challenge. What does your handwriting look like now? Do you even know it? It’s time to get reacquainted with it, but you’ll need a strategy to get started.
There are actually quite a few note-taking methods; which one works best for you will depend on the type of material you’re studying and your level of preparation. I’ve linked to my guide to all of the above approaches. You might find note-taking, the Cornell Method, or “mapping” or “diagramming” to be the most effective, but you’ll need to experiment a bit to figure it out.
By the way, just because you take notes by hand doesn’t mean they have to remain handwritten. You can digitize your notes using an app or even buy a smart notepad that will do this automatically as you write. I used the Rocketbook smart notepad before and found it an intuitive and convenient way to combine the analog and digital worlds.
Finally, be sure to review your notes before leaving class , if possible. It’s crucial to review them while the lecture is still fresh in your mind. You can start digitizing them, for example, using a mind-mapping app , or simply rewrite them on another page of your notebook.