while i don't discount that different people do learn different ways - i am a visual learner who also needs tactile, for example - i will happily beat over the head anyone that argues that memorization doesn't work. why, to this day, do i still know that 8 x 8 = 64, and the Battle of Hastings was in 1066????
there are, in fact, wrong answers to quantifiable facts, and while, yes, if you're talking about a creative subject - say, art, or music or dance or sommat - then everyone does indeed deserve credit for creativity. math and science, however? not those subjects. nor is language, or history, or, or, or. gently give them a metaphorical "A for Effort" and start again until they get it right.
I'm one of those people that learns less when I take notes because I'm so focused on the note taking that I'm not actually processing what the professor is saying. And a huge part of how I learn is through hearing.
Unfortunately for me, hearing is only a part of it and I do need notes to remind me of what I heard. In certain classes I'm a wee bit screwed.
That said, I can't expect a professor to attempt to teach to every style that is best for each student. I live in reality and I know, unlike so many idealists out there, that this is impossible.
I attempt to get permission to record lectures and if they say no, then I hope that the they teach semi-closely to the book and research the hell out of whatever it is they taught. If I actually listen and pay attention in class, I can usually remember if what they've said contradicts what I'm reading.
In the end? I have to take responsibility for what I learn and how. Some professors appreciate the fact that I do what I can to learn best and some don't. *shrug*
valid argument re note taking "live", as it were. i have the same problem. i was actually referring to doing note-taking as part of the study process, and should have specified.
i totally do the same re audio permission. i've had some reticent professors allow me to record lectures after i told them part of my studying is essentially taking notes of my notes; making notes off the lecture audio, and filling those in against the readings.
i guess it depends on what kind of school they come from. some of them are, i'm sure, used to getting everything handed to them versus having to pursue study aids themselves with links/pointers to the right direction. if that's the educational philosophy they came from, that's what they'll expect.
that said, there are also students out there who are either lazy - the lesser irritation, imho - or so entitled they think they deserve it, and actual work is beneath them. the latter is, i hope, the smaller category but certainly the most frustrating.
We actually just talked in class about Foucault's whole knowledge = power = suppression paradigm. That the moment you've decided you know something, you've excluded something else, and the first thing you do with that knowledge will be to hold it over someone. And that those who are in charge of pursuing more knowledge are most likely to flock to established institutions with it, which then perpetuate the same structures. I'm not sure I buy his argument wholesale, but it's very interesting to think about.
i wouldn't buy it wholesale simply because it's too absolute. i know plenty of academics who believe the opposite when they acquire knowledge; that it's not the be all and end all, that they don't, in fact, know "everything" about it, that they don't proceed to hold it over people, and they, in fact, go out and continually seek more knowledge about their knowledge, believing it's always open-ended.
i'd argue that Foucalt's paradigm would be more likely to be true with narcissistic personalities, which, coincidentally or correlationally, tend to gravitate to academia....and politics.
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sforzinda
no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 06:41 pm (UTC)while i don't discount that different people do learn different ways - i am a visual learner who also needs tactile, for example - i will happily beat over the head anyone that argues that memorization doesn't work. why, to this day, do i still know that 8 x 8 = 64, and the Battle of Hastings was in 1066????
there are, in fact, wrong answers to quantifiable facts, and while, yes, if you're talking about a creative subject - say, art, or music or dance or sommat - then everyone does indeed deserve credit for creativity. math and science, however? not those subjects. nor is language, or history, or, or, or. gently give them a metaphorical "A for Effort" and start again until they get it right.
HULK SMASH.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 07:11 pm (UTC)my sympathy for you is vast, yo. vast.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 09:01 pm (UTC)Unfortunately for me, hearing is only a part of it and I do need notes to remind me of what I heard. In certain classes I'm a wee bit screwed.
That said, I can't expect a professor to attempt to teach to every style that is best for each student. I live in reality and I know, unlike so many idealists out there, that this is impossible.
I attempt to get permission to record lectures and if they say no, then I hope that the they teach semi-closely to the book and research the hell out of whatever it is they taught. If I actually listen and pay attention in class, I can usually remember if what they've said contradicts what I'm reading.
In the end? I have to take responsibility for what I learn and how. Some professors appreciate the fact that I do what I can to learn best and some don't. *shrug*
no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 09:27 pm (UTC)i totally do the same re audio permission. i've had some reticent professors allow me to record lectures after i told them part of my studying is essentially taking notes of my notes; making notes off the lecture audio, and filling those in against the readings.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-11 12:13 am (UTC)that said, there are also students out there who are either lazy - the lesser irritation, imho - or so entitled they think they deserve it, and actual work is beneath them. the latter is, i hope, the smaller category but certainly the most frustrating.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-10 09:35 pm (UTC)i'd argue that Foucalt's paradigm would be more likely to be true with narcissistic personalities, which, coincidentally or correlationally, tend to gravitate to academia....and politics.