How Should Middle-School Students with LD Approach Online Note Taking? A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study explored how the encoding of text ideas is affected when students with learning disabilities (LD) take notes from Web-based text. In the quantitative phase of the study, 15 students took three kinds of notes - typed, copy and paste, and written - with each kind of notes addressing a different topic. After taking notes, students performed poorly on two immediate measures of facts learning. Cued-recall test performances were best for topics noted by writing, whereas multiple-choice test performances were best for topics noted by copying and pasting. Students performed worse on the cued-recall test when it was readministered four days later. In the qualitative phase of the study, followup interviews indicated students preferred copying and pasting their notes (for practical reasons) and found typing notes to be distracting, which made learning problematic. A textual analysis of students' notes confirmed that students took mostly verbatim notes when typing or writing, which has been linked to shallow processing, and perhaps further accounts for the low level of learning that occurred. The mixing of quantitative and qualitative data (in the qualitative data analysis phase of the study), along with learning and motivation theories, provides justification for teachers to instruct middle-school students with LD to use copy and paste to take notes from Web-based sources.

Effects of Synchronous Online Writing Instruction for Students With Learning Disabilities

“…The findings of the current study support findings of the three studies identified earlier. In the current study, highlighting and inserting comments to identify text elements alleviated some of the cognitive demands of writing, a finding similar to that of Igo et al (2006), whose investigation of methods for notetaking indicated that students with special needs preferred the copy and paste method because it was not laden with spelling, writing, or typing demands. While the highlighting and comment insertion was helpful as reported by the tutor, a preformatted digital scaffold, like the ones used by Englert, Wu, and Zhao (2005) and Englert et al (2007), might have increased students' planning time and facilitated a clearer line of reasoning throughout the essay, permitting the students to distribute the cognitive load.…”

The transformers

“…Even if a strategy is belief consistent, enacted behavior may not parallel the belief. Despite a belief in the effectiveness of note-taking, many learners deliberately avoid note-taking, because the strategy is perceived as effortful and potentially promotes anxiety when lecture notes are spelled wrong or written incorrectly (Igo, Riccomini, Bruning, & Pope, 2006). Despite a belief in the effectiveness of note-taking, many learners deliberately avoid note-taking, because the strategy is perceived as effortful and potentially promotes anxiety when lecture notes are spelled wrong or written incorrectly (Igo, Riccomini, Bruning, & Pope, 2006).…”

How Do High-Achieving Students Approach Web-Based, Copy and Paste Note Taking? Selective Pasting and Related Learning Outcomes

“…CP note taking is a common student behavior (Igo et al, 2003;Igo et al, 2006). When students are instructed to take notes from the Web, the majority seems to prefer copying and pasting their notes to typing their notes.…”

“…When students are instructed to take notes from the Web, the majority seems to prefer copying and pasting their notes to typing their notes. In a mixed-methods study, 12 of 15 students with LD described CP to be vastly more appealing that both typing notes and writing notes from Web-based sources (Igo et al, 2006). Middle school students with learning disabilities (LD) seem to share this preference.…”

“…For example, a study by Igo et al (2003) showed that 86 of 108 high school juniors chose to paste their notes when both pasting and typing were available. Whereas high school students' preference possibly signifies diminished motivation (Igo et al, 2003), middle school students with LD describe pasting notes as a less stressful activity than typing or writing notes (Igo et al, 2006). In a mixed-methods study, 12 of 15 students with LD described CP to be vastly more appealing that both typing notes and writing notes from Web-based sources (Igo et al, 2006).…”