Is Digital Note Taking more Effective?

The digital era is upon us, what does that mean for the future of education? Many schools are choosing to become completely digitally converted providing students with their own personal I-Pads and other digital devices. With the digital conversion taking over will students be required to take digital notes? What does the mean for test scores?

These are the specific questions I looked to answer during my action research project. I joined a digitally converted school for my student teaching experience and was pressed with the challenge of including technology in the classroom. Coming from a high school that still required teachers to sign out computer carts I was thrown a little out of my element. With a little warming up to the idea of students utilizing technology on a daily occurrence in the classroom I found that I truly enjoyed it. I was intrigued by how students chose to use their I-Pads to organize and take notes. Certain classes are already requiring that students keep their notes digitally so the teacher can view and grade them. Through student conversations it sounded that there was a mixed feeling on keeping digital notes. This is why I set out to find answers through my research project. 

Utilizing a group of students who currently are required to take digital notes in other classes I looked at several factors. I would give students a survey at the beginning and end of a unit to develop an understanding for their preferences on digital note taking and note taking in general. I utilized survey monkey to compile information. Through the survey I found that in general 80% of those students agreed or strongly agreed that they used their notes to study before a test. Of that same group of students 46.67% of students responded that they prefer to take notes digitally while 26.67% strongly disagreed with using their I-Pads to take notes. 

Taking this research a step further I developed an exam for two units that reflected the same level of rigor to be given to the same group of students. For both unit I required students to take notes as part of their grade, however for one unit students were required to take traditional notes in a notebook while the other I required them to take fully digital notes. Upon the completion of both units I found that when the students were required to take traditional notes they scored 6% higher. 

My conclusion was that students tend to score higher when required to take traditional notes apposed to digital notes. However, there are may influences that could have effected the outcome. If I were to improve this study I would find two groups of students completing the same exact unit. This would ensure the same level of rigor in the content was being taught and students would be taking the same unit exam. 

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