Costley, Jamie & Fanguy, Mik. (2021). Collaborative note‑taking affects cognitive load: the interplay of completeness and interaction. Educational Technology Research and Development. 69. 10.1007/s11423-021-09979-2.

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Studies show improvements in learning performances for students who take notes collaboratively. In addition, it may reduce the extraneous cognitive burden that is placed on students. A study was conducted within a flipped scientific writing course to examine the effects of collaboration on student’s levels of cognitive load. Students were divided into two groups; one where they were given instructions to collaborate and one where they gave no such instructions. The study measured the levels of collaboration and the completeness of the notes produced. 

The Effects of Collaboration On Cognitive Load.

Collaborative note‑taking affects cognitive load: the interplay of completeness and interaction

Group work may lead to higher quality notes and understanding of the material. Collaboration can allow students to split up the note-taking, reducing the burden of taking detailed notes on everything. However, collaboration can also increase the amount of confusion.

The Effects of Group Work 

Cognitive load theory deals with how students receive information and then process it from their short-term memory into their long-term memory. Three components of cognitive load include extraneous load, germane load, and intrinsic load. 

Cognitive Load Theory

Studies have shown that group work leads to higher levels of knowledge. Carlsmith and Cooper showed that group work leads to more detail-oriented learning. Van Merrienboer and Sweller demonstrated that there would be an improvement in retention if one had to explain the concept to another. Sweller demonstrated that group work leads to more meaningful learning because it leads students to be more reflective.


Other studies relating to collaboration and its effects of student learning 

The present study investigates the relationship between cognitive load and collaboration. One group is engaged in collaborative note-taking, and the other is not. The study hypothesizes that the collaboration group will have higher germane cognitive load levels and lower extraneous cognitive load levels.

The Present Study(Collaborative note-taking affects cognitive load: the interplay of completeness and interaction)

The study examined the cognitive load of 171 students in a Scientific Writing course at a university in South Korea. The goal of the course was to teach the students how to write a manuscript on the results of their research for publication in academic journals. The course was in a flipped format. Students watched pre-recorded lectures and then had in-person collaborative meetings with their peers. 

Context(Collaborative note-taking affects cognitive load: the interplay of completeness and interaction)

There were nine sections in the course, and five were control groups meaning they were given no special instructions for collaboration. The other four sections were asked to take collaborative notes in small groups. Each group collaborated on google documents, one for each week, and took multiple-choice quizzes in which they were allowed to use their notes. 

Procedures(Collaborative note-taking affects cognitive load: the interplay of completeness and interaction)

It was found that the germane load was higher for students who participated in collaboration. This means that those students reported their cognitive improvement to be higher. This finding could result in collaboration producing more detailed original notes and the idea that collaboration produces feedback. 

Collaboration increases germane load 


It was found that collaboration increases extraneous load. This means that the collaboration increased the amount of confusion the students had relating to the course material. This could be due to the increased mental strain of collaboration and the increased amount of material the students consume. 

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