by Dr Sue Sing, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship
So, let’s talk lectures (and in-class learning, generally)! How do you feel your study strategies in these settings have been going? Are they working well? Could you benefit from a little help? In this blogpost, we’ll explore the lived experiences of your Imperial peers (based on empirical data collected for the Imperial Learning Well Project), their reflections and the strategies they found enabled them to make effective, efficient and sustainable progress in class-based settings.
The issue(s): Why ‘learning well’ in lectures can be tricky…
Let’s start by sharing the sorts of dilemmas students told us they face. Beyond academic content being difficult, they spoke primarily about two other inter-related challenges: 1) struggles with capturing the amount of information covered in lectures, and 2) the impact this had on their ability to engage with, and understand, that content. Typically, students such as Sufeanna and Pagie (below) tried to note down everything being said… but often quickly realised that this was neither sustainable nor helpful:
… I figured out that if I am trying to write down everything that the lecturer is saying, I’m actually not paying full attention and I’m just trying to keep up, which was quite unproductive for me because then I had no idea what we were doing – Sufeanna, Y2 Physics
… If you’re too focused on taking notes, then you’re actually not understanding what the lecturer’s trying to say. You’re just writing word by word instead of understanding the content… – Pagie, Y1 Engineering
Five (possible) solutions: Some tried-and-tested strategies!
Check out the most common strategies shared by Imperial students* to support their in-class learning (*who were studying a range of subjects and were at different stages in their degree).
1. Personalised note-taking: Record the information you need, in ways that make sense to you
In lectures, ‘content capture’ is often a priority – but, what information did students focus on? And why? The short answer to both questions is: this varied! This is because individuals selected the details they felt were important to them – and what stands out for one person may differ for someone else. Responses also highlighted that there is no one ‘right or best’ way to record this information: it’s about doing this in ways that are meaningful for you.
Students found one or more of following strategies particularly effective: annotating lecture slides; writing notes in your own words (rather than verbatim); converting information into revision questions; using colour-coding to highlight main points. These could be done digitally, or by hand – whichever works best for you. The quotes below offer insights into the strategies used by some students:
…my main strategy [in class] is taking down the big ideas, the key concept of what’s going on the lecture. I don’t really focus on the small details. I prefer to do that at home… – Julisssa, Y3 Engineering
When it comes to learning from lectures, my technique would typically be just jot down key information and the things that would help me understand as much as I can in the moment – Aasir, Y3 Life Sciences
… if the lecturer says something that is not in the lecture notes, then I write it on the notes, and whatever is in the notes that the lecturer says, well, I don’t write it down because it’s already [there] – Ivantie, Y1 Physics
2. Active listening: Understand what you can
…if something’s very complicated, I’ll stop taking notes to just focus – Xavier, Y2 Maths
For some students, the sole or main objective is to focus on what’s being said, i.e. do nothing (or mostly nothing) besides listen. In fact, doing anything else (even taking notes!) can be a distraction because often it results in doing neither thing well!
… I tried to take notes in the beginning and it didn’t work because I would always fall behind. So I tried to just listen and take in as much as I can conceptually so that I understand it. And then I go home and take neater notes, maybe referring to a textbook – Sofia, Y1 Life Sciences
… often in class I don’t actually write that much because I feel like if I do that then I would be directing my attention away from what’s actually happening… – Ping, Y3 Medicine
3. ‘Showing up’: Attending classes (and only using Panopto recordings, if needed…)
By now, you probably know that lecture recordings are available via Panopto. Maybe you’ve already used them? Think about what you used them for and the extent to which this was a useful study strategy. Can recordings be an effective way to catch-up if you can’t make class? – Yes! Can they be an efficient resource for checking details you missed or didn’t understand? – Sure! Are they a sustainable approach to learning? – Our empirical evidence suggests perhaps not… Read about Jun and Sushmita’s experiences below:
…for a one-hour lecture I ended up spending 3 hours just viewing it. Of course it’s not a good thing…the better thing to do is definitely sit in the lecture theatre once [‘showing up’] and then read the notes, or read the notes before and understand it somehow [‘prep work’] and then try to sort out the things you don’t understand when you’re at the lecture… – Jun, Y3 Physics
In class, I’m actually paying more attention because there’s no other distractions whereas when I’m watching lectures online I can just take many, many breaks – Sushmita, Y4 Chemistry
