Effective Listening & Note Taking

1. Effective Listening & Note Taking Academic Support Unit Student Learning Support Center Adapted from: Practicing College Learning Strategies 3rd edition Carolyn H. Hopper

2. The 3 levels of listening • Active Listening: Full attention, direct involvement, feed back, encourages true dialogue. • Passive Listening: Hearing but not really listening, insufficient communication leads to misunderstanding • Non-Listening: None listener pays attention to himself, thinks about unrelated matters, thinks about what he wants to say next.

3. Improving Listening skills • Put personal emotions aside during conversation. • Ask questions. • Paraphrase back the speaker words to clarify understanding. • Overcome environment distractions. • Eye contact and body language.

4. The note taking process aids in learning: The more senses you employ in learning the more your learn: • You hear the instructor’s lecture with your ears. • You see the written material on the board & you watch the instructor emphasize certain points with you eyes. • You use your sense of touch when you write your notes with your hands.

5. Note taking & in-class skills To improve your In-class Skills: • Come to the class prepared. Why? How? • Come to the class as early as possible. Why? • Sit in the front of the class where you can see and hear best. • Listen with a pen or pencil in your hand. • Think of questions as you are listening.

6. Cont… • Leave a few spaces blank as take notes so you can fill additional points later. • Do not take down everything take only the main points. • Listen for verbal & nonverbal clues i.e. important points, repetition, changes in voice inflections, lists of points. • Make your original notes legible enough for you. • Copy down every thing from the board. • Ask questions.

7. Why it is important to take notes? • It Increases attention & concentration. • Encourages students to process info. to a deeper level. • Provides a means of connecting new learning with prior knowledge.

8. The Cornell System for Note Taking The Cornell System for taking notes is an excellent way because: • It is designed to take notes. • It saves your time. • It limits rewriting of information • Three steps: before class, during the lecture & after the lecture.

9. First Step : Preparation • Briefly review your notes and reading before class. • Use a large, loose leaf notebook. • Use one side of paper. • Draw a vertical line 2.5 inches form the left side of your paper (Key column).

10. Page prepared for Cornell System note-taking Put name, date, class & page number here Label notes with question here 2.5 inches Notes Column Take Telegraphic Notes Here

11. Second Step: during the lecture • Record notes on the right side of the page. • Capture the main points. • Skip lines to show end of ideas or thoughts. • Use abbreviation to save time. • Write Legibly.

12. Third Step: After the Lecture • Organize & review your notes ASAP after lecture. • Fill in info. & clarify parts of lecture by consulting the lecturer, classmate or your text book. • Use the left column to jot down ideas, key words, questions, etc. • Reread the lecture ideas and put them in your own words. • Cover up the write hand portion of your notes and recite the general ideas & concepts of the lecture. • Review your notes regularly.

13. Remember: The Notes Taken will act as External Memory Device, and an Instrument to aid in Review and Recitation. This process leads to long term learning.