Lab 7 Spring 2014

Lab 7: Effective Notetaking

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

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

– No magical absorption– Engagement required

• Students think lectures waste time & are redundant– Missing lecture increases your study time needed – Missing lecture increases difficulty– Why?

2

Dispelling Myths About Lecture

• 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 change• Extra tips• Important announcements• Extended comments• Superlatives

3

Why Attend Lecture

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

• On you• On your preparation• On the lecture

4

Are You Actively Listening? Aware of the kinds of

information to pay attention to & processing the

information

Notetaking Benefit #1: Focusing Attention

• Notetaking can help you remember the info– But not always–Depends on

• Type of info & density, speed of delivery, activation of prior knowledge

5

Is notetaking interfering? Maybe just listen

Notetaking Benefit #2:Encoding

• 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

6

Yes? Maybe just listen

Notetaking Benefit #3:External Storage

7

So How Do You Take Effective Notes?

Task UnderstandingUnderstand what you need to

do

Goal Setting/ PlanningSet high quality TASC goals

Large ScaleAdaptation

Was TU accurate? Did I achieve my goal?

What strategies worked?What can be improved?

Enacting Active listening & effective

notetaking strategies

Monitoring &

Evaluating

• 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

8

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Monitoring &

EvaluatingRegulating Notetaking

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

9

Before Lecture:Task Understanding

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

10

Before Lecture:Task Understanding

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

11

Before Lecture: Task Understanding

– 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

12

Before Lecture:Goal Setting

• 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)

13

Before Lecture: Goal Setting

• 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

14

During Lecture

15

Structured

Distinguishes main points from details

Useful later

Contains examples

Uses abbreviations

General Qualities of Effective Notes

• 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

16

During Lecture

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

17

During Lecture:Strategies

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

18

World War II

American Revolution

Stuff for chp 1

History notes

Study guidenotes

During Lecture:Strategies

• Lecturer says:

“We will discuss 3 approaches to study intellectual

development”

19

During Lecture: Matrix Notes

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?

20

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

21

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

During Lecture: Cornell Method

③ Strategies for Elaborating/Generating

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

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

22

During Lecture: Strategies

• 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

23

During Lecture:Predictive Questioning

Understanding Connecting ExtendingQuestions 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

24

Levels of Questions

25

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: Adapted Cornell Method

• 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?

26

During Lecture:Monitoring

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?

27

Helps Encoding remember more, work less hard to study

later

After Lecture:Review

Importance of Review & Summary

• 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

28

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

29

After Lecture:Evaluation

Lab 7 Activity Overview

• Weekly SRL– My Planner 7

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

– Notetaking for Learning Activity• Time Tracking Sheet (homework)

30

31

My Planner • 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?

32

Take Effective Notes

• 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

33

Solo Reflection for Collaborative Challenge 1

• Complete the Solo Reflection for Collaborative Challenge 1

34

Time Tracking Sheet

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!!!