BYOD Notetaking

Feel free to use your iPad or other device or a laptop from the wall

Notetaking is Crucial

● Many of our students are not good note-takers

– Tend to be very passive– May take the “it'll be up on Moodle”

attitude● The process of creating notes is at least

as important as the notes themselves– Looking at a photo or PDF after the fact

doesn't cut it

Working Memory Model

Encoding in LTR

● To get something into Long-Term Recall, you have to work actively with it

● Notetaking processes are one way of getting there

– Unless we're doing something else intentionally, we need students to take notes!

Why Take Noteson Your Device?

● Organization—everything is there– Tagging– Searching

● Variety of media—some devices support this better than others

– Drawings– Pictures– Text

● Some students compensate for learning disabilities (dysgraphia) with device

Why NOT Take Noteson Your Device?

● Does taking notes on computer help students less than hand-writing them?

– Some research (1996, 2013) shows no differences between hand-written and laptop notes

– Some recent studies (2012, in press) show students are more likely to take notes verbatim on computer, and their recall suffers for it

● In one study, even telling students not to take verbatim notes didn't work

Why NOT Take Noteson Your Device?

● Some devices are not well-suited to classes that require a lot of diagrams or equations

– Less a concern for tablets than laptops

Minimizing orPreventing Distraction

● Move around the room● Hold students accountable for their

notetaking– Have them turn in notes for grading– Have them share Google Docs notes

with you– Let them know they may have to bring

their notes in front of the class

Improving Notetaking

● Model and scaffold: Provide partial notes that students fill in—over time reduce the amount you're providing

● Share student notes– Share a student's notes anonymously

and have the class critique/compare them

– If you see a student taking good notes, put the notes in front of the class to discuss what's good about them

Improving Notetaking

● Collaborate: Let students work in groups in shared Google docs; let the weaker notetakers learn from the stronger

● Compete: Offer praise or rewards for the best notes (group or individual)

Notetaking App: Evernote

● Cloud-based: Notes are not tied to one machine

● Not collaborative: Notes ARE tied to one user account unless you pay for Premium

● Searchable: You can search for text● Taggable: You can add keywords to your

notes, and then view all the notes with keywords

Notetaking App: Evernote

● Organizable: You can have multiple notebooks to keep related notes together

● Other notes:– Not exactly the same on all platforms

(Win8 terrible, web-based better)– More features on tablet:

● Ties in to Penultimate and Skitch● Allows photos and audio recording

Notetaking in Google Docs

● You can use a word processing document for note taking

● Cloud-based● Collaborative: You can share with

others. Teacher could make a document and share with the entire class.

● Searchable● Organizable: You can put into your own

folders

Notetaking in Google Docs

● Not as full-featured on tablets, but getting there

● Allows for chatting between editors, at least in web version

– Back-channel communication, both good and bad