t’s happened to everyone.

You’ve sat attentively through a meeting or a class. You’ve taken page

after page of notes. You’ve fought through the hand cramps (if you’re a
traditionalist), or the temptation to check Facebook (if you’re the modern
type).

But when the session ended and you stepped out the door, you’ve been
struck with a funny realization — you can’t remember a single thing
that was just said.

Related Reading: How to Record ANY Online Meeting

The good news is, you aren’t alone. In fact, new research has begun to
suggest that instant-forgetfulness is actually common for almost everyone
— and that it might be the act of taking notes itself that’s to blame.

Bloomberg Business summarizes the findings in a recent article, Taking

Notes Kills Your Memory. The human brain, it appears, is wired to
recognize when information is being documented, and to “intentionally
forget” that info so as to be able to free up room for other things. The
brain assumes that since the information is written down, there’s no need
to remember it.

While it’s true that one of the benefits of taking notes is creating a
reference for later, these findings should give us all reason to pause
and reconsider the rationale most of us offer for taking notes in the
first place — to help us remember. It turns out, taking notes instead may
simply be signaling to our brain instead to forget everything as quickly as
we can write it down.

So Written Notes Don’t Work.

What does, then?

Study after study has shown that the best way to help the brain remember
is to actively engage with the information.
In school, that might mean thinking critically about information presented
and answering questions in class, participating in discussions or
experiments, and discussing the materials with peers.

At work, that often means actively participating in meetings, sharing ideas

and asking for clarifications, and also taking in colleague’s complete
presentations, so as to be able to critique the overall proposal.

In both cases, taking notes gets in the way of that level of cognitive
engagement with the materials at hand. Writing out notes commands
focus on individual points rather than overarching themes.

Given the findings above, taking notes may be the worst of all
options — not only do you miss the big picture, but you let your brain
know it’s okay to forget the details too.

Active participation in your classroom or conference room corrects that

learning behavior, signaling to your brain that this material is absolutely
important to consider and remember. And it never hurts to get recognized
as the person who’s willing to speak up, ask questions, and share ideas.

What About Creating A Reference

Document?
While it’s likely that we won’t always need the notes from any given
meeting or class, it certainly is nice to have something to fall back on. And
that’s where technology can make things a whole lot easier.

Today’s schools and universities have pioneered a new means of

recording the details of their classrooms, tapping video to capture class
sessions in full. Thanks to inexpensive cameras and simple, flexible video
platforms like Panopto, lecture capture has become a regular part of
many learning environments — enabling students to go back and rewatch
anything they’ve missed, search for specific moments and concepts, and
get access to every last detail covered, without needing to put pen to

paper.

Best of all, by eliminating the need to take notes, lecture capture

technology enables students to participate more freely in class. Northwest
University has noted, “with Panopto in place, the stress of attempting to
record or write down every last possible detail of each lecture was
eliminated. Instead, students can focus on the central ideas of the
discussion, internalizing the material more effectively.”

Many businesses, too, lean on the same technology to record meetings,

discussions, conferences, and more. It’s an increasingly common way for
professionals to record kick-off meetings, project discussions, and other
essential project conversations. With a simple webcam or mobile phone,
participants can record the meeting in full — freeing themselves to
participate actively knowing that the details will be captured. Those
recorded meetings can then be quickly shared with selected participants
and executives via the corporate YouTube for anyone who may want to
revisit them.

Watch a project status meeting captured with Panopto below: 

Stop Typing. Start Recording.

Panopto’s video platform connects with any just about any recording
device and integrates with leading video conferencing solutions so you
can capture and share important presentations and discussions by simply
pressing record. Panopto automatically optimizes your videos for easy
playback on any device and makes every word spoken or shown in the
video searchable. So stop taking notes and start capturing everything in
a searchable video – at the press of a button – with Panopto.