Classroom testing has historically been viewed as a method to evaluate knowledge. However, a growing body of literature underscores the idea that testing can be used for more than just assessing students competencies. In fact, the act of taking a test itself has proven to provide meaningful effects on learning and long-term retention. The idea that repeated testing enhances long-term retention has been dubbed the testing effect. In a variety of settings, research has established that compared to rereading or reviewing, practicing retrieval through repeated testing leads to poorer performance on immediate tests but superior long-term memory on delayed tests. To date, the testing effect has not been examined in conjunction with student-generated materials, such as lecture note taking. Lecture note taking is ubiquitous in postsecondary education, and students view it as an important classroom activity. Note taking, however, is a very complicated and multi-faceted process, which often leads students to take poor or incomplete notes. Professors have recognized this difficulty and begun providing their own, more completed, elaborated, and well organized notes to students in an effort to compensate for their incomplete notes. This dissertation examined whether repeated recall is superior to repeated review for the retention of information when students study their own notes vs. the instructor’s notes. A sample of 117 undergraduate students watched a recorded lecture while half of them took notes, and the other half received the instructor’s notes. Students then studied the notes through repeated review or repeated recall before taking either an immediate or final test on the materials. The independent variables included note-taking (own notes vs. instructor’s notes), review (repeated rereading/reviewing vs. repeated recall/testing), and time of test (immediate vs. delayed). The dependent variables included total test score, performance on memory items, and performance on inference items. Results of this study did not find a testing effect. Rather, the outcome found a significant main effect for time of test across dependent variables (memory items, inference items, total test score), indicating that students performed better on the immediate test than the delayed test. There was a significant study method x time of test interaction, demonstrating that students’ in the review condition performed better on the immediate than the delayed test but only on memory items. No significant interaction was found for the recall condition. There was also a trend for students to perform better on memory items when they repeatedly reviewed rather than recalled the instructor’s provided notes, however the method x notes interaction did not reach conventional levels of significance. Differences between the results of this study and those from other testing effect research are hypothesized to be due to the repetitive and lengthy of nature of this experiment and the lack of student interest and motivation. Future research should continue to explore the testing effect in conjunction with note taking.

The present thesis focuses on the teaching of interpreter`s notes within selected universities in the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of this theoretical-empirical study is to find out how lecturers teach note-taking, which sources they use, and how much importance they assign to teaching note-taking. Findings from German universities are compared with responses from research participants from a university in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of this study introduces the topic of note-taking in a wider context of interpreting, discusses the prevailing systems of note-taking in more detail and deals with teaching note-taking and some of its aspects. Tools and technologies used for note-taking are also mentioned. In the second, empirical part of the thesis, the goals, chosen methodology and possible limits of the research are presented. Participants and universities selected for the research are also introduced. The data is collected by means of questionnaires and semi- structured interviews. Findings from both of these methods are then compared based on thematic areas. Although the target group of the research is relatively small, and the results are therefore not fully decisive, a number of noteworthy trends have been identified which may serve as basis for future research. Also, the...

Note-taking is ubiquitous. Whether we write down a grocery list, type our intentions for the day, or record a voice note for a friend, we often use notes to externalize our thoughts. We “delegate” this information to “in the world” extensions of our cognition, thus lightening our cognitive loads. The current thesis investigates the effects of note-taking as a form of cognitive offloading in an applied research setting. The note-taking literature is fragmented regarding practical note-taking recommendations for educators. The current thesis advances our knowledge and understanding of the crossover between cognitive offloading, note-taking, and individual differences. The laboratory research presented in this thesis uses novel materials that mimic the classroom environment, with future goals of translating this research into the actual classroom. Chapter 2 explores note-taking from a cognitive offloading perspective and demonstrates how differences in note-taking quantity affect recall. Chapter 3 showcases how differences in learning between note-taking modalities are seen sporadically and only when they intersect with the type of test. Chapter 4 investigates the importance of individual differences (e.g., working memory capacity) when exploring cognitive offloading and note-taking, and demonstrates how surface findings are not generalizable once we investigate underlying individual differences. While our research started as a way to understand how we offload information via note-taking and its effects on learning, we hope our findings and general discussion encourage the reader to explore the generalizability of applied cognitive research. Note-taking is a complex process, and our future work aims to investigate how learners differ and how we might disseminate research in education to be inclusive and diverse. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Imagine a world without technology or external resources to express your thoughts: no “to-do” lists, calendar reminders, sketches, or notes. Since our memory capacities are limited, we often maintain a record of information “in the world”, as opposed to only using our limited memory stores. This form of mental delegation is known as “cognitive offloading”. One way we offload information for future access is through note-taking. In an educational setting, note-taking influences our ability to learn and review information. How we take notes, and their effects on learning, have been debated in the literature. This thesis explores the impact of cognitive offloading and note-taking on learning, and demonstrates the importance of exploring individual differences (e.g., memory capacity and note-taking preference) in applied educational research. Throughout this thesis, we prompt our audience to frame note-taking and cognitive research takeaways through an inclusive educational lens.

