Collaborative Note-Taking: A Tool for Creating a More Inclusive College Classroom

Collaborative note-taking is a pedagogical technique that asks students to rotate note-taking responsibilities during class meetings in a shared document. Implementing this technique helped me, as an instructor, better leverage my students’ strengths and weaknesses in an introductory American government class—though the benefits should extend to a wide range of disciplinary contexts. In particular, collaborative note-taking helped level the playing field for students entering my classroom with wide-ranging levels of prior preparation. It also provided a consistent access point for evaluating student comprehension and learning and improved the quality of classroom discussion. As a result, implementing this pedagogical approach can help foster a more collaborative, inclusive, and equitable learning environment in university classrooms.