I’d never heard of the phrase “Doodlenotes” before, but I instantly loved it when I saw this part of Kelcie’s website. I am a very visual note taker and I routinely use mind-mapping, margin scribblings and other sometimes chaotic (to other people) forms of note taking. My boyfriend will often look at my notes, shake his head and walk away because this form of note taking just does not compute in his brain, but it works for me.
This part of Kelcie’s website caught my eye, not because of the content but because of the medium used. The colours, the visual affect of the notes is along the lines of how I take notes but it definitely isn’t for everyone and that’s fine. Although she’s posted these notes on her website, they are mostly just for herself and if others can’t make meaning of them, that’s okay.
But it does lead into some thinking on accessibility for students. On one hand, this note-taking style would probably be very difficult for students with specific learning disabilities like dyslexia or colour blindness but on the other hand, as a note taking style it is just one of many and one that I personally think is underutilized.
My schooling experience was one of a lot of memorization and regurgitation and different systems of note-take was not something that was taught. We used very old-school note taking and were meant to be as close to possible to the notes the teacher created. Elementary school teachers do tend to be more creative (I think this is a cross-cultural thing) than a lot of the high school teachers as far as integrating artwork and creative visuals in their classrooms so as I progressed through my schooling there was less and less colour and creativity as far as work and assignment opportunities available to us. On the whole, I think that most school systems disadvantage many of the visually creative students by not providing enough opportunities for them to live in their strength zones and note-taking is one area where I was able to create my own opportunities. I was never taught this style of not-taking, just learned it on my own so I was intrigued when some of our teachers at the school I worked at, asked me to come in and teach mind-mapping as a note-taking strategy.
For my first link, it’s actually not a content driven link but a mode driven link. As it’s just one mode of note-taking, I don’t think it provides real disadvantages as those who don’t like it, have other ways they can choose to take their own notes. I know when I finish my notes, I find them visually appealing and I appreciate that Kelcie has chosen to share hers as I’m often unsure of what I can do with mine. It left me thinking about how incorporating technology in the classroom and the flexibility of classroom teachers. Some of our teachers this year were accepting some less formal assignments from students with screenshots of things they wrote on iPads using the Apple Pens and thought that was really adaptive to the needs of those students. Two students were submitting as many assignments as possible (one going to Emily Carr, one going to Sheridan for Visual Media) and I appreciate the adaptive nature of the teachers willing to allow some of the students to explore that more creative and less formal side to explore their visual creativity, even in classes where it may not be necessarily the focus.