How to improve usability of digital note-taking systems

Egle SamuleviciuteT860328-141

Mälardalen UniversityVästerås, Sweden

egle.samuleviciute@gmail.com

ABSTRACTThe act of note-taking has been recognized as one of themost important activities in the process of studying. Thisis especially relevant in an academic setting. While note-taking is an everyday action for most of the students few ofthem relies on digital note-taking systems. There have beenseveral studies done analyzing the act of note taking in thetraditional way but the impact of technologies have not beenrecognized yet. Furthermore, technologies not only providea better way of maintaining notes but they also influencethe way people learn and remember. The article discussesdifferent aspects of note taking systems proposing a moreuser friendly solution for some of the problems.

As a result of the research there have been noted that bothusability and outcome of learning should be considered whiledesigning a digital note-taking system. Simple features suchas copy-paste can decrease attention to the study materialproducing undesirable effect in learning.

This article is useful to gather some ideas for a digitalnote-taking application design.

KeywordsNote-taking, usability, learning process

1. INTRODUCTIONThe author of this article has intention of creating a note-

taking web application that would provide a better way forknowledge management. While gathering requirements therewas a change to look at the subject more deeply. First thingthat have been noticed was the fact that people prefer tra-ditional ways of taking notes instead of using technology.Second, technology has created new ways of supporting notetaking and that has effect on the process of learning [1, 3,2].

The main hypotheses that author had while investigatingthe subject was that note-takers resistance to use digitalnote-taking systems is related to usability issues. Therefore,there have been done research on the subject trying to findkey features of note-taking process that could be improvedwith a digital note-taking system. All the features presentedare parts of the existing or desirable tool and discussed fromdifferent points of view, having both usability and learningoutcome in mind.

Few authors in their research stated that technology has aspecial influence in the way people take notes [1, 3, 2]. Fea-tures like copy-paste have changed the speed of recordingideas. On the other hand, there is not enough research done

on how some digital system functions are reflected on thelearning process. In the article of A. Bauer and K. Koedinge[1, 3, 2] the simple functions like copy-paste and note-sharinghave been researched and outcome of learning has been com-pared. The result showed that different tools not only havechanged the way students took notes but the results of testsgiven later were different. This states that functionality ofany note-taking system should be consider very carefully asit influences the note-takers performance.

The most related work in this area is conducted by AaronBauer and Kenneth Koedinger. They are designing simpli-fied note-taking applications and researching how each ofthe functions reflect on studying result. After investigat-ing copy-paste technique nowadays scientist concentrate onhighlighting feature effect.

In the part 2 the reader will find different types of notesand system approaches discussed. In this part reader will al-so find explanations of features of note-taking system start-ing from basic ones and extending to copy-paste, highlight-ing and note-sharing functionality. The part 3 is displayingthe list of features for novel system: idea drop, overview sec-tion, index card approach, reviewing features. At the end ofthe paper reader will find summary and conclusion of theresearch paper.

2. IMPROVING NOTE-TAKING SYSTEMWhile a process of note-taking has been widely recognized

as a mean to learn and process the new material, many stu-dents still choose a traditional way of taking notes - paperand pen. This of course has many advantages as the methodis easy to use, is quite common and has a benefit of helpingto memorize things from movements of a hand while hand-writing.

On the other hand, digital notes are easier to maintain,can be formatted better and changed easily over time. Dig-ital systems for note taking can provide a variety of toolsthat are not available in the traditional way.

The hypotheses why people prefer traditional way insteadof using note-taking applications is that there are usabilityissues in those systems. Usability is a term used in human-computer interaction field to describe the ease with whichpeople can use a particular tool. In the rest of the documentwe will discuss various aspects of note-taking process andpossible usability improvements. The purpose is to providesome ideas for creating a better note-taking tool that bothencourage learning and is easy to use.

2.1 Types of notes

There are different kinds of notes that we take in our ev-eryday life: shopping list for Christmas presents, quick noteof the email address of an old friend you just run into, smallnote of the nice saying you liked in the book you read. Thoseand similar types of notes are left out from the scope of thisarticle. We will concentrate on two types of notes that aretaken in academic setting to improve performance. Althoughthere are several discussions of what is a best approach toimprove academic performance, note-taking is found to beas an important learning strategy [4].