According to recent statistics, the number of people in Sweden who choose to go into higher education after upper secondary school has grown compared to 25 years ago. Lectures within some university programs are conducted entirely in English, and Swedish students’ abilities to understand, record and recall the information given at lectures are therefore crucial for their academic success. The course English 6 in upper secondary school is supposed to cover different ways of taking notes while listening. Three qualitative interviews were conducted in this study to examine how teachers interpret the course’s note-taking aspects, and how they intend to work with note-taking in the classroom. A quantitative study was carried out with students in upper secondary school to look into their experiences of note-taking in the course English 6. Results show differences in how the teachers approach note-taking and how they choose to work with note-taking in the classroom. A majority of the students participating in the study claimed not to have been introduced to different ways of taking notes in the course English 6. This information calls for teachers to make sure note-taking skills are being taught in an explicit way. More knowledge and communication among teachers also seem necessary in order to help students develop strategies for note-taking in the best way possible.

許多ESL及L1學生認為做筆記是有利於學術聽力的策略。本研究的目的在於重新檢視有否做筆記對於英語非母語的學習者在學術聽力理解以及回憶上的影響。此外，本研究也比較程度高與程度低學習者所做之筆記，並調查個人對於做筆記的信念及習慣。 本研究一共有225位大一學生參與從TOEFL-IPT之中所篩選出的學術演講聽力測驗。過程中，學生依個人習慣決定是否記下筆記。於聽力測驗結束後，隨即讓有寫筆記的學生填答回溯問卷。於一星期後， 所有做筆記及不做筆記學生在沒有複習機會的情況下，進行回憶測驗。所有學生也填答關於做筆記之信念與習慣的問卷。 本研究的結果如下: 1)即使大多數學生對於做筆記皆認為有助其聽力理解，在本研究中，做筆記幾乎沒有發揮效益。2) 對於程度高的學生而言，做筆記並未對其聽力理解產生幫助。3) 對於程度低的學生而言，做筆記仍然沒有顯著的效益。4) 在記憶測試方面，做筆記與否似乎也沒有顯著差異。5)程度高的學生傾向於選擇寫下重要概念，程度低的學生傾向於隨意記下聽到的單字。 本研究根據以上五個方向所得結果，進一步提供相關建議，作為教育學者， 教師，以及學生們參考。 / Note-taking for ESL and L1 learners is widely recognized as one of the potentially beneficial academic listening strategies. The purpose of the present study was to re-examine the effect of note-taking for L2 learners in listening comprehension and retention on note-taking/non-note-taking conditions. Besides, the comparison between the notes from the high and low proficiency L2 learners was conducted. Some note-taking beliefs and habits from the L2 learners were also investigated. This study adopted a quantitative method, and the subjects were 225 freshmen in one university who took the listening comprehension test from the TOEFL-IPT lectures and took notes when they felt necessary. Following the lecture comprehension test, subjects who took notes were given a retrospective questionnaire. One week later, all subjects took a retention test which was derived directly from the lectures without review. After the retention test, all subjects were asked to complete a general perception questionnaire on note-taking. The major findings were summarized as follows: 1) Note-taking exerted little facilitative influence on comprehension performance even though most learners assumed the positive effect was there. 2) Note-taking did not help high proficiency subjects on comprehension of the TOEFL-IPT lecture listening. 3) Note-taking seemed to have limited merits for low proficiency subjects in comprehension. 4) No significant mean difference of the retention scores was found between note-taking and non note-taking group. 5) The high proficiency note takers were initiated to take notes by listening to discourse signals ahead of the upcoming of the main ideas, while the low proficiency note takers tended to jot down trivial words randomly. Finally, pedagogical implications and suggestions derived from previous discussions were presented mainly for teachers and learners.

