The Effects of the Medium of Notetaking on the Delayed Learning Effect of College Students: A Mediated Moderation Model

TL;DR

This study examines how taking notes by hand versus electronically affects college students' long-term learning outcomes, considering note length and review processes.

Contribution

The study introduces a mediated moderation model to explain how note-taking medium influences delayed learning, moderated by the review process.

Findings

The notetaking medium was positively correlated with delayed test scores regardless of whether reviews were allowed.

The mediating role of word count was significant only when reviews were allowed.

Abstract

This study systematically probed the relationship between the medium of taking classroom notes (virtual variable, electronic notetaking = 0 vs. traditional notetaking = 1), the word count in each medium, as well as the review process, and the students’ delayed learning effect for each notetaking approach. Data were collected from 189 college students, with the influence of gender and prior knowledge being controlled. The conclusions were as follows. (1) The notetaking medium was positively correlated with delayed test scores, irrespective of whether reviews were allowed or not. (2) The mediating role of word count between notetaking medium and delayed test scores was moderated by review. That is, when reviews were allowed, a significant correlation was found between the medium of the notes and the delayed test scores; when reviews were not allowed, the mediating effect of word count was not significant.

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