Want a better online class experience? Take notes!
By implementing a simple note-taking routine, you can dramatically improve your attention, performance, and learning outcomes in an online class.
By Camila Netto and Patrycja Wierzchalek, Minerva Schools ’22.
Take notes in class. You’ve heard that before, right? Taking notes is easier said than done, especially when you’re at home and in online classes.
Let’s face it, emergency remote learning this spring was fairly chaotic. Having to adapt to learning online while saying goodbye to friends, moving, and getting used to quarantine life was a huge lift. Though life remains unpredictable, at least we face this fall with more experience. So, instead of adjusting, we can start to refine and customize our online learning habits and methods.
This article discusses one of the key habits you should develop if you want to be able to stay alert during class hours in front of your computer and what follows, a more meaningful class experience.
If you have an innovative method for note-taking that’s not listed contact Study Kit (studykit2020@gmail.com) for possible publication.
Why should I take notes?
To learn
Note-taking requires you to think about what you’re listening to and writing, rather than passively hearing the professor during a lecture or seminar. By putting some mental effort into capturing the information and encoding it in your notes, you process the content learned more deeply and create study material that will be very valuable should you need to revise anything.
To improve attention
In an online class, it’s even harder to stay attentive than in a classroom. With the video and microphone off, you are likely tempted to scroll through apps on your phone or drift away in thoughts. But why waste all this time on doing something else? Since you’re already connected on your laptop, try your best to learn and use your time wisely. Note-taking, be it on paper or on the computer, will help you to actively listen, understand, and summarize. This will save you time since you will learn more and need to study less outside of class.
To remember
Taking notes is also excellent when you need to remember something important, and it can become a habit after a while. If you struggle with remembering deadlines, schedule changes, or tasks that you need to complete, try simply writing down such information. You can do it on Post Its and stick them to the wall or other surface you regularly check. Or you can download a reminder app on your phone. Soon enough, your brain will automatically suggest that you write a note whenever new information arrives, and get used to frequently checking the noted information.
When you take notes, you should complete three tasks:
- Be a Reader/Listener: Note and understand the information from the source.
- Be a Learner: Processes and synthesize the information to help store it in memory.
- Be a Writer: Select the information to record and format it differently from the source.
Before you start, think about your goal while note-taking. For instance, if you’re doing it as a studying strategy, you might give yourself additional time to come up with your own unique examples and analogies to what you’re learning. If you’re taking notes to later use them as study material, focus on clarity and cohesion of your writing.
How should I take notes?
Notes can be non-generative, meaning they are a repetition of the source, or generative, when you summarize, paraphrase relevant information, or in any way process information and synthesize it to incorporate in your notes.
For effective note-taking, you should make an effort to choose what you write carefully. Translate the information you receive into your own words, in a generative way. Be efficient with your writing, and aim to use these notes as a cue for memory instead of rewriting everything you read or listened to.
You may choose to take them freestyle, writing down what you feel is the most relevant and that you might need to remember later. Or you can take a more structured approach, defining some template or format to use as a guideline whenever you are studying or taking a class (you can create your own or use a preexistent method, such as this one or this one).
A Few Tips
✅ If you’re using electronic devices, try to minimize distractions by closing all unnecessary tabs and disabling notifications while you are studying.
✅ Give preference to writing by hand, even if it is in a digital medium (i.e., with a smartpen on a tablet). This also allows you to view the class on your whole screen improving your ability to focus on the class.
✅ Write small phrases instead of full sentences. That helps you save time and memorize things easier.
✅ Use headings, numbers, arrows, and visual aids (like colors, images) to separate topics, highlight key-concepts, and emphasize the connections between the information.
✅ Use symbols and abbreviations to save time. It is okay to create your own code for note-taking, as long as it helps you remember afterward.
✅ Just start: some note-taking is better than none, and you can always improve as you go. Try and test things, change what you think is needed.
When should I take notes?
If your online learning requires you to prepare before the class, there might be a few readings or presentations you need to look through before attending the session. You could forget some of it by the time of the class session if you don’t record what you studied as you prepare for different classes. Taking effective notes from preparation materials is a great approach to make sure you encode all the information you’ll need to remember in class. Your notes should focus on synthesis, main points, and difficult concepts.
During the classes, you should take notes of clarifications of hard concepts, curious examples, and new topics introduced in class, as well as your own thoughts, confusions, and novel insights. You might want to have a block of sticky notes or a notebook with you during class to take short notes. After class, you can transcribe them into your official notebook or your laptop notes.
After class, note-taking works to reinforce learning and stimulate memory. Take a few minutes after class ends to write down the main points from the class in a summarization exercise. You solidify your knowledge and create great material for future revisions with just a few sentences of key-takeaways from each lesson. You can also reorganize your notes to make sense of the themes and discussions in class. Taking these few minutes will help reinforce what you learned in class, enabling later recall and creation of long-term memory.
No matter how you choose to write, the most important thing is that you register what you’re learning and that you do so in a way that eventually becomes habitual. It’s a great idea to try a few different ways to find what works best for you.
If you have an innovative method for learning, an interest in writing about a topic related to learning and wellness or any questions email us at studykit2020@gmail.com
