Note This: How to Improve Student Note Taking. IDEA Paper #73

Students are incomplete note takers who routinely record just one third of a lesson's important information in their notes. This is unfortunate, because the number of lesson points recorded in notes is positively correlated with student achievement. Moreover, both the activity of recording notes and the subsequent review of notes are advantageous. The authors offer instructors a menu of research-based advice for bolstering student note taking: provide complete notes, provide partial notes, provide note-taking cues, re-present the lesson, provide pauses and revision opportunities, control laptop usage, control "cyber slacking," use PowerPoint slides effectively, and teach note-taking skills. They also suggest ways to help students transform their notes during the note-review process and SOAR (select, organize, associate, and regulate) to success.