The most useful thing that I learned in this module were the different note taking methods. In his video, Thomas Frank illustrates five different note taking methods. I personally find myself getting bored while note taking and sometimes find that note taking isn’t a very effective way for learning. Understanding the different options, I have for note taking is super beneficial for me to improve my learning and note taking techniques. Below are the five different note taking methods he describes. Maybe one of these could work for you too! Here is a short guide to methods in his video:
Outline Method –
- Straightforward and very simple
- Based on bullet points and hierarchy
- Make top level bullet points of main ideas in the lecture, then fill in with lower-level bullet points to fill in
- Go back in after and add new bullet points
- Using a computer could be a good approach (controversial! Do what is best for your learning)
Cornell Method –
- Divide paper into 3 big sections
- The left column is a “cue” column, and the right column is a “notetaking” column. The section at the bottom of the page is the “summary” box
- During class, you use the note taking column on the right to write notes in a normal style
- As soon as you can after class, write down questions or “cues” in the cue column to help you review later
- After, write a summary of the lecture in the “summary” column
- The cue and summary column are designed to help you build reviewable notes the first time you write them
Mind Map Method –
- Take a blank piece of paper, draw a circle in the middle of it, and put the main topic of the lecture there. From there create “branches” that have subtopics with notes and other important pieces of information/connections
- This helps to organize topics and can help visualize them as well
Flow Method –
- Not trying to get every single detail of the lecture
- The point is to learn while you are sitting in class
- As you take notes, your goal is to create an original document that represents your mental image of the subject
- Create something that is your own! Can add pictures, boxes, connections, symbols, etc.
- Point of this system of note taking is to learn it once and accelerate your learning
Write on the Slides Method –
- If lecturer posts slides before the class, it can be easy and convenient to print them off and write directly on them
- The slides more or less mirror the flow of the lecture! You can get a “timeline view” –> not always accurate but pretty close
- Can cause the leaner to recall based on slides themselves
- Don’t have to write as much because it is done for you
After knowing and understanding these different methods, it has inspired me to work at trying out all these methods. After trying all these methods, I hope to find the strategy that works best for me! It might take some trial and error, but I am willing to work on it if it sets me up to be more successful in the future.
Video Link: