Making notes in lectures.

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DanAu96
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Making notes in lectures.

Post by DanAu96 »

My dyspraxia makes me slow and i have a poor short term memory. sometimes Lectures don't write on the white board and just talk. This makes it very hard for me to take notes as once i start writing I have forgotten what they said and they have moved on to the next thing and i lose the pace and i cannot make notes. I find these lectures particularly hard. Does anyone have experience with this and developed strategies for keeping up?
Last edited by Tom fod on Sun Jan 22, 2017 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: to correct minor spelling anomaly in post title
otis_b_flywheel
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Re: Making notes in lectures.

Post by otis_b_flywheel »

It's a long time since I was a student taking notes in a lecture, but I remember the situation all too well. I suppose my main advice would be - don't feel that you have to get down every word the lecturer says. I used to have large gaps in my notes - either because I was day-dreaming at the time [-X or because I didn't understand what the lecturer was saying and therefore didn't see the point of writing it down (I once got accused of having paralysis of the right arm - yes I am right-handed - and the lecturer and I had a kind of staring down match). I then went away and and at my own pace, filled in the gaps using textbooks and additional reading. This is probably a good thing in the long run as you learn to think more independently, and from the lecturer's point of view, it must be pretty disheartening to read their own regurgitated scripts in exam papers!!!
Good luck with your studies.
Tim
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RobertHamrick
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Re: Making notes in lectures.

Post by RobertHamrick »

I suppose my main advice would be - don't feel that you have to get down every word the lecturer says. I used to have large gaps in my notes. I am experienced essayist and blogger at custom essay writing service and I am intended on writing academic cases for the past several years that are assisted me to gain knowledge in writing grading assignments for all sorts of students. I have worked in different companies in essay writing.
Lucy
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Re: Making notes in lectures.

Post by Lucy »

I know this feeling all too well! Things that have helped me:

-Swapping notes with a friend who understands my difficulties, or photocopying their notes so I at least have the information
- Recording the lectures on a Dictaphone (with permission from the lecturers) so I can go and listen back to what was covered
- Asking the lecturer for any handouts or powerpoint slides in advance of the lecture, so I have fewer notes to take and can annotate around the printed slides. If there aren't slides, asking the lecturer to let me know the key areas the lecture will cover in advance so I can focus my note-taking around those.
-Getting the reading list in advance and doing at least some reading prior to the lecture, so that the lecture is more like a way to support my learning than the place I'm trying to learn from in the first place - that way I only need to note down information I didn't cover/remember from my reading so can spend more time listening to the lecture.

Does your university know you have dyspraxia? Most of the above were suggestions from the neurodiversity team at my uni. They also have study skills sessions on note-taking in lectures but I haven't been to any yet. I remember reading something about a pen that helps with this as well, that records audio when you are writing so that you can listen back specifically to those parts, but I can't remember where I read that sorry #-o
allesandro
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Re: Making notes in lectures.

Post by allesandro »

what I always did was to just write down salient information in the course of a lecture. If lectures followed a book, I would then follow that up with the details surrounding the issue until it was cemented in my brain. Then the phrase I wrote down during the lecture would bring back the details of the lecture and the reading as well
revporl
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Re: Making notes in lectures.

Post by revporl »

Record the lecture on your phone (or a dictaphone back in my day) and transcribe from the recording in your own time. Making written notes during lectures was a complete non starter for me!
BaronessXX
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Re: Making notes in lectures.

Post by BaronessXX »

I have dyspraxia too, and it can be super tough to keep up with fast-paced lectures. What's been really helpful for me is recording the lectures with my phone, so I can listen back later and jot down notes at my own pace.

Also, I've started using a note-taking app where I type as much as I can during the lecture and then fill in the gaps when I listen to the recording. It's made a huge difference for me!

Recently discovered a cool service from notesonline.com that lets you write anonymous notes that vanish after they're read. It's been a lifesaver for sharing ideas without feeling self-conscious about my dyspraxia. Maybe you'll find it useful too!
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