To note or not to note?

[lexitu]

Who takes notes scrupulously? Who is a listener and who is an in-betweener? Who is surfin' the net on their computer and paying no attention to their lecturer?

Seriously, what are your opinions on the usefulness of note-taking? Personally, I've never been a note-taker. It's partially because I can't be stuffed, but mainly because I think note-taking can be distracting and it's better to be fully attentive to the lecturer. I'm yet to go to uni so I'm not certain on my strategy for when it comes, but I think I'll take the listening approach - only taking a few important notes here and there.

Discuss.

[ninwa]

Who is surfin' the net on their computer and paying no attention to their lecturer?

*puts hand up*

Interestingly, I had a lecturer who told off people for taking notes and not listening to him. To be fair, they were just copying down whatever was on the powerpoint, which is really pointless since you can just download them from Blackboard.

Personally, I think the best strategy is to read over any lecture notes / powerpoint slides before the lecture so you have a rough idea of what's going to be happening, and only taking notes which are in addition to what's already written. Lecture notes are often a bare framework for you to fill in with information.

If you can write reasonably fast, I would recommend handwriting over typing, because it forces you to think over what's been said and summarise it so that you have time to get it all down.

For me, having a laptop tends to be counter-productive since I'm tempted to type verbatim what the lecturer is saying. Meaning
- I don't actually learn anything since my fingers can go on autopilot and I'll drift off
- come exam time, my "notes" generally repeat themselves about 3 times and I end up cutting most of it out (because lecturers like to ramble) = losing precious revision/practice exam time

[Russ]

I heard a story of a Monash law lecture where the lecturer pulled up Facebook and the class list and started searching all the students. He was originally intending to make the point that as a law student you should be careful what goes on Facebook/what your profile looks like etc. But one of the students didn't have any privacy settings enabled and had just updated his/her status with a comment about how bad the lecture was.

Somehow I doubt it's true, but the moral of the story is to pay attention

If you want actual advice, print off lecture notes and annotate them during lectures. Really important that you give yourself something to do or you'll just end up zoning out. Don't take an iPod touch/smartphone/laptop etc. or you'll inevitably end up online.

[TrueLight]

yep its good to annotate your lecture notes but i wouldnt be copying down loads of info. its better to understand what the lecturer is saying

[Eriny]

I'm a notetaker, but usually not excessively. I handwrite a page of notes for each lecture. I hate typing up notes, so I don't, I usually don't bring a laptop around with me at uni. Agreed that annotating handouts it the best way to do it, because then you only job is to elaborate only on the points that require elaboration. Handouts aren't always available though.

Strangely, even when I have an exam for a subject, I rarely need to look back at the notes I took in a lecture (and when I do, it's usually for figures such as dates and numbers or for names). For me, there's something about handwriting notes that makes it easy for me to remember stuff that I wouldn't be able to remember if I hadn't wrote them down in the first place. So, making notes is more important than actually having them for me.

[dyaner]

I'm yet to go uni but from experiences at high school, I'm a listener. Note-taking distracts me greatly, I end up not remembering anything even if I understood everything that were said earlier.

I hope they record lectures and store them online so I could access them if I need to hear it again.

[Gloamglozer]

I'm yet to go uni but from experiences at high school, I'm a listener. Note-taking distracts me greatly, I end up not remembering anything even if I understood everything that were said earlier.

I hope they record lectures and store them online so I could access them if I need to hear it again.

At UoM, we have Lectopia.  Depending on the subject, the lectures are recorded in audio format only and you can access them later on.

[dyaner]

I'm yet to go uni but from experiences at high school, I'm a listener. Note-taking distracts me greatly, I end up not remembering anything even if I understood everything that were said earlier.

I hope they record lectures and store them online so I could access them if I need to hear it again.

At UoM, we have Lectopia.  Depending on the subject, the lectures are recorded in audio format only and you can access them later on.

Thankyou, this sounds good!

[IntoTheNewWorld]

I really don't get the point of writing notes during lectures because the lecture slides pretty much have everything I would want to write down anyway.

I'm usually more of a sleeper during lectures.

