Why You Should Write Out Your Notes

You have that great, expensive laptop to use for school.  You see other students taking notes in class, making concept lists, taking reading notes, and other learning tasks on their laptops—so why not do the same?

Here's the reason it's a good idea to skip the laptop and write out your notes:

You learn better when you write it out.  

Our brains just work that way.  If we slow down to write things out, it's easier for all that information to be fully processed by our brains—and makes it more likely that we'll remember it.

Besides that, by using the part of our brains that functions in the act of writing words and drawing sketches, we not only process the information in another way—we have another place in our brain to reinforce and remember the information for the long term.

Sure, if things are going too fast for you to keep up, it's a struggle.  But your brain works to sort out the essential information and how to condense it.  That helps you learn it even better!  If you do write out your notes, you'll struggle less in the long run.

This a great strategy for learning the overwhelming amount of new information you encounter in your A&P course, eh?

Want to know more?

Strategy: Here's Why Writing Things Out By Hand Makes You Smarter

• D. Baer  Business Insider  DEC. 16, 2014, 10:56 AM
• A brief article summarizing why this technique works.
• my-ap.us/15TWn6i

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking

• P. Mueller & D. Oppenheimer Psychological Science January 16, 2014
• Abstract of a recent research report summarizing experimental results.
• my-ap.us/15PGwVt

Here are some related posts from The A&P Student

• Record with your pen!
• Star power
• Running concept lists
• Getting a Good Start in your Anatomy & Physiology course

Image: Wellcome Trust - William Harvey's lecture notes

Star power

I continue to be amazed at how many students let a phrase such as, “when you see something like this on the test . . . “ from their professor go by without notice.

Really?!

Don't they know that this is an intentional statement of what will be on the test?

Professors do this because we know that it's important and that we will be testing you on it.  And we're giving you this obvious hint so that you know that you will encounter it again.

I think it takes some training and practice to listen for those hints and respond to them in a way that helps you in the long run.  So what's a good way to do that?

Leo Malone, one of my chemistry professors, required us to put a star in our notes next to any concept or fact that he introduced with any statement hinting that we'd see it again on a test.  He even stopped class occassionally when he made such a statement to see if we’d put a star in our notes!  This habit has stuck with me for decades.  I still put a star on notes that I take in workshops, courses, meetings, and my other work. When I review my notes, I start with the stars.  I know that these are things that I really need to know or to act on.

In the classes that I teach, I put a star on the whiteboard when I want to emphasize that a point I’m making really is worth remembering.

Why don't you start practicing star power?  I'll bet that by listening for verbal cues and making note of them, you'll find better success in your performance.

It works for me and my students—I’m sure it will work for you!

This pencast shows you what I mean.

Click here to download the Livescribe PDF file.

Want more hints about note taking?

• Survival Guide For Anatomy And Physiology: Tips, Techniques And Shortcuts
• Previous hints in The A&P Student on note-taking at NOTES.

Record with your pen!

Sometimes newfangled technology products really do revolutionize how we learn.  One of the newer, niftier learning aids is the set of Smartpens offered by Livescribe.

Smartpens are pens that record both sound and what you write as you use it. 

For example, you can turn on the  Smartpen as your A&P class begins, then record the professor and student discussion as you write your notes.

After class, all you have to do is tap on a part of your notes to replay the audio that goes with it!  Or you can replay the whole class!  If you are using the earbuds that come with the pen, you could also replay a part of the class that you want to replay.

If you want to, you can then dock your  Smartpen in a small USB penholder that comes with your  Smartpens to upload the recording to your Livescribe library.

Once a recording is in your library, you can upload it to the Livescribe site as a pencast.  You can then review the pencast any time you like.  You can keep your pencasts private or you can share them publicly.

This is a great way to replay an entire class to review it . . . or to go back to a part of the class that puzzles you so you can replay your note taking while the voices of your professor and classmates are also replayed.  What a great way to review your newly learned A&P concepts!

If you use the  Smartpen to record others, make sure you have their permission first. Not all professors permit their classes to be recorded. And test out the volume settings and your location in the room to get the best recording.

Here is a simple example of a pencast that quickly summarizes one concept in A&P.

Bone Cell Actions
brought to you by Livescribe

A great study project for your A&P study group would be to produce pencasts like this example and post them to share with the whole class!

To use the Smartpen you have to use the special paper that comes with the pen. Livescribe also provides a file that allows you to print the special paper on your computer printer. However, I prefer to use the inexpensive notebooks available from Livescribe.

This video briefly summarizes the concept of the Smartpen and how you can use it to improve learning.



If you already have some pencasts for A&P that you've posted for public viewing, why not post the link here? Just "comment" on this blog article and include the link.