Edu- Praxis – Ei Study

A recent study has failed to replicate some of the findings in this study. However, the jury is still out, and it is worth noting that several other studies have found that students who take notes on laptops struggle to stay on task, as they succumb the numerous online temptations such as streaming videos, social networking, and shopping.

The type of notes that students take with their laptops also makes a difference. Students have been found to be more likely to take notes verbatim, as they can type faster than they can write. However, several studies have confirmed that doing so leads to less cognitive processing and so, less information is retained.

The researchers of this study offer another suggestion as to why students who took notes by hand performed better, commenting that as students had to go slower, they were forced to select “more important information to include in their notes,” which enabled them to study the content more efficiently.