Lab 7: Online Module

Effective Notetaking

Effective Notetaking

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• This week lecture & lab are online – do not go to your regular lab classroom

• We start with an online slideshow about regulating your notetaking.

• Next, lab activities are introduced including– An activity guiding you through the process of regulating

your notetaking before, during, and after the class.

Notetaking for LearningOnline Lecture

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Dispelling Myths About Lectures

• Just being there is good enough– NOT better than skipping

• Texting, playing angry birds, checking email & facebook, studying for the midterm in the next class, creating elaborate artwork

– No magical absorption– Engagement required

• Lecture Wastes Time / Redundant– Missing lecture increases your study time needed – Missing lecture increases difficulty– Why?....

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Why Attend Lectures?

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Lectures… Give insight into what is expected in the course Indicate what the key info is (selecting) Provide repeated exposure (text and lecture) Offer opportunity to clear up confusion

(questions) Help you elaborate (examples) Expose you to cues

Tone of voice, volume changeExtra tips Important announcementsExtended commentsSuperlatives

Benefit #1: Focusing attention

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• Note taking can help you focus attention– But not always

• It depends– On you– On your preparation– On the lecture

Are You Actively Listening? Aware of the kinds of

information to pay attention to & processing the

information

Benefit #2: Encoding (remembering)

• Notetaking can help you remember the info– But not always– Notetakers vs. listeners in immediate &

delayed recall of info (sometimes no difference)

• Depends on– Type of info & density, speed of delivery,

activation of prior knowledge

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Is notetaking interfering? Maybe just listen

Benefit #3: External storage

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• Note taking provides you with external storage– But sometimes not useful

• Depends on– If you do a good job of it– If there’s already a better external

representation of the lecture• Online lecture notes• Recording• Podcast• Similar text

Yes? Maybe just listen

So How Do You Take Effective Notes?

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Regulating Your Notetaking

Before Lecture Build understanding of the notetaking task Set TASC goals for notetaking task

During Lecture Stay active and take effective notes using appropriate strategies Monitor your notetaking as you do it

After Lecture Perhaps most important phase of note taking Monitor how well you learned Make connections among sources Evaluate & adapt your note taking

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Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Monitoring &

Evaluating

Before Lecture(1) Build understanding of the notetaking

task

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1. Know what concepts will be covered• What do I already know about the topic?• What questions do I have?

• How?– Check syllabus– Activate prior knowledge about the topic (puzzle)

• Review last week’s notes• Do readings (or pre-read / preview text)• Brainstorm or concept map

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2. Know the lecture purpose• What does your prof want you to know?• How do the lectures fit together? (in the course)• How does the lecture relate to the text? • How does lecture relate to assignments, tests, etc.?

• How?– Review the syllabus (order of lectures?)– Look at the text TOC (overlap?)– Read assignment instructions & ask questions

Before Lecture(1) Build understanding of the notetaking task

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3. Know what to bring/prepare• How does this prof lecture?• Are there online notes?

• How?– Set up a note taking form/space

• Text book TOC• Online lecture notes

– Tailor for different lecturers/material

Before Lecture(1) Build understanding of the notetaking

task

– What do I want to learn or know by the end of the lecture?

– TASC goals• Based on your understanding of the lecture task• Help you choose good strategies for note taking• Give you a standard for evaluating your note

taking

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Before Lecture(1) Set goals – what you want to get out of

the lecture

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• Which is the better goal?

A.Pay attention and take down good notes today during the economics lecture. I will know I have done a good job if I have filled out the centre column for my Cornell notetaking pages (1-2:30) (WEAKER)

B.During lecture on Monday: Compare and record examples of 7 types of financial costs (marginal cost, total cost, fixed cost, total variable cost, average total cost, average fixed cost, average variable cost). If I can explain the role of each of these in price setting decision, I know I understand. (STRONGER)

Before Lecture

During Lecture

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• General tips for note taking– Sit up front– Be on time– Be mentally prepared– Listen actively & focus attention– Engage

• Influence the lecture and ask questions– Pacing– Elaboration– Explanation

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General Qualities of Effective Notes

Structured

Distinguishes main points from details

Useful later

Contains examples

Uses abbreviations

During Lecture

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• Actively process the information (LEARN it) Select the most important information Monitor your understanding Assemble – structure and make connections Rehearse & Review - more than one exposure Translate info into your own

representations/words

During Lecture: Strategies

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Use strategies than help you process and remember information.

1. Strategies for Isolating Key Information

2. Strategies for Structuring Information

3. Strategies for Elaborating/Generating

During Lecture: Strategies

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① Select/Isolate Key Information• Choose what’s important • Don’t try to record everything• In your own words/use abbreviations• Process what’s important (limited working memory)

• How?– Use a framework

– Chapter TOC or online lecture notes– Highlight + annotate important points/terms

During Lecture: Strategies

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② Structure the Information• Organize the information • Impose a structure• Integrate across sources Easier to retrieve

World War II

American Revolution

Stuff for chp 1

History notes

Study guidenotes

Strategies: Matrix Notes

• Lecturer says:

“We will discuss 3 approaches to study intellectual

development”

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Approaches to studying intellectual development

Categories

Questions-themes

Psychometric Approach

PiagetianApproach

Information Processing approach

Who are the major theorists?

