Too Much Technology

Technology like smart phones, tablets and laptops can be really great tools for learning. However, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing!

Of course it is a good idea to keep notes of things you learn in class. Writing down the examples the teacher writes on the board is great because you can go back and review it later very easily in your notebook. This is very important forlearning new vocabulary, for example.



But some students think it is faster to take a picture of the examples on the board with their cell phones. Yes, it is faster... but is it very easy to review the notes later?

On a cell phone or a tablet, the screen is usually too small to see the notes clearly! Also, many students forget to organize the photos so that they are easy to find and review.

If you are using a notebook for your English lessons, all of your notes are together and organized over time, automatically!

The best advice for using technology is to be sure that you can easily review the information later. For example, if you want to record a conversation or part of a class using your tablet or another device and it is easy for you to listen to it later, that's great! Just be sure the file is organized and easy to find.

You can also use your technology to look words up in the dictionary. Again, just be sure to keep this new information in an organized place that is easy and comfortable for you to look at again.

Studying on your own is a big part of learning English, so when you decide how to take notes, keep this in mind!