Taking lecture notes!

Jimdw

Really struggling with lecture notes. I really fail to see the point of taking notes. Lecture PDF and ppt files are there for download. I take some notes quite often because I don't want to look stupid. I'm second med, course is heavy on lectures. I'm Estonian, I have language barrier but if I knew what's the point and/or how to take lecture notes, I would feel happy. Internet is full of bollix on this issue. I really hate reading advises on notes taking in university from universities, all you do is sitting in a freaking room for half of day, no tea, no things that you like to have around, cold like hell, sitting dressed in jacket. It's so much hostile than sitting and doing same lecture PowerPoint at home over hot coffe in a warm room.

howaya

a good lecturer will use their voice and maybe some body language to emphasize particularly important points - that can be helpful.
Doing a professional course as you are, I guess it might be useful for you to see classmates and lecturers regularly, so that you can be of help to one another.
You might try using a simple dictaphone. They make a good recording, and might complement the downloads.
It seems incredibly challenging to me to study in a second language, but I would think that listening to lecturers will help develop skills for listening to patients?

Dante

I find that I learn a lot more by taking down my own personal notes in lectures than just simply copying from an online slide. I get constantly heckled by all my mates for doing it but I don't give a fúck!

Larianne

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

I find that I learn a lot more by taking down my own personal notes in lectures than just simply copying from an online slide. I get constantly heckled by all my mates for doing it but I don't give a fúck!

You get heckled by your friends for taking notes in class? How are they even in Trinity? Time for a :rolleyes:

I'm with you on learning more by taking down notes in class.

Fringe

Don't take down notes then. You're in college. Decide yourself how you want to study.

Dante

Larianne wrote: »

You get heckled by your friends for taking notes in class? How are they even in Trinity? Time for a :rolleyes:

You havn't seen my class....we are all retards haha. I can't see more than 5 out of 30 people passing first year without repeating at least 2 subjects in the summer. Still, they are all legends and I wouldn't want it any other way tbh.

BERNHARD GOETZ

Jimdw wrote: »

Really struggling with lecture notes. I really fail to see the point of taking notes. Lecture PDF and ppt files are there for download. I take some notes quite often because I don't want to look stupid. I'm second med, course is heavy on lectures. I'm Estonian, I have language barrier but if I knew what's the point and/or how to take lecture notes, I would feel happy. Internet is full of bollix on this issue. I really hate reading advises on notes taking in university from universities, all you do is sitting in a freaking room for half of day, no tea, no things that you like to have around, cold like hell, sitting dressed in jacket. It's so much hostile than sitting and doing same lecture PowerPoint at home over hot coffe in a warm room.

Hey, if you're happy that you can figure it out without taking notes, then there's no problem. The point of taking notes is so that you don't miss anything in lectures that you'll need to know later, and if it's all available anyway, then there's no problem not taking notes. Don't worry about people writing down every single word the lecturer says!

phlegms

I find that when I actually write the stuff down (regardless of whether I refer back to the notes later or not) I can remember a lot more of what went on in the lecture later on.

Prof.Badass

phlegms wrote: »

I find that when I actually write the stuff down (regardless of whether I refer back to the notes later or not) I can remember a lot more of what went on in the lecture later on.

I take notes as a way of ramming the info into my brain. I almost never look back on them. Lecture slides are more visually appealing.

devinejay

I find note-taking hit and miss, but there is certainly some merit. Some lecturers just read out directly from their notes, at which point note-taking is kinda useful. On the other hand when lecturers talk about the notes then I try to take little notes that emphasize some points or make connections between points. I try not to take too much notes cause often you end up concentrating too much on getting everything down and not actually following the material.

I never take notes if they are available to download. I find it much easier to read them in advance and highlight/write a few notes while listening to the lecturer than try to take down my own notes. When I was in TCD, nothing was ever put up online for my class, we had to take down everything. I found it a tremendous waste of time. I missed so much because I just couldn't write fast enough to get it all down, and I was so busy scribbling away that I wasn't really taking much in. I barely ever take notes now (I'm doing a postgrad elsewhere).

Brian

devinejay wrote: »

I try not to take too much notes cause often you end up concentrating too much on getting everything down and not actually following the material.

Maths.

devinejay

Don't get me started on Frolov, how much is he paid to rewrite the textbook onto cellophane and then project it up and race through it. Pointless.

