How collaboration influences the effect of note-taking on writing performance and recall of contents

Abstract

Note-taking is a commonly applied pedagogical strategy across all areas of education. In higher education specifically, there has been an increasing push to get students involved in collaborative note-taking in order to increase their engagement with the contents and to inspire deeper and more meaningful learning. However, there is a lack of clarity as to whether collaborative note-taking positively influences student performance. For this reason, the present study (n = 189) compares the learning performances of students in a collaborative note-taking condition to those of students in an individual note-taking condition. The students were compared in regards to their retention of information and their performance on academic writing. The study found that students from the collaborative note-taking group performed better on measures of retention, while the individual notetaking group performed better on measures of academic writing. These results suggest that while the collaborative processes of group notetaking lead students to retain more information, these processes do not lead to better performance in academic writing. The present study fills a gap in the research by showing how the effectiveness of collaborative note-taking might depend on the learning context or on the desired result of the class.

Analyzing collaborative note-taking behaviors and their relationship with student learning through the collaborative encoding-storage paradigm

“…instead of an experimental one because the primary aim is to better understand the effects of encoding on storage and learning performance when taking collaborative notes rather than to compare the effects of individual versus collaborative note-taking, which my coauthors and I have already done in prior studies (Courtney, Costley, Baldwin et al, 2022;Fanguy, Baldwin, Shmeleva et al, 2021). In the present study, I wish to measure specific collaborative encoding behaviors to better understand their effects on the quality of notes produced and the learning performance of groups and their constituent members.…”

“…While most of the research on note-taking examines contexts where notes are taken by a single learner, recent advances in cloud computing enable multiple students to take notes together in a shared online document. Research on online collaborative note-taking is still in its infancy, although a number of studies have shown benefits to this practice, including higher grades (Orndorff, 2015) and improved recall (Fanguy, Baldwin, Shmeleva et al, 2021). Although the cognitivist viewpoint that underpins the encoding-storage paradigm offers a useful explanation of the mechanisms by which individuals process and store information when writing notes collaboratively, none of the studies on online collaborative note-taking have examined the effects of such learning activities through the encoding-storage paradigm.…”

“…The first study from this line of research (Fanguy, Baldwin, Shmeleva et al, 2021) showed that collaborative note-takers produced significantly more complete notes than individual note-takers, but that individual note-takers wrote a significantly higher number of words than did members of collaborative notetaking groups. Collaborative note-takers significantly outperformed individual note-takers on quizzes, but individual note-takers earned significantly higher scores on writing assignments than did collaborative note-takers.…”

“…Student survey responses revealed that students tended to divide the labor of note-taking by assuming defined roles within the groups, a practice the author surmised helped to ensure the comprehensiveness of the notes. Fanguy, Baldwin, Shmeleva et al (2021) conducted a study that specifically compared the learning outcomes of individual and collaborative note-takers. Collaborative note-takers were found to perform better on exams than individual note-takers, but individual note-takers received higher scores on writing assignments as compared to collaborative note-takers.…”

Student Engagement Mechanism of Online Learning: The Effect of Service Quality on Learning Management System

“…This is essential for improved student experiences, academic success, and retention rates [1]. In higher education, significant efforts have been made to involve students in collaborative notetaking and boost their engagement with the material for more substantial and expressive learning [2]. Distance learning reduces social connection, student well-being, and studentteacher engagement in general.…”