A Reliable Future for Technology-Enabled Learning and Beyond with Obsidian
Looking back at the 2020 pandemic, one of the biggest challenges I had (setting aside the global health crisis) was a sense of helplessness in processing information as a student. My tried-and-true methods of putting thoughts and ideas on paper and annotating journal articles on physical copies were largely disrupted, having to rely on PDFs, online whiteboards, and discussion boards. Slowly, I realized how the information and knowledge I’ve accumulated during my years as a student were strewn about in physical copies and messy digital folders. It was a system that didn’t priorite knowledge on demand and . This dilemma eventually led me to discover a piece of software called Obsidian.
True to its name, the software offers durable a way to store your all your information in a secure and reliable manner. However, before I delve into Obsidian it would be best if we first broach the difference between note taking while using a pen and paper and note taking through our digital tools. Secondly, I’ll be mentioning how Obsidian can act as an instrument for technology-enabled learning.
Cognitive Effort in Note Taking
Note taking is a common activity that we don’t really think too deeply about. We record information such as contact details, recipes, and instructions. However, note taking isn’t just simply an act act of recording information and copying text, it also involves a degree of cognitive effort in managing and generating information that is both meaningful and useful.
A good example for this is a 2005 paper Cognitive Effort during Note Taking1. The paper discusses how “cognitive effort” during note taking can be more demanding than playing chess or learning a new topic but not it’s not as demanding as planning and composing creative work.
It’s important to expand on this definition of note taking. It isn’t just an activity for verbatim recording of information without any transformation to the information that is being received (i.e., simply copying a text). Rather, note taking is an activity that requires putting in executive attention or cognitive effort by carefully evaluating, synthesizing, and summarizing information that has been received or is being actively received.
There have been various methods to note taking like the Cornell note taking system, outlining, Zettelkasten, mind mapping, or simply just annotating printouts. These methods serve different purposes, yet whether these note taking strategies translate well when using our devices such as laptops and smartphones versus longhand writing is still largely up for discussion.
Is the Pen still Mighty?
Many people still prefer the traditional way to take notes. In the past, the consensus also favored note taking through longhand writing rather than using our devices. However, as technology continues to grow, this could already much different as we continue to adapt new strategies and tools.
A 2008 study “Learning with Laptops: A Multi-method Case Study”2 illustrates the importance of laptop use in learning. They investigated how the implementation of laptop programs (i.e., each student is provided with a laptop for learning) for junior high school students affected learning patterns.
The study showed positive results of integrating the use of laptops into their learning program and revealed that students felt it was easier to use their laptops for assignments and creative work. Furthermore, it was revealed that students could utilize “just in time learning” or what could also be called as “knowledge on demand”. This form of learning allowed students to browse the web for additional information on a topic that would have otherwise been undiscussed. This shows that supplemental learning via browsing the internet is effective. This practice is now ubiquitous in most of our learning programs. We can think of Wikipedia or educational Youtube channels.
Laptop use in education is becoming more important as we integrate various systems into our workflows. However, the effects of note taking through laptops and other digital devices are still widely discussed and inconclusive. There have been numerous studies that investigate performance vis-a-vis note taking between longhand writing and laptops. A 2014 study investigated the impact of longhand writing in contrast to using a laptop for note taking 3. The study suggests that students who were taking notes via longhand writing rather than those who were using laptops had better performance when it came to conceptual knowledge. This was because longhand writing made students more selective when it came to processing information and acted as better external storage for memory retention than laptops.
As for factual learning, the results with their performance were closer as it suggests that it did not really matter whether note taking was done via laptop or longhand writing. This could be attributed to how factual knowledge mostly relies on rote memorization and can be accomplished both ways. This would suggest that note taking using laptops towards conceptual knowledge is a bigger hurdle whereas factual knowledge is not really seen as an obstacle.
A review paper by Stacy & Cain (2015) 4 highlights the different modes of information sharing and teaching in the classroom vis-a-vis note taking. One important aspect of note taking that they mentioned was the lack of research on how our methods and strategies — such as the Cornell note taking system and outlining methods — translated to the digital tools that we have already started using. They further discuss the importance of how learning applications and software should have the flexibility and ability to accommodate active note taking practices and allow for efficient retrieval and review of notes:
Finally, as digital environments increasingly affect higher education, we should consider the evolving interplay between note-taking, information management, and lifelong learning. The first decades of the digital age has introduced society to a variety of paradigm shifts including how we view the concepts of information storage and retrieval. Educators may need to rethink what it means to take notes and how those notes carry forward into future careers. – Stacy & Cain
Current research and data are still inconclusive. Ultimately, our knowledge of effective note taking and learning strategies in the 21st century is rapidly transforming and evolving. There is a need to adapt to this rapidly changing world regardless of our preference. This also calls for teachers to adapt to new technology-enabled learning and to rethink how note taking carries forward to the future careers of learners.
Two issues are worth mentioning here. First, the reliance on laptops and the internet is now commonplace, however, certain advantages are still awarded through longhand writing notes, especially towards conceptual knowledge. This becomes a problem when individuals are expected to digest an increasing multitude of information, learning materials, and projects using digital tools. Yet, when the tools we have for learning and collaboration are not optimized for conceptual knowledge nor optimized to fit with our existing note taking methods then it can easily become an overwhelming task to manage a cesspool of information.
Secondly, there is a need to rethink of a system that goes outside classrooms. Note taking isn’t just an important practice for students but an important skill for lifelong learning and personal development. Note takig is not simply an act of copying information but it involves the methodical evaluation and synthesizing of information that is both useful and valuable. That system must allow for our own personal “knowledge on demand” system and must be designed to be collaborative and simple to use.
