Blog 5 - Reflective Thinking (Note Taking)

When starting this assignment I found that my usually learning strategy of the age-old note taking had worked well for me. I found that this was a strategy I would research further to improve my note taking skills so that it was exponentially more efficient. I had to call upon another reflective thinking technique .

What I found were books on the subject that highlight the key areas and include tips on efficient note taking (Hartman K, Stewart T., 2009). One of the main issues that has been regarded with note taking it that apart from short hand, no human can write words faster than they can speak them. This conundrum causes students, who copy down every word the lecturer says, to fall behind (Hartman K, Stewart T., 2009). Key elements to watch out for are emphatic stress on certain words, and anything that the lecturer needs to write down on the board or in a presentation is important for the student to write down also (Hartman K, Stewart T., 2009). Abbreviations have been proven to be a double edged sword in a sense that they can be very helpful in terms of time management and effective note taking at the point where the information if fresh. Yet this must be only used when the note taker is confident they will be able to remember what was abbreviated (Hartman K, Stewart T., 2009) when the time comes for revising the notes, as it can easily be forgotten. An example of myself applying this to my work was in my notes when the term mean world syndrome was used MWS was written down; this was helpful and easy to write. It is now stored in my long-term memory so it is hard to forget when it is time to revise. This is a primitive yet excellent and efficient way of reflective thinking (Rulph F., 2011) and has greatly aided my studies.

References

Hartman K, Stewart T., 2009, Investing in your College Education: Learning Strategies with Readings, U.S: California, Wadsworth Publishing.

Rulph F., 2011, Guide to Reflective Thinking on University Learning Strategies: Actualizing my Intellectual Potential, Canada, BPIDP