From Note-Taking to Understanding: A Better Role for AI in the Classroom
A full page of notes is not the same as understanding.
You can watch a student write through an entire lesson, then ask them to explain one ideaβand hear silence. The pencil moved. The information landed somewhere. But can the student use it?
That gap is what I kept coming back to in my conversation with Kelsey Schroth, Product Director at Notability, on Digital Learning Today.
We explored handwriting, digital organization, and AI. But the question underneath all three was simpler: What happens after a student takes the notes?
KEEP THE STUDENT THINKING
Kelsey described AI as a study partner rather than a replacement for the studentβs work. That distinction gives us a useful way to evaluate classroom tools: are they helping a learner revisit an idea, or removing the need to wrestle with it?
In the conversation, she discussed ways AI can support review, including flashcards, quizzes, and finding information across notes. The value isnβt simply producing more material. Itβs giving students another opportunity to work with material they already captured.
Think of the difference between handing someone an answer key and asking a good follow-up question. One ends the task. The other keeps the thinking going.
Handwriting belongs in that conversation, too. Kelsey emphasized the connection between writing, choosing what matters, and expressing ideas in your own wordsβnot just copying whatever appears on a screen.
The teaching move: Ask students to explain an idea before they ask AI to explain it for them.
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