I’D Be An ‘A’ Student If I Could Just Read My Notes

[ErrantSmudge]

I'm currently taking several courses at my local community college. I'm a pretty furious notetaker, to the point people wonder how I can capture what I do. Several students come to me for notes for class sessions they've missed.

 

I think capturing just the important points is a perfectly valid way to take notes. But it's not the only way. I'm not a dictaphone, but I do take very detailed notes and one of the reasons I do is that instructors often say things in class that don't show up in textbooks, slides or handouts. And those little details often make a difference in later study.

 

And generally, detailed notes are a check on my comprehension of the subject. If I don't understand what is being said, I can't take good notes.

[SoulSamurai]

I'm always reminded of the sequence in Real Genius where the protagonist attends a lecture and finds several seats are filled only with tape recorders recording the lecturer's words. And each time there's less students and more recorders, until one day he enters the hall only to find he's the only human there; before him a sea of tape recorders happily recording a recorded lecture being played by a tape player left by the lecturer.

 

Sadly I have not been able to find that part on youtube, otherwise you could have just watched the recording rather than listen to me talk about it...

Edited March 14, 2018 by SoulSamurai

[SoulSamurai]

And generally, detailed notes are a check on my comprehension of the subject. If I don't understand what is being said, I can't take good notes.

Exactly; by taking notes in your own words you cannot help but be made conciously aware of gaps in your comprehension, allowing you to insantly ask for clarification.

[ParkerDuofold]

I'm always reminded of the sequence in Real Genius where the protagonist attends a lecture and finds several seats are filled only with tape recorders recording the lecturer's words. And each time there's less students and more recorders, until one day he enters the hall only to find he's the only human there; before him a sea of tape recorders happily recording a recorded lecture being played by a tape player left by the lecturer.

 

Sadly I have not been able to find that part on youtube, otherwise you could have just watched the recording rather than listen to me talk about it...

Hi SS,

 

That was also a cartoon in Mad magazine back in the mid-'70s.

 

 

- Anthony

[torstar]

In my first year of studying (5 years ago) almost everybody used a laptop in the lecture rooms.

Now, a couple of years later, nobody uses a laptop anymore - everybody writes by hand.

 

I've been told that this has been a trend for the last 10 years. In their first year, students use a laptop, but after a year or so they get back to writing.

 

Perhaps this only applies to the Netherlands, I do not know about other countries.

 

if you are at school with even a 10% commitment to studying then a laptop provides a lot of distractions that might be too much to ignore

 

that puts you in the slim minority of people (if you are even 10% serious about your studies) on campus but it's worth it to read the books and pay attention and do your best

[BradGad]

A lot research shows that students learn much better when taking notes with pen and paper, compared to a computer.

[Arkanabar]

I'm always reminded of the sequence in Real Genius where the protagonist attends a lecture and finds several seats are filled only with tape recorders recording the lecturer's words. And each time there's less students and more recorders, until one day he enters the hall only to find he's the only human there; before him a sea of tape recorders happily recording a recorded lecture being played by a tape player left by the lecturer.

 

Sadly I have not been able to find that part on youtube, otherwise you could have just watched the recording rather than listen to me talk about it...

Here you go!

[SoulSamurai]

Here you go!

 

Nice, thanks!

[Zhenni]

Around 2002, I had a summer biology class in which the professor crammed all of her normal 10 week quarter notes into a 3-4 week class. It was slide after slide at top speed. So I wrote as fast as I could to keep up, and immediately went to the library to re-type them, because if I waited more than an hour, I couldn't decipher my own handwriting any more!

 

It was a really good strategy, and I did so well in the course, she hired me as her TA the next round!

 

I've gone back to take some courses in the evening at a community college, just out of personal interest. One of the students actually complained to a professor that she didn't know how to take notes for his class!

 

I'm a high school teacher and find this with my students as well. If I tell them to take notes, they literally have to be told what to write down. Which is OK for younger students, but they never learn how to take off the training wheels and do it for themselves. (For reference though, I teach in a very low income area and students receive lots of support at school, but not usually much at home.)