(in English) The thesis looks at interpreter's notes that are taken during consecutive interpreting. The thesis focuses on note-taking of numbers and links, two elements that are generally recommended to write down. The theoretical part briefly summarizes information about the topic and looks at the note-taking handbook by Andrew Gillies (2017). Based on the thesis of Kateřina Matrasová (2012), the empirical part presents two experiments to find out if numbers and links are captured. The experiments were carried out on two groups of students from the Institute of Translation Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University: 9 students from the 3rd year of the BA study programme English for Intercultural Communication and 6 students from the 2nd year of the follow-up MA study programme Interpreting: Czech and English. The analysis of the students' notes in the 1st experiment shows that in total the students noted down correctly 20 out of 25 numbers reaching an 80 per cent success rate. The MA students had better results (an 88 per cent success rate compared to 75 per cent success rate of the BA students). It can be seen that all the students had a system of noting numbers and that this system proved helpful to them. The 2nd experiment indicates that the students are less likely to capture links in...

Cell phone ownership among student populations is approaching ubiquity and many cell phone owners interact with their devices frequently throughout the day. Since cell phones often hold the power to connect and entertain their owners at any given moment, it is possible that students' increased proximity to cell phones during a classroom lecture may lead to increased distraction from academic tasks. This study investigated whether the mere presence of a cell phone, self-reported general frequency of cell phone use, and anxiety related to being separated from one’s cell phone were related to classroom lecture outcomes. Undergraduate participants (N=72) unknowingly signed up for one of three groups: phone-on-desk, phone-under-desk, or phone-at-front-of-room. In each condition, participants were asked to take notes during a video lecture; their protocols were subsequently scored for lecture note quantity, lecture note quality, and performance on a lecture content quiz. After controlling for self-reported general cell phone use frequency and cell phone separation anxiety, results indicated participants who had their phones on their desks during the lecture wrote more complete ideas in their notes than participants who had their phones under their desks or at the front of the room. Additional analyses indicated the phone-on-desk group wrote significantly more propositions and complete ideas in their notes than the other two groups. These outcomes fall in the direction opposite to the stated hypothesis. Future investigations should consider students’ habituation to having their cell phones present and the possibility that the absence of one’s cell phone could be distracting enough to suppress academic performance.

