Activate your brain!
There's not a huge difference between taking notes in online and face to face lectures. The same preparation and process can be applied in both formats. In fact, online delivery may offer a number of advantages that we'll look at later. In this post we'll look at what you should do before your lecture to make sure you're fully prepared and ready to learn.
Identify your purpose for listening
The first thing you need to do before anything else, is work out the specific reasons why you wish to listen to the lecture and what you're looking for. This will help you establish and maintain an active approach.
Your purpose might include:
- to develop a critical and deeper understanding of the topic
- to help you ask critical questions about the topic
- to kick-start your research or fill in missing gaps
- to help you understand related reading materials
- to help you pass your examinations.
Above all, your number one priority for listening should always be to help you complete your assignments and improve your scores.
Predict content
Before you jump into the Panopto lecture, take some time to research and predict some of the content you might expect. Then from this, generate some relevant pre-lecture questions to investigate while you listen.
You could start by looking for:
- the lecturer profile - usually found in your course handbook or on the University website. This will give you vital information about the lecturer’s area of expertise and their publishing record.
- lecture content - titles and brief synopses of lectures are usually found in your course handbook. This may provide you with some key terms, vocabulary and terminology as well as the main focus of the lecture.
- pre-readings and recommended and/or general course reading lists. Do the work before as this will help you keep your brain active during the lecture.
The above tips will help you stay focused and maintain an active approach so you can get the most out of the online lecture experience.
Next post: Choosing a suitable note-taking method.
Adapted from: Hopkins, D. and Reid, T., 2018. The Academic Skills Handbook: Your Guide to Success in Writing, Thinking and Communicating at University. Sage.
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