<p>A related question is whether taking notes by hand or by typing is more effective. <a href="http://pagesped.cahuntsic.ca/sc_sociales/psy/introsite/article/ecrire-ordi-crayon.pdf" rel="nofollow">Mueller &amp; Oppenheimer (2014)</a> found that taking notes by hand is more effective, and claim that this is because taking notes on a laptop results in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levels-of-processing_effect" rel="nofollow">shallow processing</a> of the material.</p>

<p>I suspect that the most effective strategy in this case is to print out the slides beforehand, and use the margins to summarize and re-phrase things in your own words. Copying the slides verbatim when they are already available online is probably not a good use of your time.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-19T15:03:17.073Z
2014-12-19T15:03:17.073Z
Jeff
<p>In many lectures I heard, I basically copied the lecture notes of the professor from the board into my notebook (I study mathematics). For me those lectures are comparable with going into the library, taking a textbook and making a handwritten copy from it.</p>

<p>The question I asked myself today: <strong>Is there a study investigating what is more effective? Going to lectures where I copy the professor's lecture notes from the board or making a handwritten copy from the lecture notes by myself?</strong> </p>

<p>(I assume here that the lecture notes are available, e.g. from the lecture's homepage)</p>

<p>On the one hand the professor might give additional comments in the lecture. On the other hand one can take the time he needs to understand a complicated paragraph when he works by himself and is not in the lecture. One also can skip easily understandable parts when he works by himself...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-14T23:31:00.927Z
@rch This question asks for a reference to a study, which might say something like "In population X, N% of students learned better from a lecture while M% learned better from written materials." It's not asking about how the OP learns better.
ff524
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-15T01:15:46.750Z
I *don't* think this is off-topic here, so I'm not suggesting that you *have* to migrate this; but I think that this question might get better answers on [cogsci.se]. If you want me to move it there, let me know (don't cross-post it, as that's [against SE policy](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/64068/is-cross-posting-a-question-on-multiple-stack-exchange-sites-permitted-if-the-qu)).
ff524
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-16T01:21:34.173Z
I ran a study that showed there wasn't much difference in having a lecturer vs. having the students figure it out on their own. Not what you are looking for but food for thought.
theMayer
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-16T18:35:49.820Z
@mayer06: Can you provide a link to your study as an answer? I really want to read it! I also will accept this answer because I do not think, that I will get a better answer...
gerd87654
<reference-request><learning>
Is there any study on the effectiveness of taking notes in a lecture vs taking notes on written materials?
gerd87654
# Is there any study on the effectiveness of taking notes in a lecture vs taking notes on written materials?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-14)

In many lectures I heard, I basically copied the lecture notes of the professor from the board into my notebook (I study mathematics). For me those lectures are comparable with going into the library, taking a textbook and making a handwritten copy from it.

The question I asked myself today: **Is there a study investigating what is more effective? Going to lectures where I copy the professor's lecture notes from the board or making a handwritten copy from the lecture notes by myself?**

(I assume here that the lecture notes are available, e.g. from the lecture's homepage)

On the one hand the professor might give additional comments in the lecture. On the other hand one can take the time he needs to understand a complicated paragraph when he works by himself and is not in the lecture. One also can skip easily understandable parts when he works by himself...

**Tags:** reference-request, learning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: @rch This question asks for a reference to a study, which might say something like "In population X, N% of students learned better from a lecture while M% learned better from written materials." It's not asking about how the OP learns better.  
> **username_1**: I *don't* think this is off-topic here, so I'm not suggesting that you *have* to migrate this; but I think that this question might get better answers on [cogsci.se]. If you want me to move it there, let me know (don't cross-post it, as that's [against SE policy](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/64068/is-cross-posting-a-question-on-multiple-stack-exchange-sites-permitted-if-the-qu)).  
> **username_2**: I ran a study that showed there wasn't much difference in having a lecturer vs. having the students figure it out on their own. Not what you are looking for but food for thought.  
> **username_0**: @mayer06: Can you provide a link to your study as an answer? I really want to read it! I also will accept this answer because I do not think, that I will get a better answer...  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-12-19. Score: 2

A related question is whether taking notes by hand or by typing is more effective. [Mueller & Oppenheimer (2014)](http://pagesped.cahuntsic.ca/sc_sociales/psy/introsite/article/ecrire-ordi-crayon.pdf) found that taking notes by hand is more effective, and claim that this is because taking notes on a laptop results in [shallow processing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levels-of-processing_effect) of the material.

I suspect that the most effective strategy in this case is to print out the slides beforehand, and use the margins to summarize and re-phrase things in your own words. Copying the slides verbatim when they are already available online is probably not a good use of your time.


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