Today in my EDCI 336 class we discussed the many benefits of Sketch-noting. In the presentation by Rich McCue, he explained how laptop note takers remember less than their pen & paper counterparts because they are processing lecture content at shallower levels & therefore remember less. When students take notes with a pen & paper they are having to condense the material and put it into their own words because they are unable to keep up with the lecturer otherwise. This method helps move information from short to long term memory very effectively. On the other hand, laptop note takers have more difficulty recalling information because they are not summarizing it but writing it down word-for-word off the lecturer’s slides

• Sketch-noting
  • engages your whole mind
  • creates a visual map
  • helps w/ concentration
  • taps your visual language
  • 70% of people remember material if they draw a picture while only 30% of people remember it by just writing it down
• Tips
  • use google image search for inspiration
  • patterns- linear, radial, vertical, path, modular, skyscraper, popcorn
  • make your drawings in 4 seconds or less- no detail needed
• Process
  • start w/ a title &/or drawn photo of speaker or topic
  • proceed with your notes

I personally think that sketch-noting has many benefits but it would take a lot of practice to use effectively in a classroom setting. I also am a perfectionist so creating 4-second pictures would be difficult for me to do, whereas writing down notes is quick & simple in my mind. I can easily write down words without worrying about what they look like because I have so much practice note-taking. I would like to change up my note-taking to incorporate more sketch-noting techniques because I am prone to just copying down word-for-word what is on my professor’s slides. I think that it will be a learning curve but I am excited to see how it helps with moving my learning into my long-term memory.