Abstract This research investigated the extent to which taking notes influenced the quality of mock jurors’ decisions. High quality decisions were defined in this research as those which did not reflect the influence of the offender stereotype. The impact of note taking on the quality of jurors’ decisions is central to the judicial community’s concerns about note taking as a jury aid and their willingness to offer it in trial contexts. Previous research has argued that note takers make better quality decisions than non-note takers because note takers recall more trial content and make judgements that better reflect the evidence presented. However, according to dual process models of persuasion, high quality decisions should show evidence of both effortful processing of information and no influence of peripheral cues, such as stereotypes. To date, the existing literature has neglected to consider the extent to which note takers, as compared to non-note takers, are influenced by peripheral cues. The current research sought to address this by investigating the extent to which note taking and non-note taking mock jurors were influenced by stereotypes when making decisions in a mock criminal trial. In particular, note taking and non-note taking mock jurors were presented with a criminal trial in which either a male or female defendant had been charged with a stereotypically masculine crime (e.g., aggravated robbery or murder). The extent to which mock jurors were more likely to convict the male defendant and acquit the female defendant was used as a marker of the extent that stereotypes about offenders influenced participants in these studies. Across studies, note takers’ perceptions of guilt, evaluation of the defendant, and, in some instances, recall of trial content, reflected stereotype-based processing while the corresponding measures for non-note takers did not. This research then went on to investigate why note takers were more vulnerable to the influence of stereotypes than non-note takers. It was proposed that one reason might be the requirement that note takers simultaneously record and evaluate trial content. Previous research has shown that persons engaged in dual tasks rely on stereotypes to increase information processing efficiency and are therefore able to re-direct cognitive resources to the additional task. Consistent with previous studies, the current research found that both note takers and mock jurors engaged in an additional task during the trial were more vulnerable to the influence of stereotypes than non-note takers. Furthermore, whilst investigating interventions designed to reduce the influence of stereotypes on note takers’ decisions, results revealed that such interventions were less successful in improving decision quality than interventions that removed the requirement to engage in dual tasks. In particular, the influence of stereotypes was reduced when note takers were encouraged to elaborate on the content of their notes during designated review periods. Whilst methodological features of this research program--namely a reliance on student samples and the relative brevity of mock trials used--may have led to an underestimation of the reliance on stereotypes for note takers, the research has implications for the instructions given to jurors about note taking in judicial contexts. Specifically, the central conclusion of the thesis is that it would seem prudent to amend instructions to direct note takers to engage in the effortful review of their notes prior to coming together to reach a verdict.

Abstract This research investigated the extent to which taking notes influenced the quality of mock jurors’ decisions. High quality decisions were defined in this research as those which did not reflect the influence of the offender stereotype. The impact of note taking on the quality of jurors’ decisions is central to the judicial community’s concerns about note taking as a jury aid and their willingness to offer it in trial contexts. Previous research has argued that note takers make better quality decisions than non-note takers because note takers recall more trial content and make judgements that better reflect the evidence presented. However, according to dual process models of persuasion, high quality decisions should show evidence of both effortful processing of information and no influence of peripheral cues, such as stereotypes. To date, the existing literature has neglected to consider the extent to which note takers, as compared to non-note takers, are influenced by peripheral cues. The current research sought to address this by investigating the extent to which note taking and non-note taking mock jurors were influenced by stereotypes when making decisions in a mock criminal trial. In particular, note taking and non-note taking mock jurors were presented with a criminal trial in which either a male or female defendant had been charged with a stereotypically masculine crime (e.g., aggravated robbery or murder). The extent to which mock jurors were more likely to convict the male defendant and acquit the female defendant was used as a marker of the extent that stereotypes about offenders influenced participants in these studies. Across studies, note takers’ perceptions of guilt, evaluation of the defendant, and, in some instances, recall of trial content, reflected stereotype-based processing while the corresponding measures for non-note takers did not. This research then went on to investigate why note takers were more vulnerable to the influence of stereotypes than non-note takers. It was proposed that one reason might be the requirement that note takers simultaneously record and evaluate trial content. Previous research has shown that persons engaged in dual tasks rely on stereotypes to increase information processing efficiency and are therefore able to re-direct cognitive resources to the additional task. Consistent with previous studies, the current research found that both note takers and mock jurors engaged in an additional task during the trial were more vulnerable to the influence of stereotypes than non-note takers. Furthermore, whilst investigating interventions designed to reduce the influence of stereotypes on note takers’ decisions, results revealed that such interventions were less successful in improving decision quality than interventions that removed the requirement to engage in dual tasks. In particular, the influence of stereotypes was reduced when note takers were encouraged to elaborate on the content of their notes during designated review periods. Whilst methodological features of this research program--namely a reliance on student samples and the relative brevity of mock trials used--may have led to an underestimation of the reliance on stereotypes for note takers, the research has implications for the instructions given to jurors about note taking in judicial contexts. Specifically, the central conclusion of the thesis is that it would seem prudent to amend instructions to direct note takers to engage in the effortful review of their notes prior to coming together to reach a verdict.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Gregory D. Abowd, Committee Chair ; Mark Guzdial, Committee Member ; Blair MacIntyre, Committee Member ; James Landay, Committee Member ; William N. Schilit, Committee Member.