2. NOTE TAKING/NOTE MAKING

The above two terms have been used in various ways as if they are the same but they are not. They re-enforce each other and enhance learning. Learning materials are usually collected from a number of sources, which are not always at one’s disposal. Lectures cannot be repeated at one’s back and call and a learner cannot tell a lecturer to wait for him to understand what was said before the lecturer could continue. These suggest the need for note-making as well as note taking.

 

Obanya (1987:274) defines the two terms thus: Note-taking refers to notes made, in writing, during lectures as we listen to and determine the highlight of the lecture. Note-making refers to the process of making notes from books or other materials we have read (P 279).

 

It is in a bid to differentiate the two terms that some lecturers have styled note-making as “note-taken from books” and better still, note-making is more conveniently talked about as jotting from our reading.

 

Uche Azikiwe (1998:161) explains the two concepts thus: in making of notes, the students jot down and summarize what has been learned in their own words. Whereas in taking notes, the students take down what the lecturer has prepared which is either dictated or written out on the board for them to copy.

 

PURPOSE/FUNCTIONS OF NOTE-TAKING NOTE-MAKING

1.       Note made in writing while listening to a lecture provides permanent records, which are invaluable for revision and subsequent learning.

2.       No individual’s memory can cope with the volume of factual details he listens to in one week, month or year. Again, education is concerned not only with short-term retention of facts and ideas but also with long-term retention; so, note taking serves as bank from where knowledge could be retrieved when memory fails.

3.       Note-taking deepens comprehension of facts and ideas and strengthens retention as one writes whatever one understands in one’s own words.

4.       Note-taking is vital to enable us to keep track of all relevant contributions made during the lesson.

5.       A good note taken from books help one to think along with the writers to concentrate in picking the key points and thus help in retaining whatever one read.

6.       Note-taking encourages concentration since one needs to listen first before writing the key points of what one heard. It, at the same time, encourages speedwriting because the lecturer would not wait all the day for one to jot everything he says.