Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Online notetaking 75 
thinking that you have demonstrated. Te higher the classifcation 
of your degree, the greater your level of critical thinking. To think 
critically, though, you need to understand the topic and be able to 
think about it. Getting a degree is not a memory test. Instead, it 
is a test of understanding. Hence, typed notes may hamper your 
chances of getting the best degree you can achieve as they tend to 
help memory more than they help thinking. But you can’t achieve 
high levels of critical thinking if your handwritten notes are sep-
arated from your other learning materials. Tey need to be inte-
grated. Otherwise, you will waste time going between digital and 
handwritten items. Also, you will not be able to spot the connec-
tions between materials as easily. 
Colour coding handwritten notes 
One way you can integrate handwritten notes with your digital 
materials is to use colour coding. You could choose specifc co-
lours for each topic or theme and then store your handwritten 
notes in a folder of the same colour. You could then colour-code 
your digital folders and documents to match. On an Apple Mac, 
you can do this easily as it is built into the operating system. 
It is a little cumbersome, but plenty of instruction videos on 
YouTube demonstrate how to do this. Alternatively, you will fnd 
instructions on how to change folder colours on a Mac on the 
website I have created to accompany this book, https://study 
ingonline.tips. If you have a Windows computer, colour-coding 
folders are not built into the system, so you will need to download 
software to allow you to do this. You will fnd a list of programs at 
https://studyingonline.tips. 
Once you have set up colour-coded folders on your computer and 
have matching physical folders for your handwritten notes and 
other printed materials, it will be easier to fnd relevant informa-
tion. For instance, you may be checking something in a green fold-
er on the PC, so all you need to do is open the matching physical 
folder to fnd relevant notes. 

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