Blog Nineteen - Guided Notetakers
One of the most common information retention strategies used by students is taking notes. However, this puts a lot of pressure on students to attempt to decipher what information they should keep within their notes and what they should leave out. It also disadvantages them if they are unable to process information quickly, causing them to sometimes fall behind in lectures because of taking notes. For this reason, teachers developed Guided Notetakers to enable students to focus on retaining the information rather than trivial tasks like keeping up with the pace of the content or how to organize their notes. Guided notetakers are teacher-prepared handouts with specific blanks to fill in select critical ideas. They aim to engage the student and have them focus on the key points, keeping their attention centered and in tune with the lecture. Guided notetakers have students interact with the material by taking notes, allowing them to absorb the information.
The organized nature of Guided Notetakers makes it so that students are not overwhelmed by having to plan out the structure of their notes, instead providing them with the tools needed for them to divert their attention from the inconsequential matters of decisions that will not help their learning to simply keeping their thoughts reserved for the core ideas of the lesson. Ohio State University’s article, “Guided Notes: Improving the Effectiveness of Your Lectures,” that utilizes both student and teacher perspectives to analyze the validity of Guided Notetakers, mentions how one college student commented that Guided Notetakers “clue you in on what is important.” This is an indication that Guided Notetakers allow students to identify the concepts that are at the core of their lectures, helping with conceptualization since they have a solid idea to center the rest of the lecture around.
This anchor idea applies to instructors as well. Having a streamlined document of the most critical ideas ensures that instructors have a way to see whether their lesson is too overwhelming for students. While instructors may want to cover a significant amount of material, the use of guided notetakers allows them to identify the essential concepts that students must grasp and focus their delivery on those key points
Plus, an easy starting point for notes can help to spark motivation within students to take notes rather than remain a passive observer during their lectures. They only need to focus on the key terms and concepts, giving them a grounding anchor point that makes the process of starting notes simple and easy to do. The use of guided notetakers has been shown to significantly improve student engagement and information retention compared to traditional open-ended note-taking methods.
Guided notetakers provide structure and organization, but they can often come across as overly strict to students who prefer to take their notes in a more fluid way. Each and every student comes with their own way of thinking, so some may be averse to a rigid structure, being told what parts to note and what not to and how they should lay out their notes. Many students personalize their notes by drawing out key concepts or writing formulas to the side, which is why there exists a variety of different notation formats (Cornell notes, mind maps, etc.). It is important to recognize that note-taking, just like many aspects of student learning, is a process that differs between individual students.
Also, there are many concerns that Guided Notetakers can take away the opportunity for students to figure out what the key concepts are by themselves, hindering their critical thinking skills. If they are given the main ideas outright, they may not engage as actively with the material and miss the chance to develop their own understanding.
The discussion of Guided Notetakers connects to a larger discussion ongoing in student education: the independence of students in choosing their study methods. Guided notetakers provide support which is aimed to allow students to focus on learning the material, however, there is a line between providing support and doing work for the students. Notes in general have students synthesize, analyze, and save material for later study, and are an essential part of student life. The debate surrounding the effectiveness of guided notetakers versus open-ended note-taking is an important one, as it touches on the balance between providing structure to support student learning and allowing for student autonomy and critical thinking.