We will discuss two situations where notes are taken. Oneis during lectures and video conferences, where new ideasand knowledge are presented in a quite rapid rate. The oth-er setting is while reading the new material that needs tobe remembered later on. Both types of notes can be easilyprocessed with note-taking application.

2.2 Note-taking system approachesWhile considering the design of digital note-taking system

there are two approaches that could be used as a startingpoint both with their benefits. One way would be to stay onthe safe side and develop a system which would be as closeto traditional pen-and-paper note-taking process as possible.The second would relay more heavily on the features thatbecame available only with digital systems.

One thing is common for both approaches, designs shouldbe tested by users and evaluated with regards to both behav-ior and desirability [3]. As mentioned in the study, there is atrade-off between enforcing behaviors that promote learningand creating a tool that students enjoy using.

2.2.1 Mimicking traditional note-taking processMimicking the traditional way of taking notes on paper

provides users an user experience that is very close to whatthey are already familiar with. This could encourage thoseusers that have not been using technology too often to usethe system. On the other hand, some authors state, that thisapproach is derived from absence of empirical data in thisfield [3]. That is, some methods used might be not the bestway to increase learning as few of these type of systems havebeen evaluated.

2.2.2 Developing novel toolsThe second path to take would be to accept the fact that

digital note taking techniques are changing the behavior ofnote-takers. Using some new tools can change the processof note taking [3] and present a completely new user expe-rience. New features such as note-sharing can take longertime to learn if users are not familiar with them so theyhave to be designed very carefully. Furthermore, novel toolshave not been researched and they could perform worse inlearning outcomes as users spend more time concentratingon the tool itself instead of the task.

2.3 Basic features of the systemBefore we begin more detailed discussion about individual

features of note-taking system, lets see what functionalityshould be there from a very start.

First of all, one of the major usability issues of all systemsis loosing the work of the user due to the system crash orsimilar problems. This should be avoided at all times andthis part of the system should be paid a significant attention.As usability professionals state: never ever lose the work of

the user [5]. The auto-save functionality could be providedas well, so that in a stressful situation of rushing to get allideas recorded, user would not have to waste time on saving.

Second, the system should help students by providing asimple interface to correct their spelling mistakes as theytent to appear more often while typing in a hurry. Thatwould help especially to those people who are taking notesin different language than their mother-tongue.

One general rule of thumb for any note-taking applica-tion is to keep the user interface as simple as possible. Themore extra functionality the system provides the harder it isfor the users to concentrate on their main task. Note-takingapplication should not provide all the functionality of texteditor. The purpose of application is different and so the fea-tures should be adopted to promote better learning. Evensuch an everyday technique as copy-paste should be consid-ered few times before including it in the application as itpromotes verbatim note-taking [1]. There are other featuresthat still have to be researched: typing, text formating, high-lighting, picture-diagram drawing as their impact in learningprocess is not fully tested.

2.4 Note taking speedIn the setting where notes are taken from the lecture or

video, the speed of typing have to be quite rapid. The mea-sured average rate of speech is about 2-3 words per sec-ond, while average handwriting speed is only around from0.2 to 0.3 words per second [4]. Even though average typingspeed is a bit faster (around 0.55 words per second), it is notmeasured having in mind that notes have to be taken withconsideration of what information is being presented, filterincoming sources, organize and restructure existing knowl-edge and to process newly received information while takingnotes. This indicates that success in taking notes during lec-tures rely on two assumptions - user is able to type fast andis familiar with the system.

Before using the system in real time note taking, user hasto develop a certain degree of knowledge about the systemshe is about to use to be able to use it during the processof note taking on the time pressure. Furthermore, systemhas to be designed in a way that the amount of time userhas to spend learning it would be minimal. In the best case,system’s main functionality should be straight forward, sothat first time user would be able to use main tools withoutsurprises.

Additional help from the system could be word completionand other means of increasing the speed at which the useris able to record the ideas during the lecture.

