Lecture Synthesis
Technologies Education
Note taking will assist your learning of the concepts presented each week and the process of summarising and synthesising a record of what you have learnt will assist you in understanding the concepts and how you will incorporate them in your teaching.
Lecture Synthesis
Your synthesis should begin with note taking to summarise the lecture or video recording of the topic.
Cornell Note Taking Technique
- On an A4 sheet write the topic & date at the top.
- Divide the page into two portions by drawing a line roughly 5 cm from the left margin of the page .
- On the right side is the note-taking column. This is where you write brief summarised notes during the lecture or video.
- On the left side is your Key word or Prompt column. Here you write key words from your notes or other prompts to help you.
- At the bottom of the page, summarise the main concepts.
Visual Note Taking
Using visuals can improve your understanding of lecture concepts, and is a wonderful skill set to develop and use in your own teaching. If you create a great visual, sharing on the course Facebook group is always appreciated by your peers and lecturer.
Moving from summary to synthesis
To go beyond your summary, you need to combine your:
- lecture summary;
- prior knowledge and understanding;
- course notes; and
- other research into the concepts you may undertake.
This is then synthesised into your understanding of the topic and can be presented as a review, explanation, argument, illustration, concession or comparison. The intent is to move beyond a summary and what was provided to you, and for you to create something new based on what you can contribute.
This may be presented and submitted to your Log of Learning as a written document similar to Cornell Notes but expanded to include a synthesis of multiple sources, a visual representation of your understanding of the topic, or you could produce a 90 second video clip using the Feynman Technique, explaining the topic as if you were teaching it to someone else.
Remember, you are not assessed on the quality of your synthesis, only that you have created one; the focus is on supporting your understanding of the lecture topics as these will impact many aspects of the course, particularly the quiz, and your subsequent success as a teacher of the technologies learning area.