by Matthew LaFevor, Geography.
Note taking adds value to in-person learning, which some students question after years of remote classes. Many seem confused about how to take notes in class and why it is important.
One characteristic of first-year students I noticed this year is that many seemed confused about how to take notes in class and why it is important. I suspect this ties to the effects of pandemic-era remote classes on student assumptions about in-person learning at the university level.
The incoming cohort of first-year students last semester (Fall 2022) was the first to have spent their last two years learning remotely. During this time, teachers often recorded lectures and posted them online, making them available for students to consult throughout the semester as they worked through packets of materials and multiple-choice worksheets and studied for exams. Though remote learning was necessary, knowing that each class would be available to view anytime probably dis-incentivized active learning during the designated class time. With lectures online, students probably questioned why they should show up for class at all during the designated time. Some of us did not take attendance as carefully as before, which may have compounded the problem. When students attended class, they seldom, if ever, actively took notes. From students’ perspectives, there was probably little justification for taking notes since materials were recorded online. This was understandable given the situation, though the situation has since changed.
Students accrue many benefits from learning how to take notes. One of these is that taking notes can serve as an important exercise in judgement. Students must decide what information is important based on their own reading and comprehension, instructor guidance, and class discussion. Comparing notes with other students during review serves as an active form of learning about a topic, about one’s own perceptions, and about the value of understanding how classmates perceive what is important. The classroom experience is ephemeral and taking notes is a means of documenting what seems important at the moment. Organizing information on the fly is good training for life. Not all of it can be prepared for.
In the post-pandemic classroom, I’ve noticed that student note-taking skills are severely deficient. For the first time, I witnessed my large intro class just staring back at me—not blankly or disinterestedly, but as if their only task was to sit and passively absorb. Heads were not bobbing up and down and looking from overhead screen to computer or paper, back up to me or the screen, and then down again. Instead, student gazes were fixed on me and the slides, and there were few efforts to record information, thoughts, or important points. Discussions often started slowly, as if we were trying to communicate in a new language. During the end-of-class review, it was apparent that students were not retaining as much as in pre-pandemic classes.
There had been other warning signs before this that point to a larger, post-pandemic issue—namely, confusion about how to “do college”. For example, on the first day of the semester, after walking into my large intro class, I noticed the class was in a state of complete silence. Nobody was talking or interacting, and I didn’t have to raise my voice over the din of student chatter to welcome them, which was the typical pattern. Of course, some first-day jitters are normal, and I remember these well from my pre-pandemic class introductions. This was different.
Students seemed confused about why there were there. I don’t point this out to make light of the situation, only to say that new students—especially first-year students whose last two years of high-school were under remote learning—appeared unsure about what to do in class. After explaining the class format, questions quickly followed: Why don’t you record and post all of your lectures online? Do you take attendance? How do absences affect our grade? Is class also available online for those who can’t attend? Can we take the exams online?
I explained to the class the value of in-person discussion, learning, and collective review of materials. Part of this emphasized the importance of taking notes, an opportunity provided by the question: Why don’t you give us an exam study sheet, a prep sheet, or a list of what we need to know for the exam?
My response to students was that I do provide a study sheet. We develop the sheet together during the semester as students incrementally write down or type important ideas in the form of notes. I recommended taking notes during each class and using them to review, individually or with classmates, for the exams. How do we know which of our notes are important and will be on the exam?
I responded that students will not know exactly which notes will be on the exam because I can only test a portion of what students should learn. Students should learn more than what is covered on the exam. Students should think of the exam as a partial audit of all they should learn throughout the semester—just a cross-section of their total comprehension. I told students that this was probably different from their high school experiences. Here, in college, students are no longer just receiving knowledge, but are working towards it, together and collectively, with me and with classmates, in person, in this classroom. Although this is probably different, it should be fun! And I told them I was looking forward to the semester with them.
As the semester progressed, most students adapted to the post-pandemic reality, became aware (at least subconsciously) that classes are ephemeral, and reluctantly came to terms with the need to take notes. Their learning curve and accomplishments were impressive, and we often spent time in class discussing note taking, reading, and studying strategies. We discussed what students found most useful and compared these to what I found most useful as an undergrad decades ago. They seemed amused that I wrote and kept most of my notes in college notebooks, which they mostly typed on computers.
On the last day of class I congratulated students for having come so far during the semester. They had met the unique challenges of shifting from years of remote learning to in-class learning. They had weened themselves off of recorded lectures, teacher study sheets, and the conveniences of zoom classes. Collectively, these students proved just as capable as in previous classes. They also carried with them the lessons of hardships felt during the dog days of the pandemic, which no generation of students in recent memory had to contend with.
Despite these accomplishments, their test scores were lower than those of most pre-pandemic classes, and we didn’t dive as deeply into the materials as I would have liked. Compared to pre-pandemic classes, we spent more time learning how to “do college” and spent less time on the course topic. I think this catch-up time was probably necessary, and I hope it will serve them well in the future.
As this cohort moves through the university experience, we should remember that many still lack a firm understanding of the basics of in-person learning and engagement. Here, I’ve focused on note taking as one important in-class activity that was abandoned during the pandemic. There are, of course, other issues and learning deficits to address as well.
As teachers, we should remember that for some students, abandoning the flattened computer screen and (re)engaging with the physical classroom, in all its manifold dimensions, may be intimidating. We should be especially welcoming to these students and patient with their progress. We should show through example why in-person learning remains fundamental to intellectual engagement and personal growth and gives unique value to the college experience.