The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard

Key Takeaways:

• Students’ problems note taking on laptops was long assumed to be the threat of multitasking and distraction; the present research suggests that even when used solely for notes, laptops still impair learning because of shallow processing
• Students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand
• While a larger quantity of notes can be taken on laptops, a tendency was found to transcribe lectures verbatim (due to muscle memory of typing) rather than processing the information, as with taking handwritten notes; this is detrimental to learning
• Take notes longhand for better retention