Progressive Summarization in Higher Education
Progressive Summarization Presentation
In the Spring of 2019, Wess Daniels and three Guilford College students, Maitha Ali, Allison Andrade, and Jor Keller, presented on how they are using "Progressive Summarization" (see below) in the college classroom in an online and live forum with Tiago Forte.
For more info see this post on Tiago Forte's blog.
The Six Layers of Summarization (Forte 2017)
What is Progressive Summarization?
Progressive summarization is a method of digital note-taking that relies on a clear visual hierarchy to organize large amounts of information for easy retrieval in the future. Created by author and educator Tiago Forte, this "practical technique for designing discoverable notes" emphasizes legibility and accessibility and prioritizes the needs of the future self.
In his 2017 Medium article, Forte explains that" progressive summarization "works in “'layers' of summarization." Layers 1-5 of the process have the note-taker extract from, condense, and remix the information found in Layer 0: the original source text. You can see Forte's explination of each layer on here on his website Praxis.
Why use Progressive Summarization in the Classroom?
Progressive summarization is a powerful and practical tool in the college classroom. Progressive summarization:
- Rewards student willingness to engage with challenging texts
- Standardizes the note-taking process
- Produces notes that are organized and legible
- Leaves students with a final product that can be referenced long after the semester is over
Guilford undergraduates in class