Additional benefits of attending in-person: Students spotlighted sessions such as tutorials and problem classes because of their interactive, often collaborative, and practical nature. For example, these smaller class sizes (compared to lectures) offered more time and space to ask questions to staff and check or clarify understanding with peers. They were opportunities to apply the ideas covered in lectures. Students also described how much they enjoyed and benefitted from collaborative problem-solving tasks:
I think one of the best in-person interactions we get is in our workshops because we’re always doing questions and you’re discussing it with your peers…also when they ask questions that you wouldn’t normally think of, I think that’s really useful – Tatha, Y1 Chemistry
Tackling challenging problems with others can also make a task feel more manageable and less daunting. This collective approach draws together individuals’ knowledge and understanding. In the research literature, this is called the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’ (Vygotsky, 1978), which is the gap between what you can do on your own and what you’re able to achieve by working with others. Students studying Medicine (as well as students studying other disciplines) often found this was a valuable strategy because their learning involves a ‘flipped’ approach:
… each question will take us about an hour and we work through those together…often, I think everyone’s got something different to notice… it can be quite difficult to approach our coursework alone because it can be quite complex. People have different knowledge from looking in different textbooks and using different videos or notes… – Elenore, Y2 Medicine
…in tutorials, I quite like working out the answer myself but also discussing with others in the group…what they think the answer is and kind of debating or just exploring different perspectives because sometimes there can be more than one correct answer – Katy, Y1 Medicine
4. ‘Prep work’: Doing something is better than nothing
By prepping for lectures, students found this helped them to engage better with the content being covered.
Familiarity can breed the beginning of understanding!
Common activities included one or more of the following: downloading lecture slides and (quickly) reading them in advance; if needed, writing questions [‘personalised note-taking’] to ask during, at the end of, or after, lectures because awareness of what’s coming up can help you identify any points of confusion to follow up on:
…[before attending lectures] I just scroll through the slides to get an idea of what they’ll be talking to us about and then in the lecture I just write down when I don’t understand things. So I’ll say ‘ask this, ask that’, that’s really helpful because afterwards I just go to the lecturer about these things… – Rikita, Y1 Medicine
…it’s important to read the lecture notes beforehand so that you grasp the idea of what the lecturer is going to say…it helps you maintain focus during the lecture – Ivantie, Y1 Physics
…In a lecture it’s more learning what I need to learn. I’m not really capable of asking any questions, I’m not at that level of understanding [yet]. But if I’ve looked at the slides beforehand, I can use the lecture to make sure I do know it and I can ask questions – Astrid, Y2 Engineering
5. Ask questions when you’re there: Make the most of the moment!
A final strategy to mention in this blogpost: taking/making chances to ask questions, inadvertently draws together several strategies already highlighted. Sometimes, students came to class [‘showing up’] knowing the questions they wanted to ask because they’d identified these through their ‘prep work’; others wrote down questions in the session [‘active listening’] to ask during the lecture (if opportunity allows) or at the end. In all cases, students said they proactively sought out opportunities to ask questions so that they could leave the session with a clearer understanding:
… being in lectures, it makes asking questions easier because you can ask more things in real time… I find that if you don’t ask questions when you have the chance and then you feel stuck, it can be very off-putting very quick – Aakil, Y1 Chemistry
[beforehand] I would write questions to ask the lecturer because our lectures end ten minutes before the hour. I normally go to the front and ask the lecturer afterwards just to clarify any misunderstandings. It gives me a deeper appreciation for the topic… it helps a lot – Amisha, Y2 Engineering
Why not try out some or all of these strategies soon to start creating your own path to effective, efficient and sustainable learning. We’d love to know how you get on!
And, if you have different approaches that work for you, why not leave a comment below – it would be great to hear what works for you!
Dr Sue Sing is a Research Associate in the Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship (CHERS) and was part of the Imperial Learning Well project team. She continues to research Imperial students’ learning and wellbeing and is currently co-leading the First Steps to Success Project involving over 200 Year 1 Imperial students.
References & Useful Resources:
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press.
ALSO: Why not check out the resources page on the Imperial Learning Well Project website – here, you can find a range of materials that can support and enhance your study strategies while also maintaining positive wellbeing. These have been co-created with Imperial students for Imperial students, based on empirical data exploring the lived experiences and tried-and-tested practices of your fellow students at this university.