Hybrid Approaches in the Digital Age -Blending Analog and Digital Writing
The advantages of both analog (physical) and digital methods of taking notes are brought together in a hybrid note taking approach. It gives you the ability to take advantage of the benefits of each method, depending on the circumstances and the way you learn best.
No conference, meeting, or school dorm would be complete without the ability to take down those precious notes. Luckily, note-taking apps have simplified this practice to the point where anyone can easily create elaborate notes. Aided by artificial intelligence, these apps can turn your scribbles into electronic text, saving them for when you need them at a later stage.
Analog Note taking
This kind of note taking refers to the good old, trusted pen-and-paper method of taking notes. Apart from the occasional stylish pen or pencil, using pen and paper to take notes rarely offers any pizzazz. There are however benefits to this method of taking notes, even if we don’t realize it.
When people interact on a physical level with pen and paper, more often than not people are much more engaged in what they are writing. Whether it stimulates a deeper focus or allows for hands-on interaction with content, people seem to have better focus when taking notes using the analog method.
The first ripple from this engagement effect is that people display an improved memory of what was written when measured against listening while not taking any notes. By writing what is being said the human brain strengthens the pathways to information in the brain. Furthermore, people seem to be able to express more creativity this way. Creative solutions to problems are often generated through brain maps and summaries.
Digital Note taking
This kind of note taking refers to taking notes using a digital device like a tablet or similar device. Often a stylus is used to take notes.
A stylus is a kind of inkless pen that can be used on electronic devices that are sensitive to touch. For the most part, however, digital note taking refers to using an input device that has the available letters arranged together on the screen of the device, or even on an input device such as a keyboard.
What it lacks in sensation and possible engagement is makes up for with its ability to organize and store a lot of information, without running out of space to write. It is almost limitless in writing real estate.
Having an electronic copy of notes can also, because of its nature, be replicated quite easily. This means that the information captured can be copied and sent to others. This capability improves collaboration, especially over distances, and having the ability to include multiple role players.
Applications offering the best of both
The hybrid note taking approach combines all of the positives between the two methods and very little of the downsides. Note taking apps available from software vendors today, can use AI to bolster the already feature-rich environment of digital note taking.
By incorporating the aspect of tactility, through the use of a stylus, with powerful underlying software, creating colourful brain maps becomes as easy as a breeze. Together with gesture and text recognition, hybrid note taking brings the user experience to the next level.
Removing limitations found in the practices of taking notes either in an analog way exclusively or only digitally.
Taking notes without the ability to include breathtaking graphics is a thing of the past. Most note taking apps provide the ability to create stunning graphics and notes without much effort. These applications specifically have a low learning curve to encourage adoption and distribution.
Conclusion
Both analog and digital note taking have distinct drawbacks. Hybrid note taking allows colleagues and students alike to benefit from all of the good and suffer from none of the bad.
Boosting creative input into projects, brainstorming, and studying. Tactile engagement improves focus and over the long run improves the retention of information. Boosting recall and clarity. Note taking apps improve collaboration between parties by allowing users to save their notes and share the notes with others.
This can be achieved by emailing the notes or even printing the notes onto paper.