Recording Lectures?

[maggie0, BSN, RN]

I was inspired to ask this by Nursingblue's question about reading notes. My worry about nursing school (I'm applying right now) is lecture notes. In my previous stints at school I was an English major, and never took notes at all--I found that I either took so many that I missed most of what the teacher was saying, or took so few they made no sense to me when I re-read them! But I got away with it because the grades mostly depended on papers, not exams.

And when I did take some pre-reqs last summer, my old problem remained and I still didn't take decent notes, but this time I got away with it because the teachers lectured almost directly from the textbooks.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has tried recording lectures to replay later. Are most teachers okay with being recorded? Are the recordings actually helpful, or do they just make a lot of work?

Or does anyone have any other tips for in-class note-taking?

sincerely,

anxious maggie

[jodispamodi]

We had many people in my classes that recorded lectures. Usually the prof. would ask if anyone in the class had an objection to being recorded, if no one did they were allowed to record, one one occasion one party pooper said no and the person wasnt allowed to record. It was perfectly acceptable in my classes. Good luck.

[caliotter3]

A good recording system is the Livescribe smartpen. Worth its weight in gold. Recording lectures is a good practice if you take the time to listen to them and use them.

[Cindyel, ASN, RN]

My program has a strict no recording policy. Make sure you check with the program/instructors

[northmississippi]

Recording lecture is a great study tool. you can listen to them while driving to school, laying in bed, fishing, etc... most of my best grades came from when i'd listen to the notes and look at my powerpoints at the same time. give yourself every advantage you can and record your lecture.

one thing i started doing is stopping and restarting my recorder every 30 minutes during the lecture or when a new area of content starts up. its easier to hear a whole session like that while driving home, and it makes for better breaks.

as hard as nursing school is, give yourself every advantage.

[ItsThatJenGirl, CNA]

I record mine through OneNote - where I also make my notes and add slides or charts or whatever is relevant. The thing about recording through OneNote is that you can "bookmark" important stuff - as the teacher is saying it or when you're listening to it.

[verene, MSN]

Several of my courses are recorded (video and audio) by the instructors/school which is awesome! If this is not an option always ask the instructor first if they are okay being recorded (and any time there is a guest lecturer ask again as well). Most are cool with it, but a few are not.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

I recorded all of my lectures, but rarely listened to them (only if I knew during the lecture that I hadn't had time to write down something important, and I annotated in the notes "Come back to this.") There were simply too many hours of class to review every lecture, and I found that it didn't add very much meaningful content to my notes. However, I had friends who loved listening to their lectures in the car, so to each his own.

The thing I found most helpful was taking notes in my powerpoints, whether the slides were on my laptop or printed out. That way, I could focus on writing down the details they added to the slides during the lecture without wasting time copying the fundamental bullet points that were already written down. It also helped me to organize my notes, since the powerpoints already had a clear framework. My instructors were very good about getting our slides to us ahead of time.

[Oldmahubbard]

Even some 25 years ago, we recorded lectures with some antiquated equipment.

I never did, because the vast majority of lectures were barely mediocre.

If you wanted to master the material, you would be better off simply reading, and rereading the chapter.

I cheated the system back in the day, and never bought the textbook, which cost 100 bucks. A fortune to me at the time.

Instead, I went to the college library, where there were some 6 or 8 current nursing textbooks. I read up on cardiac nursing, or whatever we were studying.

Apparently, it was good enough.

I find it hard to believe things have changed that much.

[Onecoolwife]

I am in nursing 1 now and 2 weeks in I have realized that it is best for me to take minimal notes and focus on the lecture. That being said, in our program the instructors record it and upload it the same day. And it is recommended we listen to it a total of 3 times.

So I would for sure ask if you can record it, they stressed it was so important to listen to it more than once.

[katyq82]

We are not allowed to record lectures unless you have a disability accommodation. I find that this is helpful: do the reading and if available, read the powerpoint ahead of time. Make notes on the material in an organized fashion that makes sense to you: concept mapping is common, an outline, or a chart with the same main categories for each topic (patho, labs, signs/symptoms, causes, nursing interventions, etc). Do this before class. Then bring it to class and use a different color pen to add specific things the instructor mentions that are not on your study sheet. You can highlight things that you did put on the study sheet but that are heavily emphasized.

Also, most colleges have something like a "student success center", "tutoring center", etc.... make an appointment early on and ask for help getting the most out of your lectures. Good luck!

[Wlaurie, RN]

I recorded them and listened when I did housework or just laid down to relax. I used earphones. I think it helped.