When it comes to taking in a new piece of information, there’s something about putting pen to paper that just hits differently, compared to typing something on a laptop, tablet, or phone.
While there’s no shortage of ways to replicate notepad-style note-taking via apps and websites nowadays, the small joys get lost in translation: gliding a smooth gel pen over lined paper, sharpening a fresh No. 2 pencil, uncapping a neon highlighter, or dipping a feathery quill into an inkwell.
Some studies related to college studies—each essentially fitting the definition of a study within a study—show that the physical act of handwriting alone is good for memory retention.
Others show that students who handwrite during classes are more likely to use their own words to explain a concept rather than copy down an instructor’s lecture verbatim.
“I stress to students that if you are simply writing notes during class to give the appearance of being engaged, you aren’t helping yourself to learn,” said Chris Hite, a longtime filmmaking and film studies professor at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria.
“Education isn’t about strict memorization. … Student notes should form a narrative about the subject,” Hite told the Sun in an email interview. “Immersing in the subject is key, even if it is a class outside your major.”
While his students aren’t allowed to use electronic devices to take notes, Hite said he always has extra paper and pens ready for those who show up to his classes empty-handed.
“I experimented with permitting laptops for note-taking, and I found students were engaging in chats instead of note-taking,” Hite said.
Handwritten notes aren’t totally immune to other forms of distraction, such as becoming fodder for paper airplanes or the occasional doodling. But even doodles have their perks when it comes to preparing for an exam, if it’s helpful for the note-taker to easily associate a sketch with something they’re expecting to be tested on, according to a 2024 study published in Springer’s Educational Psychology Review.
“I don’t mind doodling,” Hite said, “but there is a line between doodling and simply drawing a picture during class time.”
Patrick Shattuck, an English instructor at Hancock, allows laptop-use in his classes but said most of his students “still use old-fashioned paper and pencil” by choice to take notes during his lectures.
“Whatever students are comfortable with is fine with me,” Shattuck said via email. “I want students feeling relaxed and confident, and if a laptop evokes those feelings, then that’s fine with me.”
During his time as political science major at Cal Poly SLO, grad student Ells Taylor took a handful of classes where he wasn’t allowed to use his laptop to take notes, which “did bother me, because I much prefer typed notes,” he told the Sun in an email interview.
“I understand why professors like to ban laptops. Most of the time students aren’t writing anything and are instead doing something unproductive,” said Taylor, who graduated from Cal Poly in 2024. “However, I really don’t like being forced to write notes by hand. … That annoyed me, but I never dropped out of any classes for it. It just meant I had more work to do.”
After handwriting notes during the lectures, Taylor would later type those same notes onto his computer outside of class, he explained.
One of his favorite note-taking software systems is Obsidian, which he said helped him correlate his lecture notes with his textbook reading notes by laying them out comprehensively in a “central repository to always refer to,” he said.
“Notes, in my view, only get you so far,” said Taylor, who’s currently enrolled in a graduate studies program at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
For Taylor, it’s the act of returning to your notes—whether they’re handwritten or typed up—that can make or break a test or assignment.
“If you never go through them again to study, they’re rather useless,” he said.
Giving certain computer and iPad applications the old college try also informed Cambria resident Jill Thayer’s outlook on modern notetaking, during both the in-person and virtual fine art courses she teaches through Hancock and other institutions.
“I [recently] observed a student in my art history class at Allan Hancock College writing notes with a stylus on an iPad that displayed digital lined paper,” Thayer said in an email interview. “I tried it out by writing a few words in a chancery cursive calligraphic script.”
Over the course of her 20-year career in teaching, Thayer said she’s noticed a lot of her students adapt to digital forms of notetaking but still sees many who handwrite traditional notes as well, even during some of her Zoom-based classes.
In some Zoom windows during her lectures, she has spotted students taking notes on a desk via pen and paper and others typing along on their keyboards.
Aside from her teaching work, Thayer is a constant learner who recently completed a 40-course program to boost her credentials. Offered by the Appraisers Association of America, New York, the yearlong virtual program granted Thayer a certification in personal property and fine art appraising, with a focus in post-war and contemporary art.
Thayer completed her final exam earlier this year, which entailed studying from a mix of notes she typed and handwrote, she said.
“I use both traditional and digital note-taking techniques,” Thayer said. “For me, I find that one supports the other in learning comprehension. … As a student, I would take notes on the computer for clarity and organization but would gain greater comprehension if I wrote the notes traditionally by hand, as this seemed to reinforce the content.”
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 11 – Sep 18, 2025.