Note Taking vs Note Making

Difference between just writing what you hear and writing the processed information

Sitting at my study desk I was reading an article that got opened from some cross link article. I paused at one line and couldn’t go past it. I asked myself “Kumar, what have you been doing so far?”.

Pen dropped from my hand and I started thinking about this.

Note taking vs Note making.

Do I take notes or make notes.

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We learnt it in school. As a kid I used to attentively capture every word she said, as teacher quoted textbook chapters.

When I started sketchnotes, as all others we are normal note takers, I continued this practice of capturing atleast main keywords of the speaker. Writing and literally sketching every word and keyword.

And I progressed in my sketchnoting journey my note taking transmuted to note making. Consuming, processing, reflecting, and capturing the notes.

Here’s a sketchnote I created (somewhere in 2021) as a reflection of how to move on sketchnotes journey. Consumption and Production are 2 sides of sketchnote coin.

In this post I have tried to capture some of the very intersting articles from the web on the topic of note taking and making. It will also serve as a bookmark archive of these articles for me to refer anytime in future.

Make notes like Werner

While the title of this article reads Take notes it actually meant Make notes.

Werner, CTO of Amazon, the tech expert is asking us to take notes using pen and paper. And use powerful digital use to elevate the notes to make it reflecting and useful in life learning.

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Note taking - Digital Typed vs Analog

Another article is a research paper on Brain Activation Differences During Memory Retrieval. It’s comparative study of effects on brain and it’s part when notes are taken using pen+paper and digitally type on mobile.

Here’s an excerpt from the research paper

behavioral study showed that students who took longhand notes performed better on conceptual questions than those who took notes on laptop computers (Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014). A reasonable explanation for this interesting finding would be that the use of a paper notebook enables users to summarize and reframe information in their own words for encoding, while the use of a laptop tends to encourage them to write down information more passively (i.e., more nearly verbatim). The former processes thus naturally ensure deeper and more solid encoding via the active process of making notes

I have made use this research somehown unknowingly. A sketchnote that I made in 2022.

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Taking Notes: There's a Lot More to It than Meets the Eye

Now this article literally talks how note taking is just another routine for schools. It’s expected. It’s easy to be taken as granted and viewed as an effortless task.

But it’s not.

A school teacher reflects on note taking skill to learn effectively. Pretty long article. So have patience. Read mindfully.

Lecture is the prime time for your brain to begin encoding the material we are learning – don't waste it; rather, make the most of it!

And to do that you have to be present, mindful, and attentive.

That makes note taking and note making an important skill to learn and grow.

When done well, by students or teacher, sketch notes do not just capture ideas, they tell a story. And oh, how our brains love stories

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What is note taking?

The last article is from component of inclusive and equitable teaching practices at University of Illinois, Chicago. For me who studied with basic self starter note taking methods this article came as quite surprise. How note-taking is being taught and included as an important skill in teaching methods.

This teaching guide explores proactive strategies for instructors, to enhance students' note-taking skills, structure lectures for effective note-taking, reduce the need for individual note-taking accommodations for students, and employ inclusive techniques such as guided and collaborative note-taking to improve note-taking outcomes for diverse learners.

Citing this article from Stapleton-Corcoran, Erin (2023). “Note-taking.” Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois Chicago.

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That’s all I have for today.

If you like content of this newsletter please click that like button and share it in your network. Help me spread the word about this amazing note taking skill.

Happy Sketchnoting.