By Christopher Ross, Radhika Arora, & Tracy Tang
The tools we use can have a significant impact on our success. In the era of technology, academia now heavily involves the use of electronics to teach and share information. As we learned in the course debate, Digital Learning Environments are varied and can differ from one another.
With academia’s taking advantage of digital options and allowing students to be able to access resources more freely, there is concern that digital learning will have the consequence of newer generations losing skills to read and write without technical assistance and support.
An example of newer generational loss in seen in some countries is the ability to write cursive. Students are now being taught how to type on the keyboards. In this post, we’ll examine the positive and negative nature of traditional paper and digital use for note-taking and reading as it applies to educational environments.
Digital Note Taking
Digital note-taking is the practice of taking notes with digital tools which can include a variety of technologies such as audio, video, photography, text, data visualization, and illustration with the assistance of electronic devices.
Benefits of Digital Note Taking
Collaboration
A key benefit of digital note-taking is the ability to share information quickly between students and adapt the information immediately for those with and without learning disabilities. “Use of digital note-taking tools may allow students with learning disabilities to better use working memory, visuals, and auditory learning capacities to complement information processing during lectures and review.” (Belson et al, 2013 p.13)
Security
The ability to store digital notes electronically and collaborate with others also leads to the ability to assemble documents online and have a backup of those materials to fall back on. This can take the form of multiple copies but also multiple different versions which enables learners to branch off into alternate avenues with the knowledge they can return to earlier work.
Efficiency
Data entry with digital note-taking is often faster and allows for easier input compared to traditional pen-and-paper approaches. While it’s impossible to predict individual learners, “the average American can type 40 words per minute but can only handwrite 13 words per minute.” (Robare, 2021).
Other Benefits of Digital: Reading & Writing
- Able to customize device settings – Font, size, color, and brightness (light or dark screens)
- Clear and organized writing – easy to read through
- Automatic corrections of spelling, grammar, & syntax
- Swiftness of predicted text completion
- Linking of other documents, websites, graphics, diagrams, and tables or videos
- Ease of duplication of text, images, and documents
- Timesaving in editing & alleviate the stress of locating words or phrases
- Able to hold a large amount of data and information in one space
- Easier to move, organize and sort notes
- Eco-friendly
Disadvantages of Digital Note Taking
Accessibility in Learning
With digital note-taking, the limits of screen size add an extra dimension of complexity for students with visual impairment or learning impairments. The simple act of redistributing notes in a meaningful way for people on the autistic spectrum, or similar non-traditional processes can become cumbersome and challenging within a locked visual environment. As the authors discuss in the article Developing a Holistic Approach for E-Learning Accessibility, “there is a need for a more sophisticated model for addressing e-learning accessibility which takes into account the usability of e-learning, pedagogic issues and student learning styles in addition to technical and resource issues.” (Phipps and Swift, 2004)
Understanding of Digital Technology
With the rapid change of digital technology, there is a need to offer training support for less technologically focussed individuals including older adults.
“Rogers and colleagues found that older adults were less likely to use automatic teller machines (ATMs) than younger adults. However, the majority of the older people in their sample indicated they would be willing to use ATMs if trained to do so.” (1996)
Digital Equity
Requiring and mandating students to use digital devices for coursework can present issues with access and equity. From social class to a simple lack of access due to geography or reliability, dependency on technology by its nature can lead to inequity in a digital space.
“No matter how powerful in educational terms a particular medium or technology may be, if students cannot access it in a convenient and affordable manner they cannot learn from it” (Bates, 2019).
“[Shirley] Malcom points out that lowered cost and greater physical access to computers will not by themselves be sufficient to improve the lot of disadvantaged students.” (Nickerson, R. S., & Zodhiates, P. P, 2013)
Other Disadvantages of Digital: Reading & Writing
- System and software can differ per user changing the look of notes and text
- Not always straightforward to use
- In a collaborative space not easy to distinguish who wrote, changed, or edited documents
- Unless publicly shared there can be access and permission issues
- Eye strain and fatigue
- Distracting – Ads, banners, pop-ups, graphics, and design flaws in certain websites
- Plagiarism and copyright issues
- Can be expensive, fragile and has a limited lifespan
- Concern about access to internet, electricity, and battery life
- Impersonal & formal
- Locked to the display screen of the electronic devices
- Not easy to spread multiple documents, pages, text, and seamlessly move through them
Written Notes
Written note-taking is an important skill for everyone to master, it can include written text as well as illustrations and drawings by hand.
Advantages of Written Notes
The Encoding Hypothesis
“The encoding hypothesis suggests that the processing that occurs during the act of note-taking improves learning and retention.” (Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014, p.1159) essentially theorizing that the acts of listening, processing, and summarizing during the moment of learning add benefit in the retention of knowledge.
Learning Style Freedom
Unlike the nature of digital note-taking, written notes allow for learners of different styles to quickly access shortcuts they’ve developed over a lifetime. Shortcuts such as indents, symbols, choices of inks or formatting codes that are known only to themselves. These shortcuts allow individual learners to manage information both within a single note and on a larger scale by organizing notes into formats that can’t easily be replicated within a digital environment.
For example, the placement of coloured sticky notes or highlights on text to amplify meaning or organizing large collections of notes in a graphical manner with circles of knowledge spread across a tabletop.
Simplicity
Whatever benefits students can gain from building digital skills does not translate equitably across all students due to reasons of economic, cultural, and social status. One distinct advantage of written notes is their simplicity which is often overlooked in our desire to over-emphasize the power of digital skills.