2.5 Copy-PasteOne of the new tools that are available in most of note

taking systems is Copy-Paste when a person is able to selecttext in the source she is reading and to paste it in her notes.Several studies [1, 3, 2] have been done to analyze the effectthat Copy-Paste technique has on student learning results.Such a feature let students to record the ideas they thoughare important from the text much faster and more efficient.On the other hand, one of the main concerns about thistechnique is that it encourages verbatim note-taking anddecreases the attention that students pay to what they areactually recording.

The figure 1 shows how note taking techniques influencethe amount of ideas recorded.

Figure 1: Note-taking technique and ideas recordedcomparison (source [2]).

Figure 2: The comparison of note-taking techniquesand ability to recall information over the time(source [2]).

The three studies mentioned above made and experimentwere students were selected to use two similar note-takingapplications except that one of the applications had copy-paste function disabled. The studies showed that even thoughverbatim notes were much greater with copy-paste, the totalamount of notes expressed in their own words was similar.Furthermore, there was no difference in two groups results ofthe test taken right after studying. On the other hand, stu-dents that had copy-paste functionality enabled performedpoorer in the test held few weeks later, indicating that theyfailed recording the knowledge into their long term memory.

As you can see from the figure 2, different note-takingtechniques has effect on how material is recalled after sometime.

This indicates that even such a simple function like copy-paste should considered very carefully in order not to havenegative result in learning outcome. To avoid a problem ofreduced attention as well as the passive selection, ratherthan active generation, while using copy-paste technique

there are several solutions suggested. The easiest way is todisable the copy-paste all together, but then students re-ported that they missed this functionality in the application.Other way would be to restrict the size of the selected textfor copying. While this has slightly better outcome in recall-ing a material later on, there was no statistically significantdifference. Even more, students reported restricted selectionas the most disliked feature of the note taking system.

Looking from the user point of view, restricting the size ofselection is in the conflict of usability as it is not natural tohave functions that work only half way and user would haveto adopt to new technique, and so eventually user mighttry to avoid using the system. The better solution wouldbe to provide a feature where user could be able to decidefor herself either she wants to have the feature enabled ordisabled. Another approach would be to highlight the pastedtext in different color so that user would pay more attentionto it.

The note to take at this point is that while some of therestrictions are able to increase positive learning outcomethey reflect on the satisfaction of note-taking process.

2.6 HighlightingThe other feature that could be provided for the user is

highlighting and notes attached to the area. This is a differ-ent approach to take notes in text documents for easier re-viewing later on. On the other hand, the effect of this type ofnote taking is not yet investigated even though A. Bauer hasmentioned designing a tool to test this [2]. The hypothesesis that such a technique might have a similar disadvantagelike copy-paste where students tend to pay less attention tothe material while having no need to rephrase ideas in theirown words.

2.7 Note-sharingAnother emerging feature in novel systems is sharing and

active collaboration. Users are able to view each others notesor even work together on the same file, making changes orgetting involved in the discussion.

This functionality of note-taking systems has an impacton the way notes are taken both online and offline [3]. Ithas been noticed that students changed their personal note-taking style in order to increase readability of their notesand make them more comprehensible to others. It has beenfound that shared notes had more comments than individualones.

Unfortunately this does not indicate what kind of note-sharing features should the system promote or how note-sharing influence the learning outcome. It is obvious thatsystem functionality can help to manipulate note-taking be-havior but research has not been done yet and so the out-come is unclear. The main focus of such an investigationshould be to find which features of the tool would supportlearning.

3. FEW IDEAS FOR NOVEL APPLICATIONWhile investigating a process of note taking in various

sources [4] few ideas for new features of an improved note-taking application emerged. All features are dealing withsome aspect of note taking which would increase the usabil-ity of the system. The main goal of developing a new systemis to enable more integrated knowledge management for it’susers.

3.1 Idea dropNote-taking in lectures and video conferences quite heav-

ily depends of the ’working memory’, that is on the short-term memory [4]. While trying to listen, understand andrecord the new ideas, it is hard to keep up, especially typ-ing, which as mentioned above makes recording ideas slower.

