Given prevalence of computers, I’m wondering if your sons/daughters found handwriting or printing skills - being able to write things down quickly and legibly - a necessity in college.
I’d assume students today tend to create papers and perhaps capture in-class notes on their notebook PCs. Do colleges still require students to write in “blue books” for in class tests?
Some of my daughter’s classes required handwriting final exam short responses and essays on blue books. Also she has hand written lab reports. With all the mathematical formulas, it would be harder to type the lab reports.
Finally, she is one of the rare ones who write down lecture notes in-class, and then organize/rewrite them before tests. She says the process is very helpful in studying.
While she can read cursive to some level. She has never practiced or used cursive. Always printed.
Most people use laptops for notes, even homework can be online now a days. writing and printing are a necessity if that’s what you prefer, most people just type. The one time it does become important is during midterms and finals as many times you have to write long essays that have to be legible.
A lot of times in my case during my regular test, i was given multiple choice questions, short answers and at the end an essay prompt which had to be emailed or passed in essay format the next class date. Hope this helps.
Yes, blue books are often still used.
My handwriting sucks, always has, but I still received good grades on exams written in blue books. I think profs are good at reading a range of handwriting.
One of my kids prefers to take notes by hand as the physical process of writing things down helps engrain the info into one’s memory. There’s something about the hand/brain connection.
You can find many articles/research on the subject but here are a couple:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret-don-t-take-notes-with-a-laptop/
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/17/474525392/attention-students-put-your-laptops-away
Both of my kids took handwritten notes in class I believe. I think all of the papers that they handed in were typed (sine were uploaded and not even printed out). In general, exams were hand written. My S’s handwriting is terrible but legible and it didn’t seem to hurt him.
I had to keep a lab notebook last semester. Handwriting, format, grammar, and content all counted towards the grade.
It’s impossible to get through college without having to handwrite anything. Or at least it should be. Basic skill.
Agreed. My college uses blue books. I use cursive for any humanities finals, printing in my STEM finals. I take notes, by choice, by hand. Does my penmanship match the style of how I was taught in grade school? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But it is legible. However, I also think the professors/TA’s can are used to a wide range of penmanship styles.
My d told me how she usually ends up with a good study/project/lab group;
When the time comes to form small groups. She grabs a notebook and a pen, then scans the room for others who have done the same. When she finds 1, or 2~3 of them clustered together, she grabs her bag and moves to there, says greetings and stays there. Hand note takers are usually hard working and dependable ones, if not also smart ones. They have never failed her.
@SculptorDad LOL – your D has a great theory there!
My D takes notes by hand and actively dislikes note taking by computer. Even my dyslexic son prefers note taking by hand, though it depends on the class, for him. It is a fact that writing things down helps engrain them in your mind. This is at the core of Wilson Method, which is one of the most common of all multi-sensory teaching methods for dyslexic kids.
Handwriting notes actually helps you learn the material with a hand / brain connection that does not occur when typing notes (perhaps there’s a neuroscientist on who can explain why). So, yes, good note-taking and writing skills are an absolute must, imo, before, during, and after college.
I was surprised to learn through a friend and recently on a thread here on CC that many professors do not allow note taking by computer or tablet unless the student has a special accommodation.
My children have beautiful handwriting (catholic school). One of my daughter’s is not a very skilled writer, but she scored very high on the ACT writing portion and I really think it was in part because her work is neat and tidy (and short and to the point - no flowery language for her).
Many professors still use blue books and don’t allow electronic note taking. My child has a physical issue with handwriting so has an accomodation through the disabilities office to type. They usually assign a note taker for kids with these issues so notes in class aren’t a problem. It really depends on the person if they have the hand/brain connection. I have that but my son even without the disability factored in learns by listening above all else. Just like others have that instant visual recall of a written document, or the hand/brain thing, he has amazing recall of auditory material. So not taking notes and just listening is actually far better for him. He occasionally tapes lectures and uses books on tape. I think professors are just sick of kids playing with the electronics more than anything else in terms of prohibiting them. For exams the blue books seem to be the best way to prevent cheating.
There’s no handwriting police in college. But you’re gonna have a problem if your writing isn’t legible on an exam.
20, 30, 50, 100 students typing on a keyboard during class can be pretty noisy. I wouldn’t blame a prof for banning computer notes during class. Plus, if they have laptops open, who knows if they are taking notes or messaging someone on Facebook?
I have horrible handwriting - I mean atrocious! - and never had problems with a professor not accepting my handwriting. I wouldn’t worry about that too much.
Daughter says she saw her physics classmates’s perfectly correct and reasonably legible homework answers taken points off noting “Not Neat”
@SculptorDad that’s brilliant!
My son has dysgraphia, so handwriting is a real problem for him and he’s had a typing accomodation since late elementary school. It’s unfortunate that he need to take notes that way, since I’m aware of how helpful that hand/brain connection can be. And he still needs to hand write for math and science classes, since we haven’t found a good way to do calculations using a keyboard.
Also, there was an article in the NYT Magazine a year or two ago about how note taking by hand is better because pretty much everyone (obviously excepting those with certain disabilities) writes faster than they type, so you get down more information taking handwritten notes.
A friend of mine who is a professor at a large university says they still use blue books because there’s no way to manage having thousands of students taking exams at the same time with the necessary security.
So, to agree with everyone else, yes handwriting matters in college.
If you have in-class exams (in any subject, whether you write in a blue book or on the exam paper itself), you need to be able to hand write your exam answers so that the instructors can read them when they are grading the exam.
@millie210 , Kudos for your son overcoming dysgraphia to that level!
As a current college student, my professors in all of my humanities classes (these were smaller sections, mind you), outright banned the use of electronics in class. I used blue books for exams in basically every class, with the exception of the multiple choice tests in my general chemistry lecture. My friends studying applied math/physics/any science hand in assignments in writing. I haven’t taken a single humanities lecture class, and do not plan on doing so, but in those, I think typed notes are acceptable, but exams are also given in blue books. In science lecture classes, the professors don’t care at all, but frequently say that typed notes are nonsensical in their class.
So, yes, I think handwriting is important at my college and will continue to be so, unless major changes take place. All of my humanities professors were/are relatively ‘young people’ - just completed/finishing their PhDs, so I don’t think it’s a generational thing.