Note-making Tutor feedback

What notes do you expect your students to make ?

• Key word notes - all important lecture areas• Key names and dates to seed their own research• Use to structure their own research• Help but not limit their thinking

“Read texts in an interactive way.”(Giles & Hedge 1998)

Note-making Tutor feedback

What would you like students to do with their notes ?

• Write a shorter version• Reflect on how the notes take their learning

forward• Read up on people I mention … and discover

some people not mentioned – surprise me• Stick them on their walls ! – immerse themselves• Key information worked on in answers – not

parroted back • Use as starting point for own research

Effective Note-making

Legible

Well-organised

Help me learn

brief

Important ideas set out

clearly

understandablecomplete

relevant

Feldman (2000); Cottrell (1999)

Note-making Purposes 1: Summarising

Note-making Purposes 2: Synthesising

Another way ?

• Listening to your own voice summarising notes you have made in your own words is a powerful aid to memory and can be a particularly effective tool for revision (Cottrell 2003).

• The tapes can also be replayed in many situations away from the library or allocated reading areas, e.g. listen while you exercise, drive or travel on public transport.

Critical Analysis example:‘A Short History of the Future’

1. 5000 orgs predict 20502. Peace – prob of US econ

policies, not terror3. Ind empower. Women’s

century. Team-working. Web shopping.

4. Flexible learning. Managing overwhelming data

5. Control … healthcare (100+) 6. … brain (chips –

emotional tele). Human / computer interaction.

Political bias ? Devt of ‘super-regions’ ?Supported by other social commentators

Quality of life ? Cultural dimensions ?What ?! Why ?Evidence ??

Critical Analysis example:‘A Short History of the Future’

7. Elec comm – 3D video. Home-working. Irrational social need to meet.

8. Community re-emerges. Slow house mkt. Only home offices mkt.

9. Service sector boom – skilled labour shortage.

10. Mature ‘guild-workers’ – expertise and savings

Cynical re essential human need ?

Ageing society – house movement from deaths

Note-making Purposes 3: Critically analysing

Note-making Purposes 2: Synthesising

Summary on Note-making

• Three main groups: linear; visual/pattern; and audio

• Use method(s) that … best encourage the process of review and recall

• … promote integration of your own perspectives and reflections

• Take into account personal preferences and individual learning styles - experiment

• Commentators agree, however, that reviewing and discussing your notes with at least one other person is particularly helpful for effective learning

Summary on Note-making

3 main purposes:

• Summarising

• Synthesising or Contrasting

• Critically analysing