By Brianna Salmond, Staff Writer
With new age technology like iPads, laptops, and computers students are turning to technology to take notes and to study instead of using one of the oldest methods in history dating back to 5000 years ago. That raises the question, which one of the two is better for the learning environment? Although technology can be useful in some cases, my personal belief is that writing is more beneficial than using something that has a screen. Others disagree for many reasons.
The main reason that students prefer to take notes on technology is because they are often faster than handwriting notes. Another reason that a lot of students prefer computer notetaking to handwritten notes is because they think that because it’s faster, they are going to get more things written and retain in better. The last reason is because they can store all the information in the same place, have all their sources still open, and be able to go from tab to tab.
Researchers from a Princeton University study suggest that students who take notes on a laptop or iPad performed worse than the people that took handwritten notes. After the initial experiment was conducted, the researchers had come to the belief that the reason students did better on paper was because they had to stop and comprehend what the lecturer was saying in order to shorten the sentence. The people with laptops didn’t do as well because they were writing exactly what was said and waiting for the next line instead of comprehending what is being said. This opposes the first two beliefs that just because you are writing it all down faster and getting everything does not mean that you are going to perform superbly.
Secondly, The National Library of Medicine has many studies about the science behind writing notes down rather than writing them and evidence shows that you are more likely to retain things when writing them down. It also shows that academically students who handwrite their notes typically do better than students who take notes on a device. The website also has studies that explain the neuroscience explaining in precise detail why your brain works a certain way when you write things rather than when you type them.
You might be wondering since I have so much to say about the subject, what is my solution? My solution is to persuade students and anyone trying to learn something to write it by hand rather than typing it. Students will benefit from the material learned on tests, writing assignments, and more by simply ditching the laptop style notes and taking them by hand.
In conclusion, students and the general population will benefit from handwriting things rather than taking them electronically, and I encourage the audience to try writing notes on paper and studying with paper rather than technology for your next test or exam.
ECC Cornerstone 