Take Lectures Effectively.
If you're anything like me, the mere thought of missing a crucial tidbit of information from your lecturer feels like missing a golden nugget that could unlock success in your assignments or exams. I'd scribble down every single word in a frantic attempt to secure every ounce of knowledge delivered during the lecture. By the time I hit my second year of university, I faced a revelation: around 90% of what I jotted down was already neatly presented on the slides, rendering my flurry of note taking practically redundant. I had spent those precious lecture hours mechanically transcribing content rather than truly absorbing it, only to find that my notes were little more than a redundant echo of the slides.
This pivotal moment led me to ponder the optimal way to approach lectures. Yes, the material resides in the slides, but the genuine learning occurs when you're actively engaged with your lecturer's explanations and responses to questions. It's the interactive aspect that breathes life into the concepts and maximises the value of the lecture. As I tweaked my approach, I found a balance: capturing essential details, immersing myself in the discourse, and crafting notes that genuinely enhance my understanding for assignments and exams. It might seem like an additional layer of preparation for something that isn't even an exam, but let me assure you, these extra steps can significantly streamline your studying process.
Pre-Lecture
Before diving into the lecture, I've run through a pre-lecture routine that ensures I'm well-prepared to extract the most value from the upcoming session. This approach helps me comprehend the material better and actively participate during the lecture itself.
1. Skim the Lecture Slides: I always skim through the lecture slides in advance. This quick review provides a bird's-eye view of the upcoming topic, helping me to prepare for what's to come. It's like priming my brain to absorb the information more effectively during the lecture.
2. Annotate Slides with Adobe Acrobat:
Questions to Ask: As I skim the slides, I jot down questions that crop up in my mind. These could be points of confusion, areas I'm eager to delve deeper into, or even clarifications on topics I've previously encountered.
Important Topics: Some concepts immediately stand out as key takeaways. I highlight these crucial topics within the slides, ensuring that they'll catch my attention during the lecture. It's a way of directing my focus to the most vital components of the material.
Highlighting Confusion: Not everything instantly makes sense, and that's perfectly fine. Whenever I come across something I can't wrap my head around, I highlight it. This visual cue serves as a reminder to ask questions and seek clarification during the lecture.
This pre-lecture routine helps me fully prepare so I can get the most out of the lecture. It’s also a personal guide as my notes crop up moving through the lecture slides, I am reminded to ask this question here or pay close attention to this topic for clarity.
During Lecture
Engaging meaningfully during lectures involves more than just passive listening. By adopting a deliberate approach, you can optimise your learning and capture details to help you with your assignments.
1. Prioritise Direct Engagement: Instead of getting bogged down in exhaustive note taking, channel your energy into active listening and absorption. This way you walk away with knowledge rather an endless stream of information that has no meaning and wrist strain.
2. Note Taking: Note taking isn’t completely abolished I just try to limit what I note. There is no hard rule for what to note down but what I try to stick to is below:
Core Conceptual Insights: If the tutor imparts a critical perspective that enhances your understanding, jot it down. These core insights act as building blocks for your comprehension.
Resonating Points: Some elements may strike a chord with you on an intuitive level. While difficult to articulate, these are moments that you feel need to be capture.
Tasks: Some notes may hit the to-do list instead of your study material and may be a task. For example, you may highlight a topic of interest to research or think of something regarding your assignment the subject has prompted.
Pre-Lecture Questions Addressed: If the lecture answers questions you posed beforehand, make sure you note this down. Again, this doesn't need to be word for word but an overview of their answer.
3. Create Safety Nets: Even with all this preparation I still fear missing out on gold, implement safety measures. Utilise capture apps like Otter.io, which transcribes audio. Simply hit record at the start of the lecture on your phone and set it aside. If your one of the lucky ones and your university offers lecture capture, download this afterwards.
Post-Lecture: Transforming Notes into Effective Study Tools
After the lecture concludes, the journey of transforming raw notes into actionable study materials. By crafting resources that are both accessible and conducive to learning, you enhance your ability to retain and apply the content effectively.
After the lecture I distil all the captured materials including my notes, lecture slides, and any other materials such as labs. From this I create study material that will actually help me understand and learn the subject rather than trying to remember information. I create two types of materials, they are:
1. Notion Page for Core Subject: I establish a dedicated Notion page for the core subject covered in the lecture. This acts as the nucleus of my study resources, offering a structured and organised solution. I have a whole notion set up for managing all my classes, assignments, exams, and notes which you can download the template here.
Structure the page however you want I tend to follow the flow of the lecture slides creating a subheading for each section and my materials for that here. The reason for this when I study afterwards for say an upcoming exam, I will bring up both my notes and the lecture slides and this way my notes have narrative to follow.
Notion page for subject JavaScript and Ajax
Notes created for subject.
2. Anki Flash Cards: One of the best tools for any type of learning! Based on the content from all materials I create Anki cards to review daily. By consistently reviewing these flashcards, I solidify short-term memories into long-term knowledge. Over time, I rely less and less on my notes as the information becomes embedded in my memory
Anki cards structure for CNOS unit.
3. Action Items and To-Do's: If I've identified actionable items or tasks, they find their way onto my to-do app. This ensures they aren’t missed and managed as I can then schedule time to complete them.
Lectures are valuable, you have a very clever person teaching you with nowhere to run for an hour! Use this time wisely by asking questions, actively listening, and truly engaging rather than giving your hands cramp. Before this technique I would leave the room believing I had all I needed but this was false. I left the part where I learn the topic behind and instead had to spend hours reading the slides again trying to teach myself and remembering what my lecturer had said. If only I had listened!
I really hope sharing this helps you with your academic studies and this is just my approach which works for me, if you can find something better for you use that! The real take away here is to ditch the stenographer training and engage with the lecture.