<p>Carolyn, you mention something I never considered before -- how notetaking relates to learning style. I am a very visual learner and so is my daughter. So we both need the notes! Even if I never look at the notes again, I remember what has been said better if I took notes at the time.</p>
<p>To everyone,</p>
<p>Something else I should point out is that what is said in a lecture may not be in the text. It would be dangerous to skip notes assuming something will be in the text (i.e., no prereading) and to find out it isn't! </p>
<p>Of course, notetaking is idiosyncratic. I watched a video about "advanced notetaking" once. It was associated with a writing program which had basic notetaking training that I had liked. Well, the video was about coming up with maps and such -- I thought the entire system was incoherent and confusing. I said this once, and fans of this particular approach then came out of the woodwork. So, I should have said before YMMV!</p>
<p>Hehe. In high school son #1 HATED that they were required to read a chapter and take notes on it for a grade. It only slowed down his reading. Now that he's in college he's much happier doing it his way.</p>
<p>My husband's note-taking resembled a treasure map--random words, circled or underlined, and arrows pointing to other words. My notes were always conscientious and thorough, and a great help to me when studying for the exam. To each his own.</p>
<p>Digital tape recorder?
Is he allowed to bring that to class?</p>
<p>I was always a visual learner, so I needed the notes to review.
However, he may just need to listen to the lecture once or twice, and know the information.</p>
<p>on the board. i'd write that down in my notebook he started talking, and then if there was anything i felt i had to write down in addition, i'd write a few words down next to it. that way when studying you could just look over and remember oh yeah on this day we discussed this this and that... and it's not just random words, there is at least some organization to them and you know what they went to.</p>
<p>another way to do this, if the prof didn't write things like that on the board, look at the syllabus to see what is going to be covered that day and just write down the headings from your book ahead of time.. and then jot down your words when the prof goes over them..</p>
<p>also, some of my prof's used powerpoint slides which they would put up on their website. you can print these slides out, 3 to a page, with lines next to each slide.. that way you can write down things right next to the slide that he mentioned them about.. i'd check into something like that as well. i found a lot of times i didn't write anything down, but at least i had a copy of what was covered in class..</p>
<p>actually I'd be wary of the digital tape recorder approach. </p>
<p>As people have pointed out, the dominant learning style may be oral or visual for a given person. But just because you're not good at something doesn't mean there is no reason to try to improve it. While your son may never be a champion note-taker, its worth pointing out that the time he spends working on this will improve his ability for when he DOES need it. In college many profs are not going to allow tapes of the class. What then? And in the workplace I have never once been to a meeting where things were taped (and I don't want to be in those kind of "meetings", commonly involving lawyers and so on). Developing at least some ability in note-taking is worth it, IMHO ...</p>
<p>Note taking isn't essential for college success for everyone. I did well at challenging schools without ever being much of a note taker; I generally found that taking notes interfered with serious listening.</p>