Welcome to LearnLawBetter, where today we are going to discuss whether you should handwrite
or type your notes when in class.
The answer may surprise you, so listen to the end and learn why you might be getting
lower grades.
Hi, this is Beau Baez, and today I am going to tell you to dump your laptop when taking
notes in class.
You heard me right, you should handwrite your notes if you want to learn the material at
a deeper level.
Before you stop watching, let me explain to you why handwriting will help you boost your
grades; and, how you can take handwritten notes to a higher level.
Some of you are already objecting as you know that you can type much faster than you can hand-write.
But ask yourself: is the goal to write down more or to learn the material at a deeper level?
A few years ago, a scientific study was conducted with students at Princeton and UCLA.
The researchers compared the students who typed their notes on laptops with those students that
handwrote their notes in class.
Hands down, no pun intended, those that handwrote their class notes got higher grades.
That leaves us with the intriguing question of why?
Why don’t more notes outperform fewer notes?
Think of it this way, when you're thinking about getting a steak, you could go to a place
that has all you can eat you can eat steaks. Or, you could go to a steak house?
In other words, quality often is better than quantity.
Before I answer the why question, let me share a story with you that a court reporter
told me some years ago.
In case you don’t know, a court reporter is the person who sits in the front of the courtroom and
types out a verbatim transcript of what is said at trial as it is being said.
At the end of trial one day, one of the attorneys asked the court reported if she was shocked
by what she heard from the defendant.
She looked at the attorney and said: I have no idea what the defendant said
since she was thinking had been thinking about something that had to happen at home that night.
This phenomena of being able to type and listen is exactly what goes on in the classroom.
Since people talk much faster than we can possibly handwrite, we necessarily have to
listen to what the speaker is saying and then summarize what they're saying in our handwritten notes.
In other words, we are processing while we are taking hand written notes.
That is not true for those of you that are typing.
Since you can type just about as fast as somebody talks, a different part of the brain is used
for transcribing—the part of the brain that you are using is not engaging with the material and instead
is merely listening for accuracy. Just like the court reporter.
In other words, people who type their notes are not thinking as deeply about the material
as those that are handwriting their notes.
Is there a place for laptops?
Yes!
Once you are done with class for the day take your handwritten notes and then create a revised
set of notes on your computer.
As you did when you handwrote your notes, you're now taking the material, your're engaging with it,
and creating something new.
Each time you engage with the material in a meaningful way, you first create and then strengthen
the neural paths in your brain.
That's how you learn knowledge at a deep level, which will lead to better understanding
and better grades.
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