Comments on: Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, Review, Recapitulate

Record, Reduce, Recite, Reflect, Review, Recapitulate

iffley — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 15:57:29 -0800

Includes the Cornell method (details in powerpoint), and a Mapping powerpoint. [via GoBinder]

By: wobh

wobh — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 17:01:19 -0800

Thanks! It seems that the Cornell method really a container for the other methods. The other methods depend a lot on the kind of presentation being given, which could change from day to day in a given class. But I've also had a professor who ordered us not to take notes in class, so, so much for that.

By: Liosliath

Liosliath — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 17:27:57 -0800

Ordered you not to take notes in class? Why? Because too many students were focused on frantically scribbling every word verbatim, or was it some other control freak reason?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 17:46:59 -0800

I'll occasionally tell students not to take notes for the next few minutes. For me, it means "I'm about to go into a technical explanation of why this works, which matters here because it can be counterintuitive. You don't need to remember why it works, at least not here. All you need to remember is that you were convinced that it does in fact work."

By: Pacheco

Pacheco — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 18:13:28 -0800

zzzzzzzz

By: snoktruix

snoktruix — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 18:50:48 -0800

I got kind of obsessive about taking detailed notes in college, to the point where i was densely covering pages with minute details barely large enough to read. It was almost an artistic urge, to make beautiful notebooks. Also, it is a nice substitute for thinking very hard about the meaning of what you're writing. I don't really understand general relativity, but my notes are fantastic.

By: Grod

Grod — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 20:09:40 -0800

I have a technique, of sorts. I start with a nice clean stack of white paper, $5/ream printer paper, and a pencil. During the first five minutes I try to take notes, then I fill up the page with drawings of the people in the class, occasionally squeezing in notes if the prof says something noteworthy. I usually get through five sheets of notes in a class and they are more helpful than it might sound because I end up only jotting down the non-obvious or, depending on the subject, key-concepts. Except for when it fails me completely.

By: oddman

oddman — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:11:43 -0800

This seems like a pretty nice method for large lecture hall classes but I'm skeptical about its effectiveness in a smaller discussion course. For example, in a philosophy course the main benefit of going to class is having the chance to discuss various ideas and problems with the professor. If you are busy writing down as much information as you can, it becomes pretty hard to do this.

By: ilsa

ilsa — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:46:38 -0800

Hmm, I usually scribbled in the margin of the textbook, wrote important bits on the teacher's lecture outline, or wrote stuff on the back of a moderately relevant handout. Oh, and occasionally added rock lyrics or a picture of a unicorn.

By: ori

ori — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 22:48:01 -0800

If a professor fixes a concept within a nicely-wrought phrase, I'll jot it down as a way of appropriating its style into my vocabulary. None of these systems seem to address that rare side effect of lectures, learning: Say the cue out loud, then say as much as you can of the material underneath the card...If you can say it, you know it. [first link, my highlighting] Really? Is it merely quaint of me to draw a distinction between knowing and parroting? I hope not.

By: Dean Keaton

Dean Keaton — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 23:33:20 -0800

"For example, in a philosophy course the main benefit of going to class is having the chance to discuss various ideas and problems with the professor. If you are busy writing down as much information as you can, it becomes pretty hard to do this." Yeah. My Human Sexuality class would've been a nightmare using the cornell method. Thank you though, I plan to try this out.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 05:23:58 -0800

ori writes "None of these systems seem to address that rare side effect of lectures, learning" heh. Nice links, thanks.

By: Hildegarde

Hildegarde — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:35:43 -0800

I've never understood the note-rewriting people. I knew a girl once who came back from class and studiously rewrote all of her notes, so they would all be perfect and clean and whatever. Girl never got a grade higher than 75, as I recall. Ideally, the lecture is already organized by the lecturer. All you need to do is capture the main points and some details so you'll remember it for the exam. What would be more useful than fussing about the style of students' notes would be a discussion of how to intuit the structure of the lecture from verbal cues.