Purpose

Cognitio is an innovative AI-powered note-taking app designed to enhance the learning experience by addressing the limitations of existing digital note-taking solutions. Our goal is to create a user-friendly platform that not only supports diverse multimedia formats but also automates organization and aesthetics, allowing users to focus on learning rather than managing their notes.

Goals

1. Enhance multimedia support: Many existing apps fail to accommodate advanced graphics, such as mathematical equations and complex diagrams. Cognitio will provide robust features that enable users to capture a wider range of information effectively.
2. Automate aesthetics: Users often spend excessive time formatting their notes, detracting from the learning experience. Cognitio will integrate intelligent design features that automatically enhance readability and visual appeal, freeing users to concentrate on content rather than presentation.
3. Advanced organization tools: Traditional folder systems are inadequate for organizing nuanced knowledge, as many concepts do not fit neatly into one category. Cognitio will introduce smart categorization and tagging systems that adapt to user behavior, making it easier to organize and retrieve notes.

Effective note-taking

One key mistake that many students tend to make is writing shallow notes. These typically are notes derived directly from course material (“copying down what the teacher says”) or notes that record facts in isolation to be memorized.

Why is this ineffective? Learning happens best when we focus on a conceptual understanding and make connections between ideas, instead of rote memorization of simple facts. I’ve written about this in more detail in a post about my experience mentoring other students. The opposite is deep notes, which involves making connections between concepts and a degree of reflection and critical thinking.

Another problem I’ve experienced, especially with digital notes, is the way computers naturally organize notes. Computer file systems are hierarchical, forming a tree structure of files and folders, but this doesn’t fit well with how our brains think. In fact, navigating through five to six layers of deeply nested folders to reach a single note is time-consuming and annoying. Why store a note at the path “Grade 10 > Science > Physics > Mechanics > Kinematics”? Kinematics isn’t limited to physics (it pops up in math too) and physics stays the same regardless of what grade you are in.

Instead, I believe that students should focus on making deep notes about concepts. Shorter notes are actually better — they are faster to review and it forces students to understand and extract the key ideas from the fluff. Making “links” (literal connections) between notes, as the Zettelkasten method encourages, prevents learning concepts in isolation and allows us to spot new connections. Instead of a folder hierarchy, let’s organize our atomic notes by “tagging” them with relevant keywords, like “physics”, “energy” or “revision-needed”.

How technology can help

Technology can significantly enhance students’ note-taking practices by providing flexible organization options and efficient search functionality. Digital tools allow for tagging and linking notes, enabling students to categorize information with relevant keywords and create connections between concepts. This flexibility helps students see relationships among ideas, fostering a deeper conceptual understanding rather than rote memorization.

Additionally, multimedia integration in digital note-taking facilitates the incorporation of text, images and audio recordings, catering to various learning styles. This dynamic content allows for easy editing and updating, encouraging ongoing reflection and critical thinking. Students can refine their thoughts and reorganize content without starting over, which promotes deeper learning and engagement.

Collaboration tools further enhance the note-taking experience by enabling students to share notes with peers for feedback and discussion. With cloud storage, notes are accessible anytime, anywhere, reinforcing learning outside the classroom. By leveraging these technological advancements, students can transform their note-taking from shallow facts into meaningful, interconnected learning experiences, ultimately improving retention and engagement with the material.

Current progress

Currently, we are in the research and development phase, where we are developing a methodology taking existing research into note-taking methods and ensuring that students with any background can comfortably benefit from it. Although existing methods like the Zettelkasten have been proven to be effective, they have high barriers to entry for most and require a lot of discipline to master; we believe leveraging technology such as information retrieval research and large language models will help to bring the power of effective note-taking to more students. With a user acceptance testing (UAT) phase scheduled for early 2025, we are excited to bring Cognitio to learners everywhere.