The Effects of ICT and Longhand Note-taking on Students' Comprehension

With the advent of technology nowadays, taking notes by hand seems old-fashioned to most students nowadays. Typing on ICT devices (such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets), on the other hand, is preferable since it is more practical and can record more information. Note-taking (either by hand or using gadgets) is a powerful and inevitable way of learning. However, each mode of note-taking will have a different effect on students' understanding of course materials. A study by Mueller & Oppenheimer (2014) found that students who took notes by hand performed better in their learning and retention compared to those who took notes using ICT devices. The purpose of the present study was to find out whether note-taking using ICT devices affect the students' comprehension of the lecture. This study used a quasi-experimental design, with 50 English department students of Bina Nusantara University as the participants. They were divided into two groups as the control and experimental group. Participants of both groups were shown various videos from TED talks, with topics related to their majors. While watching the videos, the control group was instructed to take notes by hand, while the other group took notes using their various devices. After that, participants had to do the test regarding their comprehension of the lecture videos. The results revealed that students who made notes using handwriting performed better in comprehension test than students who made notes using their ICT devices. The findings implied that the traditional pen and paper note-taking is more effective than ICT devices in improving learning and understanding.