Ever since my laptop battery died in Kyoto (currently, it runs only via wire) back around October, I’ve been constantly musing about purchasing a new computer. A post is forthcoming on the issue. However, in my ponderings, I have thought about many of the motivations and consequences of said purchase. One of which happens to be its benefits in the classroom.
Aside:
I will now unabashedly plug a panel (not that I haven’t already) that I’ll be moderating in March at SXSW:
“Blackboards or Backchannels: (Social) Technology in the Classroom of Tomorrow”
Five students will come together to discuss technology in the classroom and the implications of technology to help improve (or utterly destroy) the social elements of education.
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One of the debates I’ve had over the past year in writing for this blog concerns the essence of note taking. I’ve written in the past about my aversion toward liveblogging and my affinity for accurate notes, however meticulous. Over the past few years, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my notes, when typed or written, culminate in roughly verbatim reproductions. I grasp at words. I ingest language and digest meaning.
My realization: pencil on paper no longer does the trick. As minute as my script has become, this semester I churn out two to three full-length, handwritten pages per class period. Yet I still snatch at my teachers’ dictations, trying to capture the entirety of every phrase. The readability of my notes thence suffers, as my pen dances from left margin to right, without lifting from the page even to spare the spaces between syllables, while I battle between lecture transcription and lecture absorption.
With a typing speed averaging around ninety to one hundred words a minute (thank you, middle school computer classes), I can speedily record my precise notes while assimilating the content. Only in the past year have I carried my laptop to class in order to take notes by means of keyboard. I could use excuses as reasons for the change (save trees, easier to share online, &c.), but it comes down to practicality. To take notes as detailed as I want, the convenience of the keyboard helps me to write quickly and succinctly, while also providing the opportunity to process the presented information more thoroughly. Of course, the keyboard has limitations, restricting the ability to scribble more than words. For example, my methodology is built around a complex system of arrows to point here and there to signify links of meaning and significance.
Forbes recently talked with David Karger, the leader of a project to develop a new system of note taking online:
The study found that “capture speed” was the main reason a worker might choose a Post-it note over a computer program, even those programs specifically designed for these sorts of jottings.
“Even seemingly minor difficulties or annoyances with tools could deter use of a tool,” the study said. It noted that one volunteer subject “would write notes on Post-its and stick them to his cellular phone to transfer into Outlook later rather than enter the data directly into his smart phone, even though the phone supported note synchronization.
“When asked why not enter the note digitally in the first place, he responded, ‘Starting in Outlook forces me to make a type assignment, assign a category, set a deadline, and more; that takes too much work!’ Similarly, paper notebooks were often chosen instead of laptops because they required no time to boot up.”
My opinion is that pen and paper now limit my “capture speed,” especially when I can simply bring up a TextEdit file (advocated by Diana Kimball) and type away.
Of course, note taking on my laptop does not replace the notepad. My desk is garnished with the multicolors of PostIt notes, while my desk houses a dozen different pocket-sized, portable notebooks. Sometimes I even find myself affixing stickies to my computer screen. It’s probably true that the most convenient upgrade to laptop technology would be constant operation without rebooting. For now, the keyboard provides a most efficient method to capture language, while still being able to call the records notes.