[lexitu]

Sorry for disappearing from this thread. Thanks to everyone for the tips, some good balanced information. Will definitely take it on board

[vexx]

In my tiny experiences. I took notes for CHM1011 so it made me actively listen to add to my notes and annotate to know what he was on about, which really helpful. When i came to exam revision, i got to look at my notes and then had these annotations of extra things that could be examined or further explaining so i understood. So useful - barely did it for CHM1022, which is (maybe..) a factor in why i did so much worse XD Well, when i didn't take notes i'd stop listening and get tired/overly bored><

[Gloamglozer]

I'm yet to go uni but from experiences at high school, I'm a listener. Note-taking distracts me greatly, I end up not remembering anything even if I understood everything that were said earlier.

I hope they record lectures and store them online so I could access them if I need to hear it again.

At UoM, we have Lectopia.  Depending on the subject, the lectures are recorded in audio format only and you can access them later on.

It sounds good but in reality, you probably won't listen to them (again).

Pro tip for incoming tertiary students:  Don't listen to Lectopia while lying on the bed. 

[Fyrefly]

I'm a notetaker, but usually not excessively. I handwrite a page of notes for each lecture. I hate typing up notes, so I don't, I usually don't bring a laptop around with me at uni. Agreed that annotating handouts it the best way to do it, because then you only job is to elaborate only on the points that require elaboration. Handouts aren't always available though.

Strangely, even when I have an exam for a subject, I rarely need to look back at the notes I took in a lecture (and when I do, it's usually for figures such as dates and numbers or for names). For me, there's something about handwriting notes that makes it easy for me to remember stuff that I wouldn't be able to remember if I hadn't wrote them down in the first place. So, making notes is more important than actually having them for me.

Eriny, I have exactly the same thing with the remembering-if-I-write-it-down thing... that's why I largely prefer hand-writing notes. You should see my textbooks. As I do my readings, I highlight stuff and annotate everywhere. I might summarise a whole page by writing: "Creative accounting = bad." I find that if I do it this way, it's one less set of notes that I have to cross-reference when cramming for exams. Also, it saves me time when I revise for exams. I don't bother reading anything that isn't highlighted, and my first point of reference is always my own writing.

Also... if I've written something in my own words, such as explaining a concept, I can usually remember the thought processes behind my epiphany when I first came to understand the concept... it like... saves me from 're-learning' a concept right before exams that was covered all the way back in week 2, because my memory of how I understand that concept is connected with what I wrote and the memory of me writing it. Do you relate to that at all?

I've always thought I have a very unusual way of remembering things... very associative. In saying that though, I find this to be one of my strengths... I understand the ways in which my memory tends to work and tends to... not work. I've also come to trust myself with the fact that I have an excellent short-term memory. For instance, my ritual before every kanji test in Japanese last semester was to sit down one hour before my class and memorise 25 kanji, including stroke order, meaning, readings, and usage in common words. My kanji tests all came back HD standard. The Chinese kids were all jealous that the white girl was beating them at their own game.

[Fyrefly]

Also, OP: take notes.

Uni is a lot different to high school. I preferred listening in high school too, but in uni, most people find that active note-taking is far more productive than just trying to sit there and pay attention (read: trying *reallllly* hard not to fall asleep - and failing - because the lecturer is unbelievably, painfully boring).

And also I'll agree with the point on avoiding laptops. It's amazing how interesting spider solitaire suddenly gets when you're faced with far less appealing alternatives.

[TrueTears]

Who takes notes scrupulously? Who is a listener and who is an in-betweener? Who is surfin' the net on their computer and paying no attention to their lecturer?

Seriously, what are your opinions on the usefulness of note-taking? Personally, I've never been a note-taker. It's partially because I can't be stuffed, but mainly because I think note-taking can be distracting and it's better to be fully attentive to the lecturer. I'm yet to go to uni so I'm not certain on my strategy for when it comes, but I think I'll take the listening approach - only taking a few important notes here and there.

Discuss.

Yeah I have never ever taken a single bit of note in the few maths lectures I've attended, heck I don't even turn up to any maths lectures. I think it really depends on the subject and person, for subjects like maths, there's no real need to take notes, but some people like to jot down important collaries etc