Lecture-Style Classes - Freshman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

This. How did he get through HS without good note taking skills?

They do not take notes in HS any more. Private schools still teach it in Middle and it is necessary in HS if you want to do well. Many public schools do not teach or require or even encourage note taking. Tests are rote regurgitation of study guides that the teacher makes for them. It is a very different world.

DP. This is simply not true. Please stop making blanket statements! Your school might be different from others'. Our high school (public) absolutely requires and encourages note taking. The students are also given study guides sometimes, but they definitely have to take good notes in class.

[Anonymous]

Another professor here. I agree with the professor above, and to other points raised: depending on the subject matter, either I lecture to expand substantially what is in the reading, or I assign readings to expand on the core material I present in lecture. Taking notes in class is essential, and it is a skill that can be developed. If kids haven't practiced it in high school, they need to learn it freshman year. Asking for help is fine and expected.

[Anonymous]

Record with an iPhone. Transcribe. Feed into ChatGPT for notes. Voila.

or take notes during class

Or visit the prof or TA before test to ask for a review.

This is something your student needs to figure out in their own. Sure 1 provide some ideas but let them figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Could it be he’s not taking notes well because of distractions with his phone or laptop? I ask because this is the problem for the majority of college students. I would be careful about suggesting recording if it only encourages him to tune out. First manage distractions. Then engage in active studying rather than just rereading his notes. Try explaining the concepts to someone else or writing them in his own words without looking at his notes.

[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?

Why is he studying from the notes? Is he using the textbook? As a student I would only go over notes at the end, in case the professor mentioned something not in the textbook. But most of what is on the test should be in the books.

NP. Just because it *should* be mostly from the book doesn't it mean it *is*. My daughter has a professor who tests them entirely on his lectures. They have to take fastidious notes because anything he says might be on the test. And he often goes off on long, rambling tangents, so they never know what is important and what isn't. Professors like that make it impossible to study effectively.

Transfer to a legitimate school / college, not some narcissistic has been stroking his own ego

[Anonymous]

Read the assisted readings before class so he is familiar with the content.
Use the slide deck as a notes guide and add notes to the slides. Note taking isn’t about writing every single thing down, it’s about understanding the content
After class go over the slides, notes and readings again.

[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.

I'm a professor. Only students with disability accommodations are allowed to record, and there is a special agreement that has to be signed for that. It's as much to protect the privacy of the other students as it is to protect me.

I find out you're recording without a disability certification and you're going to hear from every administrative level that's in place to guard against that. Never mind my intellectual property rights: I'm not letting that happen to the other students.

The flip side of this is that if you're having trouble learning from my lectures I will spend abundant time and energy teaching you how to succeed. Tell DC to go and talk to the professor. Chances are the problems are with what they're doing before and after the lecture, not during it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm a professor. Only students with disability accommodations are allowed to record, and there is a special agreement that has to be signed for that. It's as much to protect the privacy of the other students as it is to protect me.

I find out you're recording without a disability certification and you're going to hear from every administrative level that's in place to guard against that. Never mind my intellectual property rights: I'm not letting that happen to the other students.

The flip side of this is that if you're having trouble learning from my lectures I will spend abundant time and energy teaching you how to succeed. Tell DC to go and talk to the professor. Chances are the problems are with what they're doing before and after the lecture, not during it.

How would you ever know? Every smartphone has a voice recorder app. It's not like the old days when you had to prop a dictophone up on your desk to record a lecture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

This. How did he get through HS without good note taking skills?

They do not take notes in HS any more. Private schools still teach it in Middle and it is necessary in HS if you want to do well. Many public schools do not teach or require or even encourage note taking. Tests are rote regurgitation of study guides that the teacher makes for them. It is a very different world.

DP. This is simply not true. Please stop making blanket statements! Your school might be different from others'. Our high school (public) absolutely requires and encourages note taking. The students are also given study guides sometimes, but they definitely have to take good notes in class.

+ 1

My daughter’s mid-level FCPS high school absolutely had students taking notes. Her IB HL history classes absolutely prepared her for extensive note taking and long research papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm a professor. Only students with disability accommodations are allowed to record, and there is a special agreement that has to be signed for that. It's as much to protect the privacy of the other students as it is to protect me.

I find out you're recording without a disability certification and you're going to hear from every administrative level that's in place to guard against that. Never mind my intellectual property rights: I'm not letting that happen to the other students.

The flip side of this is that if you're having trouble learning from my lectures I will spend abundant time and energy teaching you how to succeed. Tell DC to go and talk to the professor. Chances are the problems are with what they're doing before and after the lecture, not during it.

How would you ever know? Every smartphone has a voice recorder app. It's not like the old days when you had to prop a dictophone up on your desk to record a lecture.

1. I walk around when I lecture and I know what the students have and are doing.
2. I will be able to tell pretty easily from their written work whether they have been trying to operate from bad transcripts, especially if they are the ones who somehow are never trying to take notes.
3. Other students will actually "ask" me about it in the guise of letting me know about it. They have a pretty strong sense of fairness, privacy, and autonomy (and in some cases competition).

Recording requires consent. When students who have disability accommodations are recording, there is a generic announcement that we make and referrals that we can provide for questions or problems. Bootleg recordings lie outside that zone.