What are the factors that comprise intelligence?

How can intelligence be measured?

What are the specific processes involved in intelligence performance?What are the criticisms of this approach?

Taken From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoU257QR_f0

Structured

Preparing to recordkey details from lecture

Distinguish main pointsfrom details

Forces synthesisduring or after lecture

AT-A-GLANCE viewFill in missing details

from text

Strategies: Cornell Method

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Key ideasFraming questions

TopicsThemes

Write notes Draw diagrams

Reference to instructor slidesReference to terms

Things to look up in the text

Make use of white space so you can fill things in later

Overall summary of information

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Strategies: Cornell Method

During Lecture: Strategies

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③ Strategies for Elaborating/Generating

– Make connections/extensions– Promote deeper learning Limited during a lecture

– Two examples • Predictive Questioning• Cornell Notetaking (Adapted)

Strategies: Predictive Questioning

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What is it? Strategy where you ask yourself questions as you take

notes

How to use it As you take notes, ask yourself questions

Jot questions down in the margins

Questions target 3 levels of thinking Level 1: Understanding information Level 2: Connecting information Level 3: Extending new information

Levels of Questions

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Understanding Connecting Extending

Questions that require you to select & explain things from the text and lecture in your own words

Questions that require you to understand & connect, and distinguish between ideas from the lecture/text

Questions that require you to extend or apply what was learned by putting new and old ideas together to create new reasoned perspectives, knowledge, hypotheses, etc.

• Complete• Observe• Describe• Match• Identify• Name• List• Select

• Compare• Contrast• Classify• Sort• Distinguish• Explain why…• Explain the significance

of• Infer or provide an

example• Sequence• Analyze• Identify cause or effect

of…

• Evaluate• Generalize• Speculate• Hypothesize• Judge• Forecast• Predict• Apply

Strategies: Cornell Method (Adapted)

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Key ideasFraming questions

TopicsThemes

Write notes Draw diagrams

Reference to instructor slidesReference to terms

Things to look up in the text

Make use of white space so you can fill things in later

Summary & prediction of possible test questions

During Lecture: Monitoring

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• Check in with yourself– Am I engaged?

• Am I listening actively? / Is my attention wandering?• Am I influencing the lecturer?

– Am I selecting?• Am I searching for cues?• Am I choosing the important info?/ Do I know why I’m writing this down?• Am I so busy writing, I have no idea what is being said?

– Am I making sense of the information?• Are my notes organized? – Will this make sense later?• Do my notes contain useful examples?• Can I ask a question? Can I make the connections?• Am I putting things in my own words?

– Am I prepared?• Is this notetaking format working for this lecture/prof?• Have I recorded the class, topic, date, page numbers?

After Lecture: Review Notes

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Sit down for coffee and review notes

• Summarize & Structure – What were the main take-away points?– Refine structure and organize

• Connect/Elaborate/Generate– Is there anything I can fill in to my notes? (Compare with peer)– Possible test questions?– How does it relate to other material in the course?

• Evaluate– Are there questions I still need answering?– What worked for me today? / What did not work well? – How do I need to approach notetaking in this class next time?

Helps Encoding remember more, work less hard to study

later

Importance of Review & Summary

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• If you review and engage generative processing (elaboration) after the lecture, you remember more and have to work less hard to learn/review later

• The quality of summaries written after the lecture is strongly associated with recall

After Lecture: Examine & Evaluate

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Example Evaluation Questions to Ask Yourself I understand what was discussed in the lecture I can explain 5 main ideas from the lecture today I focused on listening and understanding I recognized and noted structuring clues (e.g. 5 issues) The notes I took are organized My notes distinguish main ideas from points and details My notes include examples My notes provide a cue for me, so I could write a summary of the lecture My notes are brief and targeted - used abbreviations where possible I reviewed the lecture that day to fill in notes and information I avoided copying down everything I compared my notes to the textbook afterwards to fill in any gaps I asked questions I left spaces to fill things in I filed my notes in order My notes indicate the course, date, and lecture topic I know which notes are missing (lectures I have missed) and I have filled them in

Online Lab 7 Activity Overview

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• Notetaking Slideshow– Regulating notetaking: Before, During & After

• Weekly SRL– My Planner 7

• Solo Reflection for Collaborative Challenge 1• Experimenting with Effective Notetaking

– Notetaking for Learning Activity– Notetaking Strategy Activity

• Time Tracking Sheet (homework)

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• The My Planner Tool guides you to engage in the SRL cycle each week by – Thinking ahead (Plan/Set goals for this week)– Thinking back (Monitor how things went at the end of the week)

• Make My Planner entries work for you– Thoughtful / Reflective + TASC Goals + 10-15 Mins– Are you running into the same problems each week?

My Planner

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• Regulate your Notetaking– This activity asks you to choose one class – It then guides you through the process of regulating your

notetaking– The activity has 2 parts to be completed before and after the

class– Both are due before your next lab

Take Effective Notes

Notetaking Activity Notetaking Strategy

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Complete the Solo Reflection for Collaborative Challenge 1

Solo Reflection for Collaborative Challenge 1

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How well do you manage your time?

Download the time tracking sheet and keep track of how you use your time this week!

Before next lab, be sure to upload your completed time tracking sheet. We will need it for Lab 8!!!

Time Tracking Sheet