Notetaking Difficulties and Approaches Reported by University Students with Learning Disabilities.

Abstract

Thirty-one university students with learning disabilities (LD) were interviewed to determine their specific notetaking approaches, difficulties encountered, and requested accommodations related to notetaking. Results revealed that few students used comprehensive and effective notetaking approaches, with only a small number requesting notetaking accommodations. M41or areas of difficulty included speed of writing, paying attention, making sense of notes after the lecture, and deciding what information to record in notes. Implications for future notetaking programming as well as research are discussed. In colleges and universities across the country, postsecondary educators are confronted with the challenge of providing appropriate academic and support services for the growing number of students with learning disabilities (LD) (Bursuck, Rose, Cowen, & Yahaya, 1989; McGuire, Norlander, & Shaw, 1990; Shaw & Norlander, 1986). Appropriate services should include programs that will enable students with LD to meet the demands of required college courses. Effective notetaking skills are critical in university courses because the majority of professors rely on lecture presentations to disseminate important course content (Carder, Williams, & Dalgaard, 1988; Westendorf, Cape & Skrtic, 1982), and thus, college success is highly dependent upon a student's ability to record and remember key lecture information. Despite the importance of notetaking skills, little is known about the notetaking characteristics of college students with LD or effective notetaking interventions for this population. Self-reported notetaking characteristics constitute one important source of information critical to designing effective notetaking interventions. An extensive review of the notetaking literature (Suritsky & Hughes, 1991) and the literature pertaining to college students with LD (Hughes & Smith, 1990) revealed limited research on the self-reported notetaking skills of university students with LD. In one study (Cowen, 1988), 72% of college students with LD reported difficulty in taking adequate notes. Similarly, one-half of 48 surveyed students reported problems in recording notes fast enough (Bireley, Landers, Vernooy, & Schlaerth, 1986). However, in both studies, researchers did not evaluate specific areas of notetaking difficulty, nor were the reasons for students' difficulty investigated. Consequently, it is not known which factors contribute most to students' specific areas of notetaking difficulty. In addition, neither survey focused on the approaches that university students with LD use when recording notes. Kiewra (1988) criticized the emphasis of notetaking research on stimulus and outcome variables (e.g., presentation rate, information density of lecture content) and suggested the need to examine the active role of the learner (e.g., the approaches used by the notetaker during lectures), because this information has important implications for the development of effective lectures as well as the design and implementation of suitable notetaking interventions. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate the self-reported notetaking difficulties and approaches used by university students with LD. It was hypothesized that findings should contribute to an empirical base needed to design effective notetaking interventions and /or modify suggested approaches used in existing university-based programs for students with LD.