Innovations in note taking

Reimagining how familiar study tactics such as highlighting and note taking can be improved continue to attract my attention. I am particularly interested in how technology can augment these traditional study tactics. I also continually argue that there is an important distinction between reading and studying that is often ignored by those who continue to argue for the advantage of paper. With listening/watching a presenter, this distinction is more obvious. It is not just the initial exposure that is important, it is what can be taken from this exposure study.

I am not impressed by all innovations and not always clear on why an innovation adds much. For example. this description of the Hamline Notebook argues for the paper-based collection of notes and then the digitization of these notes.

I have suggested for some time that students use a note-taking system that allows the simultaneous taking of notes and recording of the audio content of a presentation. One system for doing this is SoundNote. The advantage in systems that do this is the linking of the notes with the sound. When reviewing notes and encountering a confusing annotation or what seems to be missing information, the notetaker can select the nearest preceding annotation and listen again to the audio. This system offers an efficient method for addressing the memory load generated by simultaneously attempting to understand and record information.