Taking notes in the digital age

Wanda Koop, a well-known Canadian media artist, who enjoys integrating paint and video, once tweeted that, to her, photographing some scene or face or an object was like visual note-taking. Note-taking is a cultivated art which comes with practice. The end objective is to record the essence of a lesson, a lecture, an interview or any other information being captured from an external source or even one’s own thought pattern.

Note-taking is a crucial aspect of complex human behaviour. Information management involves rapid mental processes and cognitive functions. The human mind is multi-dimensional. The act of listening or reading includes acquiring, filtering, organising and integrating new knowledge with already learnt facts. It is an ongoing process.

Note-taking is a useful life skill which makes one an active listener and speeds up the learning process. In this technology-driven era, a digital notebook is a prerequisite to progress. There are so many applications to take you through the ropes of rapid information encoding, how to create mind maps for projects, how to make PowerPoint presentations and how to identify and solve issues with the use of ‘deep meeting tools’.

Digital tools and the pen and paper combo continues to exist in happy harmony while note-taking continues to make a difference. Today, you have laptops, tablets, smartpens, graphic pens, smartphones and so many handy tools to help you flow with the tide steadily. By developing your own brand of abbreviations and memory method, you can craft a new smart note-taking method and can surge ahead leaving the rest to follow your trail.

Efficient note-taking

Note-taking is the cataloguing of pertinent information in a systematic manner so that it serves as a summary of the main concepts and facts. From a student’s perspective, note-taking is critical especially in the secondary school and college settings. Studies have proved that efficient note-taking actually leads to scholastic gains. You have to be an effective listener, think quickly, write clearly, organise information as you write and make sure you have all the salient points too. That takes some practice!

There are various types of note-taking ranging from the written word to mind mapping. Mayank, who is preparing for an entrance test, swears by the linear method of note-taking, which is a sequential recording of data and is in keeping with his methodical mind.

Progressive skill

Note-taking is a progressive skill and develops as the student moves from secondary school to undergraduate to postgraduate courses. To a question whether she was in the habit of jotting points when a lesson was in progress, 15-year-old Arushi said, “I usually make notes when I come home each day and revise what has been done in school. For any additional information, I search online.” How does she take notes while working online? She stores them on her phone app. Notes.

I spoke to a cross-section of high school and college students about their views on the importance of note-taking and their prompt responses reiterated the fact that it was essential, even crucial to facilitate meaningful learning. While at the higher secondary level, students are allowed to take running notes in class to supplement the notes which are dictated by the teachers, in colleges and universities, the students have to prepare their own notes. Most of us are familiar with a practice called marginalia, which is scribbling word meanings and important references on the margins, as we try to make the most of those difficult texts we plough through.

A more organised and saner way to do this is, of course, using a copybook. Each individual develops a unique style of making notes. Medini, a student of Communicative English and an avid reader, feels the urge to write down perceptive bits as in subliminal meaning in a piece of prose or verse which she would like to “delve deeper into.” How adept is she with the digital note-taking apps? “I am comfortable with the tools and apps on my laptop and smartphone but prefer putting pen to paper,” she says.

“Note-taking is an effective way to discipline the mind,” observes Zaid, who is studying computer engineering and is a complete digi-youth who swears by Google Doc for note-taking and editing work.

Surprisingly, pen and paper note-taking is holding its own in a world of digital tools and applications that are easy to use and are promising a paper-free scenario. Nalini Seth, a high school Science teacher, points out that these applications are especially useful in planning lessons, maintaining student portfolios and allows for a feedback system where students can access records and track progress.

Established styles

There are various types of note-taking ranging from the written word to mind mapping. As a student of history, way back in time, I used a simple method of innovative shorthand and crisp sentences during the lecture hours. Every new point was a new sentence. The focus was on speed writing and filtering the information into main and subheads. I floundered initially but with practice mastered the art of capturing the chain of events. My recent research on note-taking revealed that I was using the ‘sentence’ method with a touch of the ‘outlining’ method!

The outlining method is a structured logical system of note-taking. It is time-saving and allows for easy assimilation and digestion of information — the main topic, subtopics, insertions and so on. There is the linear note-taking, which is simply writing down in the order in which information is received. It runs on a natural sequence of time, date, page numbers, introduction, body, conclusion etc. The non-linear method includes mind maps or spidergrams and starts with the core subject in the centre of the page and has spidery legs connecting it to associated ideas, keywords and unfamiliar concepts which may well lead to later research and so on.

Mapping is another method which calls for a bit of practice. It is structured like a tree with the trunk playing the focal point that branches outwards to connect with ideas that support the main theme. Colour graphics are used to help visualisation. Charting is yet another note-taking method which is useful for subjects that can be compartmentalised neatly.

There is something called SQ3R method which is making waves in the digital note scenario. It stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review. This basically involves taking notes from written material, reading, making sense as you skim the material and store for future use. This is a common feature in many textbooks to facilitate discussions in the classroom. The main lesson is interspersed with interesting components like interesting facts, quiz, highlights, summary and group activities. This concept is carried forward in later years of university education, the only difference being, the students are expected to do the note-taking and work out a style best suited for the subject under study.