Note-taking Tools Research Articles

Effect of Rearrangement and Annotation in Digitized Note on Remembrance

Note taking is a fundamental activity for learning, and many software tools which enable students to take digitized notes have been proposed. Digitized notes are advantageous because they can be easily edited, rearranged, and shared. Although many note-taking tools have been proposed, there has been little research to examine the effect of note annotation and rearrangement with a digitized tool in terms of knowledge acquisition. Therefore, we have investigated the effect of note annotation and rearrangement on how well lecture content is remembered by learners. By annotation, we mean adding both handwritten and typed text, and rearrangement includes moving and deleting handwritten notes. We developed a simple note-taking application specialized for explanation, and evaluated it through a laboratory experiment with eight participants. The results show that note annotation and rearrangement significantly improved how well the participants remembered lecture content. Thus, the effect of annotation and rearrangement on remembrance was confirmed with respect to digitized notes.

How Do High-Achieving Students Approach Web-Based, Copy and Paste Note Taking? Selective Pasting and Related Learning Outcomes

Previous research has indicated that most students copy and paste notes from Internet sources in a mindless way; they typically paste large sections of text into their notes and then later can recall little of what they have stored. However, supplying students with a note-taking framework that restricts the amount of text that may be pasted can prompt them to engage in more selective pasting, and this seems to result in greater learning. But the extant research has not specifically addressed copy and paste note-taking behaviors of high-achieving students. The high-achieving high school and college students in the present study used a note-taking tool on the computer that consisted of an electronic matrix to cue students to note certain types of information. In one condition, the number of words that could be included in each cell was restricted, whereas in the other group, the students’ cells were unrestricted. After the note-taking sessions, all students completed assessments to document the amount of information they learned. High-achieving students in both conditions learned the same amount through the note-taking process. These results were inconsistent with the previous research. Follow-up analyses of students’ notes indicated that although the high-achieving students in the unrestricted note-taking group were not limited in the number of words they copied, many of them selectively chose which information they pasted into the grid. The relationship between text-pasting selectivity and learning remained: High-achieving students were more selective in their note taking, and they also were more successful on the posttests.

Making Notes, Making Meaning

Introduces notetaking tools used successfully with English-as-a-second-language students and low-achieving high school freshmen. Provides an overview of each tool and explains how students use them to take notes when reading textbooks and articles. Notes these tools and academic habits have helped students succeed in their mainstream academic classes. Full text available in print issue only.

Scaffolding Preservice Teacher Learning through Web-Based Discussion Forums

Research has offered evidence that teacher candidates are continually frustrated by what they consider to be a conflict between the ideas expressed in methods courses and the practices they see in their classroom observations and practicum experiences. In response to this problem, a hypermedia tool, Reading Classroom Explorer (RCE), was designed and developed to provide preservice teachers with video models of exemplary teaching excellence. The Web-based version of RCE allows discourse, conversation, and social interaction among teacher candidates learning about the teaching of literacy through technologies such as discussion forums, shared online papers, and a shared note-taking tool. The purpose of this research was to explore how using the RCE discussion forums affected preservice teacher learning. This article provides evidence of the benefits of facilitating such conversations by presenting findings on the increase in students’ understandings of teaching and learning after using the forums.

Tools and strategies for searching in hypermedia environments

This paper presents the results of several investigations into the use made by students of a prototype system of help for the exploitation of hypermedia documents. This prototype was derived from a common type of educational CD-ROM in which the presentation of the contents was improved and certain research and note-taking tools added. The evolving, personalised note-taking system interacts constantly with the environment being explored. Beyond the storage of personal notes (clues, personal knowledge of the area), it allows the student to keep the explored sections in mind and ultimately to plan further explorations. It also enables the extraction and structuring of the data retrieved from the body of the database. The role of this system is to facilitate more thorough searches for information which might sometimes require several sessions stretched out over a long period. It could be profitably used in the context of independent student activities.