Designing note-taking for meaningful learning

Technology can have an immense impact on how people perceive, process, and learn new information. Technology-focused research is being conducted in the area of note-taking, as it is an activity most students perform. However, much of this work focuses on improving access, efficiency, and interactivity without emphasis on how technology can support learning. Thus, this project investigates the design of note-taking tools and their contexts of use as a means of helping people perceive, process, and learn information in educational contexts. The outcome of this investigation realizes an opportunity for a new device and software experience that is designed to aid learning in the information era.

Kekulé is a digital notebook for the information era developed as a result of this thesis investigation. It is designed to cater to different learning preferences and help move individuals move through the cycle of learning in meaning-making, abstract conceptualization, experimentation, and transforming knowledge to new understanding.