I just got myself a tape recorder and permission from 2/3 of my professors to record their lectures (one said no, but I didn't tell him about ADD yet, so he might change his mind when I talk to him later)

My question is: how do you guys use the tapes most effectively?

I've recorded one lecture so far, and this is my plan:
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1. Use the 'cornell method' for notetaking during lecture
(I found this in a book - you split the page into two columns, one skinny one on the left, (1-2") and one fat one on the right. then draw a line five or six lines from the bottom of the page as well. Your notes form lecture go in the fat column, then afterwards you put key points (main ideas, or whatever the section is about or somthing) in the skinny column.
At the bottom you write a summary of the page. it's supposed to be really good....

2. The tape recorder has this scrolling number thing when it's recording - if I realized I tuned out or didn't catch everything, OR if ther's just too much to get at once, then I glance at the recorder and jot down whatever number it's at in the margin.

3. Sometime later I plan on going back over the recording and reading my notes at the same time. Whenever I come to a spot where I'm missing stuff, I'll add it then.

4. I'll fill out the summary and everything

5. go back and highlite stuff in 2 or 3 colors (maybe as review for the exam... not sure yet)



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how does this sound for a plan? does anyone else have a good scheme they use?

thanks!

Can't address the question as I have never tried this. But I would definitely, if the prof still refuses after you talk to him about ADD, NOT give up that part of the fight... hopefully he won't be a jerk about it, but you have a lot of legal ground to stand on if he does.

thanks WW, I know I do - I dont' want to make him mad at me or anything... but I definatley want to record the lectures. I had just asked him after class while there were other poeple around, so I didn't really want to get into anything then... but afterwards I went to the student dis. office and they gave me a form that I can fill out with the prof. - it's basically an agreement that you can record the lectures - you HAVE a documented disability, you aren't selling or sharing the recordings, and you aren't trying to do anything negative against the professor. Some prof's actually have their lectures copywrited... I thought that was kinda weird!

but you know another thing - we pay SO MUCH for these classes, it's really ridiculous not to let us do everything possible to get the most out of them. that's my opinion anyway.

I definately plan on going back to him! (but in private this time)

I'd definitely go back to talk to him when you can be alone. If he understands the reason you want to tape-record, he may be more likely to agree. When I was taking classes a few years ago, and suffering from severe carpal tunnel syndrome, some of the profs even copied their own lecture notes for me! (Some, of course, made sense only to the profs who wrote them down. ;) But looking over the notes and listening to the tapes was a big help to me.) Good luck!

Do you have your AD/HD legally documented at the school?

as of today - yes! (what a relief..) I'm talking to that prof tommorrow.

As long as you have prof of your ADD the professor that told you no cannot say no when you present it to him. Found that out when I was in college! Its your right under law he cannot say no to that. I used a tape recored in all my classes in college. I am not good at learning by listening though. So what I did was make notes of what was said and highlighted anything that got repeated. If its repeated you best know it cause most don't repeat things just to hear themseves talk lol! You can 9 x's of of 10 expect anything thats repeated to come up on a test.
Also, my teachers knew I had a recorder but no one else did. I kept mine in one of those zip bags you see in some folders for pencils and things. If your professor is too anal about it he doesn't have to know. Just don't let anyone know your doing that and erase them when your done.

thanks bri, that's a good idea about the pencil case thing! I tested mine out at home by standing different amounts away from it and facing away, etc - I could barely hear it if it was in my backpack, but I think if it's a thinner material and I can keep it on the desk, then that would make a big difference.

The other two professors were cool with the tape recordings, but the math one STILL refused, even when I showed him documentation and everything. I know it's my right... I talked to the SSD office about how to be civilized about advocating for myself, and they gave me a "release contract" (basically just saying that I have documentation, this is a reasonable accomodation for me, and that I'm not sharing, selling, or using the recordings in a negative way agianst the professor. then it has a spot for me to sign and for the professor to sign; basically then you can work with your professor and make them feel better about letting you tape their stuff.

