Why learning from notes is bad idea?

When you're writing notes, you aren't paying attention

For some reason schools have ingrained in us the image of a student furiously taking notes who is trying the hardest. But could that person actually be doing themselves a disservice? Most of schoolers and students use notes, but after that they forget about information that they have listened on the lesson, so they buy term paper at educational websites and read articles there about how to write this works etc.

This interesting article on how to study points out:

Imagine trying to transcribe the dialog of your favorite television program
as you watched. Not particularly appetizing is it? You'd "miss" the show while you were 'watching' it, right?

So why do you go to class and attempt to word for word transcribe the Instructor's lecture? "Into the Ear, down the arm, out the pen, bypassing the brain", is how one Professor described the behavior of his students.

Most students are not "there" when the information is being dispensed. They are playing the role of stenographers who have little consciousness of what they are writing down.

So when should you take notes?

In my view there are only a few times where it makes sense to take notes. First, if the teacher is giving you something that is most definitely not in the text book. A great example of this would be if they give you a list of topics which will be on the exam. That would be a good one to write down! Secondly, I think it makes sense if you can take notes in a very passive sense. Jotting down a keyword, underlining something on a handout, or even writing right in the book itself. Certainly nothing that would even come close to a complete sentence though. If you find yourself getting into stenographer mode, step back and know that your mental energy is better spent on understanding than it is on transcribing.