Toward Better Technology-Enabled Learning
The internet could possibly be best described as a Library of Babel. Similar to how Jorge Luis Borges describes the library in his short story, the internet can be conceived as this universe where vast amounts of information and data is stored. However, most of this information is gibberish and unrefined. With some patience, practice, and filtering, we may eventually find something valuable and worth our time. But unless we have a system to retrieve that information effectively and efficiently and have it processed to suit our needs, then that information is just thrown back out to the World Wide Web.
A good amount of learning nowadays require a good amount of time researching and browsing the internet for information. We also use the internet to engage in collaborative work with our increasing reliance on cloud services and communication software to share data. However, for that information to be usable and valuable, it must be processed and saved to our own personal system.
Several tools and software have been made to address the issue of note taking in a digital environment. Software such Evernote, OneNote, Apple Notes, Notion, and various bookmarking apps have been developed. All these tools have their advantages and disadvantages, but I will be focusing on Obsidian.
Obsidian is a writing app that uses simple markdown (.md) files as notes. When using Obsidian for the first time you will be prompted to create a Vault (i.e., a folder in your system). This folder will hold all your notes and sub folders. Every note that you create is accessible via the interface in Obsidian without having to go through your folders and switching between windows. One thing that already stands out is that you don’t have to connect to the internet to be able to use all of the features of Obsidian. Your files are stored locally with the option to use cloud services for syncing.
Perhaps two of its most important features are its ability to link notes with bi-directional linking and its added flexibility to design a rich personal knowledge system that utilizes metadata like a Zettelkasten system.
Bi-directional linking of notes allows you to gain deeper insight into how one piece of information relates to and connects to another piece of information. In Obsidian this is accomplished by the double bracket [[Note name here]]. When learning various concepts and phenomena you want to see how they relate to one another and how they apply to real-world situations. This diverges from the usual learning of isolated facts and information. I could be learning about fundamental concepts of international law but without an understanding of other concepts of law and specific treaties and historical events, they would not really make that much sense. This was how Wikipedia, and the internet were made.
Metadata provides you with a better ability to retrieve information and notes depending on how your metadata is structured. Adding metadata to your notes allows for quick retrieval and identification of the content that is stored within that note. An example is if I’m trying to remember a restaurant that I went to 2 years ago, but I don’t remember the exact route, name, and location of the restaurant. However, I do recall other identifying information that would allow me to recall where and what it is. Maybe I have pictures saved on that day if I can recall the date, perhaps I remember the name of the owner so I can look him up, or maybe there were some uniquely named establishments nearby that I couldn’t forget. All this metadata helps me remember where and what the name of the restaurant is.
Obsidian also has vibrant community support and an ever-expanding plugin ecosystem to serve as solutions to other unique problems when it comes to note taking and knowledge management. It currently has over 1000 plugins, and more are being developed. Other notable features of Obsidian are its customizable workspace layouts, canvas view, and easy to set up and templates.
It’s worth noting that Obsidian is still relatively new as it was released in 2020 and it is being developed by a small indie team. Nonetheless, Obsidian as a simple markdown editor outshines its predecessors by giving its users the opportunity to grow and evolve their knowledge management systems without being constrained by insidious practices and unreliable services. You can start using it as a simple markdown editor or have a complex and rich database of specialized knowledge.
As a Tool for Learning in the Digital Age
Obsidian helps with some of the issues I’ve outlined above. As a tool, it helps address the issue of conceptual knowledge note taking. However, this will only work when we apply already existing learning methods such as active recall, spaced repetition or other note taking methods. By using these methods in conjunction with bi-directional linking we enable a streamlined approach to conceptual learning that results in a comprehensive documentation of one’s learning processes and understanding of different interrelated concepts. With metadata and bi-directional linking, you can create a rich “knowledge on demand” database of your personal notes and work process that can be quickly retrieved and shared anytime.
Secondly, if you strip down Obsidian to its core, it is just a markdown editor. This ensures that notes are safe from any changes made to the software. Word processors like Microsoft Word can sometimes break notes and formatting depending on the version being used. Obsidian does not have this problem as markdown is too basic of a format to be broken (However, this assumes that you have not modified Obsidian with over a hundred plugins and snippets). Even if Obsidian disappears, your notes will always be there formatted in a simple markdown format that ensures readability. This makes Obsidian a reliable and durable tool for documentation and sharing notes with peers.
Lastly, Obsidian can serve as a tool to address the gaps in technology-enabled learning in education. Note taking is a vital skill that everyone can develop. It enables us the chance to record vital information, document our work, and share it with others. As we document more of our learning and work processes, we promote a culture of collaboration and consistency. Obsidian provides this opportunity being a simple but feature-rich writing software. It is not a perfect tool, but it is a tool that we can reliably carry into the future.
References
Piolat, A., Olive, T., & Kellogg, R. T. (2005). Cognitive Effort during Note Taking. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(3), 291–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1086. ↩
Learning with Laptops: A Multi-method Case Study(https://education.uci.edu/uploads/7/2/7/6/72769947/laptops-jecr.pdf). ↩
Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168. (https://www.benjaminjameswaddell.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mueller-the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-keyboard.pdf). ↩
Stacy, E. M., & Cain, J. (2015). Note-taking and Handouts in The Digital Age. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 79(7), 107.(https://www.ajpe.org/content/ajpe/79/7/107.full.pdf). ↩