I brought that to him and he still refused, but he was perfectly ok with giving me exam accomodations, and even offered to give me extra time on quizzes (I turned that down though). I guess his main thing is that he would much rather I asked questions in class or office hours - he was very encouraging that I should come to his office after class for anythign I'd missed or not understood, and he would be happy to help fill in the gaps. I guess that would be much easier than going back and listening to the lecture, but there are other reasons I wanted to have the tapes.

first of all, (and I explained this to him too) I STILL TAKE NOTES, the same as I always have. what I'm doing is goign back over my notes while listening to the tapes for reinforcement, and also for clarification. the problem with lectures is that I always spend all my time writing the stuff from the board and can't always listen to what they say. a lot of prof's are just too darn fast. The important thing is that they make all their connections and transistions in words, but not on the board. Plus a lot of tiems they'll say somthing like, "this is important becuase..." but i miss it, or don't udnerstand...

Another reason is often when they are working through problems i fall behind - then when they are reasoning htings out they make a lot of conclusions out loud. I usually try to figure things out on my own while they're writing it down, which does work pretty well, but if I don't have the time to do that, then i have to go over it later. i've found that 80% of the time I CAN"T figure out why they did somthing just from the notes. but it seemed to make sense in class.... either that or i just wasnt' paying attention and missed the reasoning entirely. anyway... that's the case for the tapes. (I'm secretly taping the prof anyway btw)

What he said to me was that he thought I could do it without the tapes by taking notes differently. He liked the cornell method which i showed him, but he thought that i was probalby writing down too much detail. he said that it might be good to try listening to things and then picking and choosing... and writign down broader concepts rather than all the definitions and examples and everything. I agreet aht that would be nice, but I've been trying to do that for years and never could do it. I either fall behind, or can't think of a good thing to write down, or can't pick out what's important until after he's already presented all the details... and i'm ALWAYS afraid that the one example i don't copy down will be that key to the homework problem I don't get...

I guess most of that could be solved by talking to the prof after class or after I've gotten stuck on the homework. i'm kind of torn. I dont' even know if the tapes are going to work for me anyway... I've only done three classes so far, and havne't even gone over the tapes yet.

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actually, the real reason i started this thread in the first place was for ideas on HOW to listen to the tapes, or methods for integrating them into your study... any suggestions?
(thansk for all the stuff with the professor and everything! If I find that I can't keep up with his way and it's actually helping me in my other classes then i will push the issue further, I didn't really present all my reasons very clearly at the time - i bet if i printed this out that would help)

I'm not going to be much help on actually using the tapes as I have never tried this.

And I think you should calmly and politely explain to the professor that you aren't really asking his permission to use the tapes... merely informing him that you have HIS superior's permission to use them, and you have written proof of that, and if the prof has a problem with it, it is HIS boss he needs to take that up with, not you.

On the other hand... if you are secretly taping him anyways... maybe you should leave well enough alone. Until something hits the fan... why stir up the hornets?

yeah... i agree :)

i'm still undecided about what to do - i'll definately follow your suggestion if i decide i really need the tapes! that's a really good way to put it.

on the bright side, i talked with him for over an hour, and actually develped a good relationship! I'm hping I can keep my grades up enough to support it... (right now i'm way behind)

btw, one of my other professors told me that his daughter is ADD! so yeah... he definately understood! (she is my age as well)

I know what you mean with the writting notes like that . You end up to busy trying to figure out how to write stuff that you forget what your doing in the first place!!! lol

When listening to them. If you have head phones use them. I have a hard enough time learing by listening. I can't have anyother distractions and head phones help drown out other distractions. Also remember if it gets repeated write it down its Important! ..............sometimes I need details to remember things right ............so I take out words that don't take away from the meaning...........like for example Tibia: largest bone of the lower extremities, located medially, the middle is called the body or the shaft. I would write instead to be........Tibia: largest of lower extremities, medially, middle is the shaft. I knew it was a bone I didn't need that in my definition. I knew it had to be either located medially or laterally so I just wrote midially. I also knew the middle of all bones are called the body so I only needed to write shaft. This helped me to learn faster and not write the same thing over and over again. Too many were too close in definition so when shortening them they were eaiser to tell apart.
when listening to the tape STOP the tape when you hear something you know that was just said is important. Write it down. Listen to that part again, and decided if you understand it and have missed anything or wrote it down so you will know what it means later. If you don't understand it make note of that. Check your notes later when you are done with the tape. See if what you wrote down and something in your note combine make more sense. If not thats when you ask the teacher the next day. What am I missunderstanding or what did I miss. Show them your notes. They don't have to know if it was notes from what you heard or whatever. Just you need help understanding it.
Hope that helped instead of confussing you!

thanks bri! that does help - i'm going to try it tommorrow morning! (i hope... if i can get my butt moving before morning is over!)