Impact of the provision and timing of instructor-provided notes on university students’ learning

Abstract

Since the advent of PowerPoint and course delivery programs like Blackboard, more instructors in higher education are providing students with outlines of their lectures and expecting students to supplement these with their own notes. Although some have found that instructor-provided notes appear to enhance student learning, others suggest that students benefit from the act of taking detailed notes since it engages them in the learning process. While controlling for fidelity of lecture delivery, the present study examined the impact of three conditions on the posttest performance of 154 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in an introductory special education course: (1) no instructor-provided notes were available, (2) instructor-provided notes were available immediately following lectures, and (3) instructor-provided notes were available before lectures. Analyses revealed that pretest scores were significantly correlated to posttest scores and that students who did not receive instructor-provided lecture notes received statistically significant lower posttest scores than students who received instructor-provided lecture notes before or after lectures. The implications for university instruction are discussed.