The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking

Pam A. Mueller; Daniel M. Oppenheimer

doi:10.1177/0956797614524581

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard

Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking

¹Princeton University
²University of California, Los Angeles

Pam A. Mueller, Princeton University, Psychology Department, Princeton, NJ 08544 E-mail: pamuelle{at}princeton.edu

Author Contributions Both authors developed the study concept and design. Data collection was supervised by both authors. P. A. Mueller analyzed the data under the supervision of D. M. Oppenheimer. P. A. Mueller drafted the manuscript, and D. M. Oppenheimer revised the manuscript. Both authors approved the final version for submission.

Abstract

Taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand is increasingly common. Many researchers have suggested that laptop note taking is less effective than longhand note taking for learning. Prior studies have primarily focused on students’ capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. The present research suggests that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. In three studies, we found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. We show that whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning.

Article Notes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.
Supplemental Material Additional supporting information may be found at http://pss.sagepub.com/content/by/supplemental-data
Open Practices

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