“One challenge is that approaches to digital skills overemphasize the role of basic operational skills (e.g., how to install apps or use Internet browsers) despite indications that it is a combination of skills, including the social and creative (e.g., sense of self-efficacy in using social networks, capacity to create digital content) that generate positive tangible outcomes (Helsper et al., 2015).”
Flexibility for Learners
Learners should be encouraged to build literacy and critical thinking about the different information and communication technologies available. Then they can decide to choose/use/adapt the tools that support the way they learn best.
“I decide whether to adopt new devices and software/apps/services based on their value to me.” Beetham, H. (2015, Nov 10)
Other Advantages of Paper: Reading & Writing
- Handwriting is more expressive of a person’s emotions, and personality and is unique to the individual
- Inexpensive & disposable
- Tangible and portable
- Easier to mark up, highlight, draw & doodle
- Greater freedom to write anytime and anywhere
- Larger real estate to spread papers and see the big picture
- Able to switch between different writing tools – pencil, pen, marker, etc.…
- Less tiring to read large amounts of text
- Simpler to write formulas & math equations
- Easier to work through thought process more critically
- Freedom of movement and location
- Better comprehension on spelling, grammar, and flow process
- Awareness of each individual’s work in collaborative spaces
Disadvantages of Written Notes
Time-Consuming
The primary disadvantage of written notes is that they can be time-consuming to create, as well as laborious to search through at a later date. Additionally, the sharing of written notes is dependent on the transfer of physical content, requiring duplication and transportation, or one party to read the content to another which can introduce a variety of errors in tone, urgency, or understanding.
Document Security
Without proper care and maintenance, handwritten notes can easily be smudged, torn, damaged or become illegible through the simple passage of time. The neglect of these aspects can lead to the permanent degradation of the notes, leaving their contents inaccessible to future reference.
Accessibility to Other Readers
Handwritten notes, especially those transcribed in a hurry, can lack the formatting and structure needed to easily convey ideas to other readers in an effective manner. The shortcuts described earlier as an advantage for written notes can also compound this fault as those meaningful clues are lost without the cipher.
Other Disadvantages of Paper: Reading & Writing
- It can be more difficult to correct and edit using dictionaries and thesauruses
- Can become messy and disorganized
- Slower & discomforting to the hand
- Handwriting is not easily readable – e.g., Doctor’s notes
- Restricting and heavy – e.g., Multiple textbooks back and forth to many classes
Digital and Paper Comprehension
In an article by Kazanic. Z “Results indicate that student still prefer traditional paper instead of digital screen for their reading activities” (2015, P.1), we see the use of paper and digital is not mutually exclusive, each individual has their own preference on which tool works better for them in writing and reading.
Fortunati & Vincent states “the life cycle of a document includes a close intertwining of paper and digital versions: digital for searching, paper for integrating multiple sources; paper for planning, digital for drafting; paper for editing/proofreading, digital for finalizing; mostly digital for distribution and workflow; paper for reading (especially longer documents) and digital for archiving/filing.” (2014, P.1). You can see that the use of digital and paper can work hand in hand with one another. A hybrid environment when it comes to learning has a greater advantage rather than focusing on one side of the spectrum.
Conclusion
In conclusion, written and digital note-taking each has advantages and disadvantages. Each method is effective for different styles of learning and brings its own unique challenges. Taking the time to evaluate each will help students find the right balance of effectiveness and usability for the individual and through trials will help each person find the perfect system for their individual needs. Learning designers, administrators, instructors, and those who will be influencing the type of tools students must use, or have access to, should consider issues of access and equity when making these decisions in course design and delivery.
References
A Brave New World: Technology & Education. (2018). Trends Shaping Education Spotlight 15. OECD.org. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264284395-en
Belson, S. I., Hartmann, D., & Sherman, J. (2013). Digital Note Taking: The Use of Electronic Pens with Students with Specific Learning Disabilities. Journal of Special Education Technology, 28(2), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/016264341302800202
Fortunati, L., & Vincent, J. (2014). Sociological insights on the comparison of writing/reading on paper with writing/reading digitally. Telematics and Informatics, 31(1), 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2013.02.005
Jensen, M. M., Thiel, S.-K., Hoggan, E., & Bødker, S. (2018). Physical Versus Digital Sticky Notes in Collaborative Ideation. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 27(3-6), 609–645. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-018-9325-1
Kazanci, Z. (2015). University Students’ Preferences of Reading from a Printed Paper or a Digital Screen ― A Longitudinal Study. International Journal of Culture and History (EJournal), 1(1), 50. https://www.academia.edu/33908699/University_Students_Preferences_of_Reading_from_a_Printed_Paper_or_a_Digital_Screen_A_longitudinal_Study
Kelly, B., Phipps, L., & Swift, E. (2004). Developing a Holistic Approach for E-Learning Accessibility. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La Revue Canadienne de l’Apprentissage et de La Technologie, 30(3). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/43221/
McLaughlin, R., & Kamei-Hannan, C. (2018). Paper or Digital Text: Which Reading Medium is Best for Students with Visual Impairments? Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 112(4), 337–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482×1811200401
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581
Nickerson, R. S., & Zodhiates, P. P. (2013). Technology in Education: Looking Toward 2020. In Google Books. Routledge. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NzmcYzz4Y0EC&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=Nickerson
Robare, G. (2021, September 7). On handwriting. The Princetonian. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2021/09/handwritten-versus-typed-class-notes#:~:text=Typing%20is%20far%20faster%20than
Rogers, W. A., Fisk, A. D., Mead, S. E., Walker, N., & Cabrera, E. F. (1996). Training Older Adults to Use Automatic Teller Machines. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 38(3), 425–433. https://doi.org/10.1518/001872096778701935
