From paper and pencils to laptops and iPads, Northwestern students use a variety of tools take notes. For some, taking notes is when they choose to take a step away from technology. For others, not so much. Anavi Prakash has the story.
This story originally aired as part of our WNUR News Touches Grass Special Broadcast.
[natural sound: library chatter and typing]
Everyone knows the age-old debate about what color each school subject is. Some people think the sciences are obviously green, while others insist that math work always has to be done in a red notebook.
For some Northwestern students, the debate about whether to use paper or technology to take those notes is right up there too. After all, how well you remember the notes you took in lecture can influence how well you do on that last midterm– especially if you didn’t have time to study.
McCormick freshman Gladys Ikirezi says taking notes on paper is a familiar studying habit.
IKIREZI: Taking notes on the computer doesn’t help me that much. But when I write it down on paper, that’s when I remember most of the things and because it’s the traditional way, like I used to take notes back home, I didn’t use computers because we didn’t have those in high school.
She also prefers taking her notes with pen over pencil because that’s what she’s used to: Ikirezi, who is from Rwanda, was forced to switch from writing in pencil to pen in P4. P4 is equivalent to the 4th grade in the US.
IKIREZI: If they could find you writing with a pencil, then you could be punished for that. Pencils are for babies. You have to learn how to be perfect with a pen.
In her chemistry lab though, Ikirezi is required to use her computer for notes, which she wishes wasn’t the case.
IKIREZI: Honestly, after that I don’t remember anything. You can ask what values I got on the last lab and I tell you what it was on paper.
School of Communication freshman Chloe Gronsbell prefers writing her notes on paper for the same reason.
GRONSBELL: It’s more efficient in maintaining information, versus typing on a computer is just looking at the screen. You’re not processing the information as you go and when you write it down, your brain has to literally process the words.
However, when she started attending college classes at Northwestern, her note taking process changed a bit.
GRONSBELL: When I got here, I immediately switched into bullet point Google Docs Notes and trying to make my documents as aesthetically pleasing but being organized and most analytical as possible.
Once she has a comprehensive Google Doc, she translates her notes to paper. She says it’s easier to put notes on paper once they are already organized. Gronsbell says she uses pencil to write her notes because it’s easier to erase mistakes.
Steven Johnson, a junior double majoring in theatre and econ, is also a pencil lover. But his note taking preferences depend on the class.
JOHNSON: Typically if I’m in a class with a lot of like graphs, I’ll typically take notes on paper so I can draw everything out. But then if I’m in a lecture with slides like a psychology class or some other basic lecture, I’ll type in a Google Doc.
He tries to avoid paper notes if he can, though.
JOHNSON: I used to take a lot more notes on paper, but it just became so much of a hassle to carry around notebooks and pencils and things like that.
Many students opt to take notes digitally for convenience. According to a 2014 study from the Association for Psychological Science about taking notes longhand versus on the computer, both types of note-takers retain the same amount of factual information. Conceptually, though, people who wrote the notes longhand were able to retain more.
Weinberg junior Austin Benedetto tries to utilize technology to get the benefits of longhand notes without the hassle of storing and organizing piles of paper..
BENEDETTO: I take all my notes on my iPad and it depends how rigorously depending on the class, how deep I go into the notes.
He values the ease the app Notability gives him because it allows him to download powerpoints and homework sheets and write directly on them. This helps him because when he uses paper, Benedetto says his notes start getting disorganized.
BENEDETTO: The rare times where I’ve switched to paper, like if I’ve forgot to charge my iPad, I always end up losing the notes.
These four students all have different ways of taking notes and have different reasons why it works for them. Ikirezi put it best.
IKIREZI: It’s something which is really subjective. It depends on your background. It depends on what you are used to using in the first place.
[music: Official Podcast Intro]
There you have it! From handwriting to completely digital and everywhere in between, students at Northwestern use a huge variety of tools to get what’s going on in class. Note taking truly is a different process for everyone.
For WNUR News, I’m Anavi Prakash.
Music created by Jack Ververis.
Jack Ververis – Official Podcast Intro
