Trying New Things Part 1 (Nicole)

After my first year adventures, I always believe trying and experimenting ways on how to approach lectures, tutorials, studying and practising, changes the way I learn and absorb information, according to each subjects I enrol in each semester. It’s actually fun, and engaging if you look at it this way when experimenting. You can find out what works, and what doesn’t work for you according to how you learn when at a lecture, or tutorial, and so on. Vice versa when it comes to time management as well.

Firstly, let’s talk about lectures, since students, including myself, are curious to know how each and every one of us approach learning in particular. 

If I could describe how I learn and engage in lectures, or tutorials, it feels like I’m learning in a 21st century atmosphere – using technology. In my lectures, I have my iPad out, since I’m tech-savvy, and I annotate my slides, if they come out in advanced. I put my slides in an app called, Notability, and I use my stylus from there. I really love annotating my slides on my iPad, since it is engaging for me with technology, and I can store it digitally in any device, like my Laptop, for instance.

I’m not quite sure if I mentioned on how I approach lectures last year, but let’s get into it any ways, because I like telling stories! During first year, I found this way of learning (annotating slides on your iPad) by going to Mind, Brain and Behaviour 1 and 2 lectures. During my MBB 1/2 lectures, most of the students, used their laptop, iPads, or by taking notes using paper and pen. So I thought, “Let’s try using my laptop for lectures.” A few lectures later on, I thought to myself, “This is not working. I’m not taking in information. It feels weird to type in my abbreviations, comparing with writing them on paper.” Then, I tried annotating slides on my laptop, which is a nice thing to have, and slightly worked, but it doesn’t complete. Next few lectures on, I tried printing out the lectures and writing them on. This actually worked, because it was pretty cool, and I absorbed information in with my little notes. So, I stuck with that for MBB 1, as it is how I also took notes after my lectures; writing down additional notes underneath the slides in my notebook. It was a pretty damn visual notebook, and visually amazing from my friends, and to myself pretty much. Haha!

MBB2 changed how I learnt in lectures again. I went back to annotating my lecture slides on my laptop, until when I got my iPad, which was passed on by my sister. Having an iPad changed my life. I used my iPad to annotate after when I was feeling sleepy, and I got sick of day dreaming and procrastinating in a few lectures into a topic, that felt like it went on forever. From there on, I started to feel engaged and interested, as I was using technology to learn, and to feel like I’m engaging with the lecture, myself and my iPad. During this time, I used OneNote. Using OneNote is not that fabulous, but it was a good enough note taking device, when using any type of stylus to write on my iPad. How I got inspired? By a person who highlighted with their finger on their iPad in MBB 2 lectures. It was so cool, that I wanted to try it, when I got bored in a MBB 2 lecture one time. Haha!

Fast track to few weeks in second year, first semester, and I reflected on the type of note-taking techniques that worked for me best. I worked out that iPad annotation was the best thing ever. Writing down notes on paper also worked, if they don’t post up the lecture slides before the lecture. I also upgraded to another note-taking device (Notability), which I had mentioned earlier at the beginning of the post. MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE! BEST NOTE-TAKING APP WHEN WRITING ON A TABLET! Editing and moving notes from one page to another, was the number one thing I love about Notability, comparing to OneNote. The palm recognition is better than OneNote. There are some occasions my iPad doesn’t recognise my palm, when using a normal stylus, which I had to turn the palm recognition off and on, which works. What also works is letting the app know the pen for a few seconds, then putting your palm on it = all good!

After my lecture, I look at slides again on my iPad, listen to the lecture again to take down any thing I missed from what the lecturer said, then I write on paper with my notes + slide notes. Works perfectly well for me.

If they didn’t post up the slides before the lecture, I’ll write by hand, and praying I don’t get RSI from writing too much. When writing by hand, I take any additional notes from what the lecturer said, and summarise what the slides were during the lecture. Then after my lecture, I’ll revise and try remembering from what was covered during my lecture.

I am considering to typing my notes from my lecture again, particularly on Music History 2, but I’m really trying not to convert into that method ever again, because I know that doesn’t work for me in the long-run. Instead, I am going to research, and look at different methods on note-taking skills by googling, and by observational learning.
I am also considering to purchase a new, and better iPad, but I really ceebs at the moment, due to other priorities that I need to pay. Hahaha. #unistudentproblems

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What to take on from this blog post?

• You will always keep learning different note-taking skills regarding to the subjects you enrol in
• Trying new things doesn’t hurt, and might be your thing to take on in the future
• It’s all about trail and error when encountering how we learn in a tertiary environment
• Observational learning is how I got exposed with different types of note-taking skills
• After knowing what works for you, stick with it… until you need to change your note-taking skills in a particular subject

Stay tuned for the next parts! 🙂

– Nicole