[ParramattaPaul]

...I'm a high school teacher and ... If I tell them to take notes, they literally have to be told what to write down. Which is OK for younger students, but they never learn how to take off the training wheels and do it for themselves. (For reference though, I teach in a very low income area and students receive lots of support at school, but not usually much at home.)

 

That said, I hope that you take the time at the beginning of each year, perhaps the first class session, to teach learning skills, including how to take notes, how to identify important points, and even how to prepare for and take tests to your students.

[DrDebG]

Let's take a trip back in time a bit . . . around 2011.

 

I was teaching an Immunology and Microbiology class for our 2nd year medical students. The first day of class was a bit chaotic. I walked into class a minute or two late - purposely. As I strolled up to the front of the classroom, I noted the 50+ laptops opened with the class syllabus on most of the laptops. The students watched my every move as I pulled out a sheaf of hand-written notes. I could hear the groans from afar. My first sentences were, "Thank you all for being here on time. Now, please turn off and put your laptops away. Please get out paper and pen, please." I waited about three minutes for the noise to die down, including many more groans and questions of "We can't use our laptops?" whispered underbreath. Then I started writing on the blackboard side - not the whiteboard side - with a list of what they would need for this class: 2-3 composition notebooks - either blank or grid; 2-3 pens to write extensive notes with, and at least 6 different colored pens/pencils. No laptops or cell phones. Photos are strictly not allowed! Then, I told them why - that Immunology and microbiology are really a visual science and in some cases can not be explained well with words, and that no only would they be taking notes, but they would be learning how to draw as well. The next few lectures I heard less groans. By the end of the semester, every student told me how much they appreciated how I drew out things in such a way that they could easily remember the image in their minds. Then after their 2nd year board exams, most of them came and thanked me again.

 

While most of my clients now (I run a consulting firm) think I am a techno-geek, I am a firm believer in learning with pen and paper - not just writing, but sketching things out. When you write and sketch you are using more of your brain so that you will remember it more effectively.

 

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. I did use powerpoint, but only for photos illustrating what I was lecturing on. No words, just photos. When it came to the "images", I drew them for the students, so that they could see the flow and movement - as well as how I would draw it. It helped the students understand the process, rather than just memorize an image.

[JakobS]

On the flip side of this, is the reality that many professors are very dependent on using power point these days and often will read verbatim from their slides, providing little insight beyond them. As one who took notes extensively with a fountain pen during the majority of my college years, it was challenging to develop really good note taking skills in these classes. My best classes were those in which the professor knew the topic so well that they would truly lecture in front of the class, only referring to notes at the very beginning to remember where they left off from the previous class. Having a professor describe the development of skin tissue in vitro to be used in place of animals for perfume testing and other purposes, or understanding cultural behaviors by looking at societies holistically in placing a water well for more efficient water collection were amazing lectures because they could do so in a fluid, and personal manner that the use of power point sanitizes these days it appears.

Edited March 22, 2018 by JakobS

[markh]

Let's take a trip back in time a bit . . . around 2011.

 

I was teaching an Immunology and Microbiology class for our 2nd year medical students. The first day of class was a bit chaotic. I walked into class a minute or two late - purposely. As I strolled up to the front of the classroom, I noted the 50+ laptops opened with the class syllabus on most of the laptops. The students watched my every move as I pulled out a sheaf of hand-written notes. I could hear the groans from afar. My first sentences were, "Thank you all for being here on time. Now, please turn off and put your laptops away. Please get out paper and pen, please." [....]

 

Great post!

 

.

[Zhenni]

@ParramattaPaul, that's the problem. I teach them how to take notes, model the behavior, using an "I do, we do, you do" scaffold over several weeks, but as soon as it's their turn to do it by themselves, it's too hard!

 

Now that's obviously not all of my students, but unfortunately quite a few!

