Lecture-Style Classes - Freshman

[Anonymous]

I have a Freshman in College struggling to keep up with big lecture classes.

He's trying to take notes but can't keep up and he's not retaining much information on his own as he commonly does in regular classes.
He recently had a quiz and the notes he used didn't help him to study.

I remember using a recorder machine back in my days, is that a thing nowadays?

What has your student used to keep up with these lecture hall classes?

[Anonymous]

I think it’s a skill you get better at. Current student at a lac, where my freshman year a few courses were lecture-based.

I always think the biggest advantage when approaching classes in college is reading ahead of class. Sit near the frontish and check to see when those people around you are writing. Your child may be trying to write every little sentence, which just doesn’t help in college.

My last tip really only works if you’re an absolute nerd with absolute nerd friends, but I believe it’s very helpful. For testing knowledge, me and my friends will get together and “lecture” each other on a topic before essays and exams. If at any point the person listening doesn’t understand something, we try going into depth about it to test if we fully get the topic.

[Anonymous]

Use coconote

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Freshman in College struggling to keep up with big lecture classes.

He's trying to take notes but can't keep up and he's not retaining much information on his own as he commonly does in regular classes.
He recently had a quiz and the notes he used didn't help him to study.

I remember using a recorder machine back in my days, is that a thing nowadays?

What has your student used to keep up with these lecture hall classes?

Recording is often offered as an accommodation through disability services if your child qualifies. I do not know if students without an accommodation are permitted to record without professor authorization. Our daughter uses recording and real time closed captioning for a hearing disability. IME Glean is really the go-to technology for recording lectures if you go down this route.

[Anonymous]

What were his high school classes like? Lecture is the most common style of teaching across the board

[Anonymous]

He can record the lectures himself. PP mentioned Coconote, but even Word has a built-in feature now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He can record the lectures himself. PP mentioned Coconote, but even Word has a built-in feature now.

He may want to ensure this is permitted first. There are laws and university rules about this that are worth consulting. This feels like an area where you could quickly spiral into trouble that I may be easily enough avoided.

[Anonymous]

with an iep you can get permission to record or they have to give you a notetaker. if they won't let someone record w/out that you can connect with other kids who are better at note taking and share notes in exchange for something else your kid is good at

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a Freshman in College struggling to keep up with big lecture classes.

He's trying to take notes but can't keep up and he's not retaining much information on his own as he commonly does in regular classes.
He recently had a quiz and the notes he used didn't help him to study.

I remember using a recorder machine back in my days, is that a thing nowadays?

What has your student used to keep up with these lecture hall classes?

Recording is often offered as an accommodation through disability services if your child qualifies. I do not know if students without an accommodation are permitted to record without professor authorization. Our daughter uses recording and real time closed captioning for a hearing disability. IME Glean is really the go-to technology for recording lectures if you go down this route.

You can use any computer with a microphone to record and transcribe in real time.

[Anonymous]

I think the first thing he should do is visit the professor during office hours.

They can talk about what the test was on vs. what was in his notes. He could express his difficulty in taking notes during lectures and ask permission to record them.

He could also ask how he could prepare for the next test.

I think it takes a while to adjust, but he'll get there. I agree that he should sit closer toward the front.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a Freshman in College struggling to keep up with big lecture classes.

He's trying to take notes but can't keep up and he's not retaining much information on his own as he commonly does in regular classes.
He recently had a quiz and the notes he used didn't help him to study.

I remember using a recorder machine back in my days, is that a thing nowadays?

What has your student used to keep up with these lecture hall classes?

Recording is often offered as an accommodation through disability services if your child qualifies. I do not know if students without an accommodation are permitted to record without professor authorization. Our daughter uses recording and real time closed captioning for a hearing disability. IME Glean is really the go-to technology for recording lectures if you go down this route.

You can use any computer with a microphone to record and transcribe in real time.

Understood, but realistically the student is likely not looking to listen to the entire lecture a second or third time. Software designed for this purpose will easily mark certain parts of the recording so you can skip to the relevant sections, mark assignments, chunk discussions, automatically turn the discussion into study guides and quizzes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Tell him to go to the peer academic support center

[Anonymous]

Recording has to be approved beforehand at most schools. My DD was able to get the accommodation through student support services.

[Anonymous]

Transfer to a small college. I went to a college with about 3k undergrads and only 2 of my courses had over 40 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He can record the lectures himself. PP mentioned Coconote, but even Word has a built-in feature now.

He may want to ensure this is permitted first. There are laws and university rules about this that are worth consulting. This feels like an area where you could quickly spiral into trouble that I may be easily enough avoided.

It's totally fine for personal use. The issue is with broadcasting or monetizing the information.