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Read this today, didn't see it posted.


The Cleveland Browns' Strategy: Write This Down
Why Cleveland Prefers Pen and Paper to Technology; 'To Write Is to Learn'

There is a technological revolution in the NFL this year. The Cleveland Browns knew this when they, like everyone else in the league, received tablet computers. Players on other teams raved about the ability to share typed notes and store everything they need on their machines.

The Browns got those. And then the coaching staff made sure to hand them something else: a pad of paper.

Armed with science and a little common sense, first-year Browns coach Mike Pettine is stressing to his players the old-school notion of writing things down. The strategy is backed up by new academic studies that say writing by hand instead of typing improves your chances of learning something.

For an NFL team, which spends hours upon hours explaining plays in team meetings, this can be crucial. A coach, giving a broad directive about a play, must run through numerous small tasks the players must do on a single play—like watching the right guard's left arm at the snap. Good memory is crucial.

Pettine said the players' notebooks feature countless "graduate-level" details about the team's plays in their basic, Browns-themed notebooks, which are something of a secret weapon.

The idea is rooted in Pettine's background. He was a high-school coach in Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001, and his father was a longtime high-school teacher and coach. Those connections put him in close contact with teachers, and he learned intricate details of how to get students to study—whether for a pivotal third down or a geology quiz.

"I would talk to teachers all the time and they would say, 'To write is to learn,'" Pettine said. "When you write stuff down, you have a much higher chance of it getting imprinted on your brain. We leave it up to them—their job is to write down all the intricate things, and hopefully they get out the pen and get going."

This has led to, as Browns pass rusher Barkevious Mingo put it, even Pettine's newest plays being "instilled in our heads."

"There's a powerful advantage to writing things down as opposed to typing," said Daniel Oppenheimer, a UCLA professor of marketing and psychology who, along with Princeton's Pam Mueller, wrote a paper this year titled "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard." The study found that, because the hand can't possibly keep up with the speaker's words, the writer must rephrase what was said in his or her own words, which in turn processes the information at a deeper level.

To be clear, Pettine, 47, isn't anti-technology. He spent this summer on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a tablet "on the third-floor deck, watching the sun go down, viewing the Pittsburgh Steelers." But he limits his usage of computers and tablets to watching video. His theory, referred to in academia as "desirable difficulty," is that if you make it too easy for students to learn something, they won't remember it.

"You love the technology, but you just don't want to hand them everything and say here it is," Pettine said.

Browns defensive lineman Desmond Bryant, who went to Harvard, said the mandate to write has the Browns "mentally processing it."

"You are actively using your brain more, "Bryant said.

Bryant said that Pettine's teaching methods resemble a college seminar. When teaching a goal-line defense, for instance, Pettine will start with the history of the tactic. Maybe the famed 1985 Chicago Bears ran the play. Then, after he tells the players all the history of the play, Pettine will reveal the changes he has made and help the players understand their role.

"They'll say, 'But if you tweak this person's responsibilities just a little bit, you'll be able to run [the play] more effectively,'" Bryant said. The history lesson, combined with the written notes, makes for an unforgettable play, he said.

The rest of Cleveland's coaching staff loves the written word, too. The team's offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan, said he didn't like the limits computers put on his play designs. It takes longer to design them on a computer, Shanahan said, but he also would rather have the flexibility of writing things down during moments of genius at a grocery store or in a park, when he can't access technology.

"I'm going to scribble something on a napkin, a board, a notepad. I am young, but I'm going to use a notepad," said Shanahan, 34.

Shanahan's preference for handwriting isn't a surprise despite his age, said Mueller, one of the paper's authors. She said that the generation that took notes by hand in school is more drawn to the research showing handwriting is a better learning tool than typing.

"Handwriting is everything," said veteran Browns linebacker Karlos Dansby. "Football is all about the little things. Little directions. You write down a few little things, you put it together and it adds up."

And, Dansby said, it also helps soothe his paranoia.

"Lots of apps are getting hacked these days," he said. web page

The strategy is backed up by new academic studies that say writing by hand instead of typing improves your chances of learning something.

so so true. I have a problem remembering names. I never absorbed aural instruction well. I could memorize a lot of visual. In college I was accused by teachers on somehow cheating cause my answers were word for word from the Thick book I memorized. But back to names...If I type them in on the computer I forget them almost as fast if I was told the name via conversation. But when I golf on that first hole with somebody joining or me joining - I write their name down on the card and from then on I Know it throughout the 18...if not by the second hole I'm like, I'm sorry what was your name again...lol

I think typing has become so 2nd hand nature there is not much thought process. Its just copying not learning.

By hand its slower than typing and you can think about the play while writing it down processing it. Well sounds good

Blah blah blah

I was lucky enough that through most of my academic years I was able to absorb information just through taking notes during lectures/class. Most of the time I wouldn't have to review them. Just the writing down of the information was enough to set it into my mind. I tried just sitting in class and listening without taking notes. It didn't work. I didn't retain nearly as much information.
Good to see a study backing up what I kinda always knew. At least about myself.
Good to see Coach putting it to use.

I used to drive my teachers crazy when I was in High School. I would take only about 2 or 3 pages of notes for any given class. I could organize things in my head better than I could do splitting my attention and writing everything down.

I had a teacher in High School who graded our notebooks. He got to mine, and I had like 3 pages of notes fr the semester. He asked me how ai was supposed to remember anything with so few notes. I asked him "How are my grades?" (I got the highest grades in that particular class) he said they were good, and I then said, "Doesn't it appear that I take enough notes for me?"

I got an A for my 3 pages.

A lot of my classmates were really ticked off that they got Cs and Ds for far fuller notebooks.

Anyway, the point is, that different people learn in different ways. I have always learned by forming associations between things. I do math differently too. I make the equations simpler, then break out the difference. In other words, in my head, if I have to multiply 15X19, well that's too hard. I make it 15X20, and then subtract the extra 15. I drove my math teachers crazy too ...... because they always wanted to see our "work" ...... but I often skipped around.

Anyway, the point is that different people learn in different ways, so it's a good thing to use both paper and technology, because that allows for more people to learn the way they prefer. While I believe that some, or maybe even most people fin taking notes helpful, not all people do, and in fact, some are hurt by having to divide their attention by trying to take a lot of notes. I hope that they take that into consideration too.

When I read the article I thought to myself this is very effective way to get people to memorize and understand a concept. Attach a complex concept with a story and it will allow the player to remember it more efficiently.

When I was high school I used to doodle during lecture-type classes. I got in trouble for it a few times. But the truth is, for me, I could look at the doodles and remember what the teacher was talking about when I was creating that certain doodle. I was listening, but I found it hard to keep up in writing the notes. Being somewhat of an artist the doodles worked better for me.

Of course it was short term. I couldn't look at it 3 weeks later and tell you all about the lecture. But for a few days it worked and I studied that way.

You guys attended classes...lol

genius!!

... ... Fullback, counter, dive, over center-right.

I learned to type in High School [Shaker] my GPA was 1.62
I didn't take many notes either. LOL

Graduated from 13 schools in the Navy with no score below 3.2

Have an AA in Computer Sci

now, at 71, I'm back two index fingers [stroke] and can't read what I write.

I suffer from CRS

Lost my train of thought

I'm so sick of fluff pieces.

Win football games and I don't care how you did it.