[Donald2]

A lot research shows that students learn much better when taking notes with pen and paper, compared to a computer.

I agree.

[Donald2]

Let's take a trip back in time a bit . . . around 2011.

 

I was teaching an Immunology and Microbiology class for our 2nd year medical students. The first day of class was a bit chaotic. I walked into class a minute or two late - purposely. As I strolled up to the front of the classroom, I noted the 50+ laptops opened with the class syllabus on most of the laptops. The students watched my every move as I pulled out a sheaf of hand-written notes. I could hear the groans from afar. My first sentences were, "Thank you all for being here on time. Now, please turn off and put your laptops away. Please get out paper and pen, please." I waited about three minutes for the noise to die down, including many more groans and questions of "We can't use our laptops?" whispered underbreath. Then I started writing on the blackboard side - not the whiteboard side - with a list of what they would need for this class: 2-3 composition notebooks - either blank or grid; 2-3 pens to write extensive notes with, and at least 6 different colored pens/pencils. No laptops or cell phones. Photos are strictly not allowed! Then, I told them why - that Immunology and microbiology are really a visual science and in some cases can not be explained well with words, and that no only would they be taking notes, but they would be learning how to draw as well. The next few lectures I heard less groans. By the end of the semester, every student told me how much they appreciated how I drew out things in such a way that they could easily remember the image in their minds. Then after their 2nd year board exams, most of them came and thanked me again.

 

While most of my clients now (I run a consulting firm) think I am a techno-geek, I am a firm believer in learning with pen and paper - not just writing, but sketching things out. When you write and sketch you are using more of your brain so that you will remember it more effectively.

 

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. I did use powerpoint, but only for photos illustrating what I was lecturing on. No words, just photos. When it came to the "images", I drew them for the students, so that they could see the flow and movement - as well as how I would draw it. It helped the students understand the process, rather than just memorize an image.

If only more teachers today taught like you do. The schools and colleges of today are making students do everything on a laptop.

[DrDebG]

If only more teachers today taught like you do. The schools and colleges of today are making students do everything on a laptop.

 

Thank you for your comments. I am no longer teaching, however - well at least not at the university level. I am not a fan of stupid politics and backwards thinking. So, now, in my spare time, I teach educators in other countries.

 

I will always be teaching something to someone somewhere.

Edited March 23, 2018 by DrPenfection

[ParramattaPaul]

@ParramattaPaul, that's the problem. I teach them how to take notes, model the behavior, using an "I do, we do, you do" scaffold over several weeks, but as soon as it's their turn to do it by themselves, it's too hard!

 

Now that's obviously not all of my students, but unfortunately quite a few!

Zhenni, what I hear you saying is that thinking (actually thinking) and problem solving are skills not possessed by the majority of your students.

[rudyhou]

i just don't understand how some schools nowadays allow an absent of a 'writing' class, which supposed to be an essential part of a school curriculum. it's a basic skill that everyone needs to know how to do. if you delete that from a school curriculum, well, how can we expect them the younger generation to advance in the real world without the ability to write properly? never mind if colleges allow/encourage the use of computers more than handwriting.

[ParramattaPaul]

i just don't understand how some schools nowadays allow an absent of a 'writing' class, which supposed to be an essential part of a school curriculum. it's a basic skill that everyone needs to know how to do. if you delete that from a school curriculum, well, how can we expect them the younger generation to advance in the real world without the ability to write properly? never mind if colleges allow/encourage the use of computers more than handwriting.

 

The reasoning I've heard most frequently is there just isn't enough time for everything, and with that the powers that be decide what is most useful. Unfortunately, what is most 'useful' to them may be something from their personal agendas and not something that would improve the student's education, or particularly useful later in life.

 

Philip Hensher offers more on the subject in his book ​The Missing Ink; The lost Art of handwriting.

 

​​I should add that my grandson's primary school had them keyboarding very early on.

Edited March 23, 2018 by ParramattaPaul