Jonathan

devinejay wrote: »

Don't get me started on Frolov, how much is he paid to rewrite the textbook onto cellophane and then project it up and race through it. Pointless.

He has gone all high tech? Blackboard for us..

lucernarian

As most lectures have their material on the internet, the best way for me is to get the notes preprinted and then shove in added parts or info around it. The bits of stuff that I wrote remind me afterwards of what was going on in the lecture.

But definitely, I can't find a way to meaningfully take notes when they're online. I wish there was a way to take notes without spending time just writing instead of learning. Lol, I wish learning was effortless full stop. Have someone do it for me instead.

devinejay

Jonathan wrote: »

He has gone all high tech? Blackboard for us..

So when he was using the blackboard did he have the book open in front of him to transcribe?:pac:

Kwekubo

I started taking down lecture notes on my laptop this year using OneNote (which came free with Microsoft Office), and it's amazing. If the slides are available before the lecture, then you can print PDF/PPT files into images within OneNote and then type all over them, add arrows/internet links etc. And absolutely everything is searchable with a single click, even text contained within images.

devinejay

A mate of mine has a laptop with touchscreen/tablet pc functionality and OneNote is really really useful on it. Jealous.

Aoibheann

I'm sorry, I'm confused by this whole thing of notes being available online.. :pac: I have to take notes, or I'd be screwed in most of my classes.

That said, in the few classes we do get notes in, I completely switch off - so personally I think that note-taking helps me focus on what's going on. Every person is different though, some people find they can't pay attention while taking notes at the same time. I find the only time I can pay attention is when I'm forced to take notes, but then again, I'd put that down to my severe lack of an attention span.

PurpleFistMixer

Aoibheann wrote: »

I'm sorry, I'm confused by this whole thing of notes being available online.. :pac: I have to take notes, or I'd be screwed in most of my classes.

Physics department tends to have notes online, maths department less so.

Aoibheann

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Physics department tends to have notes online, maths department less so.

Yup, pretty much. Well, the special rel guy doesn't have notes online, he has a link to someone elses notes though, which almost counts, I think..

And we get notes in advanced calculus too.. bad idea. Many, many people sleep in that class.

phlegms

None of the history notes are online, so notes are essential tbh.

fonpokno

I find if I don't take notes I won't remember what's been said and I will fall asleep. Differs for everyone though, I just don't have the attention span for some lecturers...

WHirl7

I'm hoping to go to TCD next year, have no experience of lectures, how do you know before a lecture how much of it is going to be available online?

PurpleFistMixer

WHirl7 wrote: »

I'm hoping to go to TCD next year, have no experience of lectures, how do you know before a lecture how much of it is going to be available online?

Some lecturers tell you at the start that they put their notes online, alternately you can look up the courses/lecturers on the website and see if there are any notes there. Otherwise you don't.

dabh

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Some lecturers tell you at the start that they put their notes online, alternately you can look up the courses/lecturers on the website and see if there are any notes there. Otherwise you don't.

And for maths notes, there is the mathsoc wiki. (Note that, in addition to the notes there, there are links to course pages etc.). See

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~mathsoc/wiki/Main_Page

Some lecturers find it convenient to post online lecture notes. Others don't have the technical facility, desire or reason to do so. It is very much up to the individual lecturer whether or not to invest the effort in writing up notes and making them available online.

swimfan22

phlegms wrote: »

None of the history notes are online, so notes are essential tbh.

Phlegms you're first year history right? Are you taking Prof Robinson's course? That one is definitely an exercise in note-taking!

Jammyc

I'm really thinkin that I wont print off notes before lectures from now on.

I keep falling asleep if I'm not taking notes. And I mean asleep. I've dreamt and all...

Jev/N

phlegms wrote: »

I find that when I actually write the stuff down (regardless of whether I refer back to the notes later or not) I can remember a lot more of what went on in the lecture later on.

For the OP, I don't see the point if the notes are already given by the lecturer, especially as it would be better to get your head around each topic when in the lecture... I found it's better to just listen and take it all in rather than be paying more attention to getting everything down

phlegms

swimfan22 wrote: »

Phlegms you're first year history right? Are you taking Prof Robinson's course? That one is definitely an exercise in note-taking!

Yeah Im in that course!
I'd agree with you there. Even if I'm not being particularly vigilant in my note-taking, they still seem to reach about 4/5 pages of notes!