PowerPoint files are not "notes"

Student message: "I was absent [due to a medical problem]. Do you mind sending me the PowerPoint/notes that were taken during that day?"

Students often refer to PowerPoint presentations as being "notes." While understandable, this use is inaccurate and even problematic. It's tempting to waive this distinction off as trivial, but a deeper dive is in order.

Are notes a noun (an object) or a verb (an action, as in notetaking or to take notes)? Viewing notes as an object suggests that it's just another thing to own. It encourages a passive view. In contrast, note taking as an action makes it a process that students actively engage in.

There's an entire body of educational literature showing that the act of taking notes is important to memory and retention. There's more to notes than simply owning or storing some information.

Another relevant matter is perception of responsibility. If notes are an object, then the professor is obligated to simply share these objects with the student. In contrast, notes as an action makes notes a student responsibility. Students must actively decide what is important and then express it in their own way. It's something that professors cannot do for the students.

Sure, this is academic fussiness, the parsing of everyday word meaning. Still, it's valuable to encourage the careful use of language because of the implications. It's helpful to encourage students in seeing the importance of active learning processes as part of the value of notes.