One of the tools that could help users to keep track ofthe lecture, record ideas and be able to organize their notessimultaneously would be a small window next to the mainworking space on the application. The purpose of such awindow would be to allow user to ’drop’ the ideas that heis not able to fully express now because of the new mate-rial coming. The ’Idea drop’ window would prevent forget-ting something important and ideas could be dragged anddropped in the main document later for formating. This fea-ture could make it easier for user not to have an overload of‘working memory’ and increase the positive results in learn-ing as studies showed that recorded ideas were much morelikely to be answered correctly in the test [3].

3.2 Overview sectionAnother side feature that would increase usability of non-

linear note taking systems such as mind-map, could be arelatively small window on the side of the main note takingsystem that would display an overview of the whole docu-ment. This feature would give the user a sense of how thedocument looks in broader view while providing a possibilityto concentrate on one particular part at the given moment.

3.3 Index Card ApproachAs an expansion of the traditional way to take notes there

is a technique to record key ideas from various sources onindex cards. The technique is very useful for writing re-search papers and have been suggested in several collectionsof tips. The note taking system could easily provide a possi-bility to keep your index cards digital. For example, a systemlike ndxCards has a fully developed approach. Looking fromusers perspective, the system has a drawback as it’s interfaceis complicated and overloaded with functionality. In the userfriendly application, the system could provide a simple toolto put existing notes into small portions, selecting each asseparate index card but still keep the structure of full doc-ument. This way, the user would be able to gain advantageof index card approach and still keep her notes as an usualdocument.

If the system would be designed to concentrate on notereviewing, index card system would be very useful. In thatcase, the system should provide two modes: note taking andindex card reviewing. The index card mode then could pro-vide functionality required to use index cards.

3.4 Reviewing featureWhile variation in note-taking process has different influ-

ence on the results, three-fourths of review studies showedthat reviewing notes has a positive effect [1]. Reviewing pre-viously made notes always introduced a positive results inmemorizing and recalling the facts.

One of the newly introduced features of note-taking sys-tem could be a functionality to review notes. If note-takerwould like to memorize the information and store it on theirlong term memory, there should be repetitive reviewing done.The system could provide a functionality to set up the datesfor reviews and reminders about it. If the system would be

designed to use frequently, the items that have to be re-viewed could be highlighted or even ordered in the impor-tance of the reviewing. Other option of the reminder couldhave a form of e-mail or sms message. A review as short asfive minute can significantly increase the positive results onrecalling the data later.

In conclusion, the system could provide an extended func-tionality for reviewing but features should be researched tofind methods that bring the best results.

4. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSIn this article we have looked at different properties of

note-taking process and have been trying to identify the keyareas of digital note-taking system in order to find ways toimprove their usability. We started with the discussion aboutdifferent types of notes and defined that in this article on-ly academic types of notes will be taken into consideration.Later in the article there have been explained two differ-ent approaches of an digital note-taking systems, where firstone tries to mimic the traditional note-taking process andthe second tries to develop a novel way to take notes. Next,there have been explained what basic features should note-taking system posses and how typing speed influences theability to take notes. Furthermore, the article explained howcopy-paste, highlighting and note-sharing techniques are in-fluencing learning outcome. Lastly, the paper presented sev-eral ideas of features that novel application could include.

To sum it all up, the aim of this article was to show thatcareful consideration is needed while planing features of adigital note-taking system. Furthermore, some features arein conflict as they can provide a better learning outcomebut decrease the usability of such a system. In conclusion, afunctional and serving learning purpose note-taking systemshould be developed hand-in-hand with studies of how eachfunctionality affects learning process.

5. REFERENCES[1] A. Bauer and K. Koedinger. Evaluating the effect of

technology on note-taking and learning. Montreal,Quebec Canada, April 2006.

[2] A. Bauer and K. Koedinger. Pasting and encoding:Note-taking in online courses. In 6th Int. Conf. onAdvanced Learning Technologies, pages 789–793, 2006.

[3] A. Bauer and K. Koedinger. Selection-basednote-taking applications. In Proceedings of ACMConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems,pages 981–990, April 2007.

[4] T. Makany, J. Kemp, and I. E. Dror. Optimising theuse of note-taking as an external cognitive aid forincreasing learning. British Journal of EducationalTechnology, 40(4):619–635, 2009.

[5] J. Raskin. The Humane Interface: New Directions forDesigning Interactive Systems. Addison-WesleyPublishing Company, 2000.