How Drawing Can Help You Not Get Lost In Lectures

An overview of this blog post.
Pirate tour guide not included.

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 [Edit:  If you're studying for finals, you may find this other post helpful.]

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Ever been in a boring lecture?

The difference between reading materials and lectures in class is that, in lectures, you usually have no control of timing of content.

Seriously, almost no one seems to stop the professor, no matter how many times they say "stop me if I'm going too fast".

A class lecture is actually like a friend telling a long-winded story.
Long-winded because you're being told tons of details.
And long-winded because it can be hard to keep track of all the details.
...But these are details that you need.  

Remember, it's a class lecture.  You're begin tested on this stuff. 

Some proactive professors might give you lecture notes to read ahead of time.  But if you're like me, you usually get around to actually thinking about the content only during lecture time.

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Powerpoint lecture slides are very popular.  But powerpoints can be hard for you as a student to follow when you're busy focusing on the details during a lecture.

Why?  You might spend no time time thinking about the title of each slide, which is actually the only vague link showing you how the lecture fits together as a whole.  And then, without realizing it, you forget what was mentioned earlier.  And then you quickly fall into the lost zone of slides/life flashing before your eyes...

Unless you find a way to simplify the reading before the lecture so you know what's going on---at least roughly.

But reading beforehand is usually seen as onerous, or too much extra work.
But it's actually easy.
But but but how?

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GET A MAP*

*A simple one.

Different people might say this in different ways, but basically you can look at the main structure of a whole lecture, or get the "big(ger) picture".  This "big picture" is like a road map of the "logic" of the lecture.  You map out the main points. 

It's like seeing where the lecturer will go before they actually go there.  

It's sort of like being a tourist.  Your tour guide will show you the details themselves, but having a map is good in case you get lost.  You know the general route and can catch up.  

This figurative tourist map can get simplifiied even more in your head when you only care about one certain path for the time being. 

Doing this can make up for some poorly-made presentations too.  Presentations with lengthy sections.  Trains of thought that skip around.  Trains that seem to crash.  Trains that are actually tangents...

Because some profs write presentations like textbooks, and with even less pictures.

Speaking for science or math-oriented lectures, you might remember a professor going into great detail on a technique or a sequence of steps.  

And then you realize you're lost.  And wondering why you're doing all of this (not necessarily your studies in general, just the steps in the lecture material...hehe).  I've had the same feeling when I took some humanities courses too.

Having a road map of some kind can help you focus by the sheer decluttering of your brain.

For example, for some of my digital signal processing courses, I could summarize a bunch of courses as:  "how to use fourier transforms for everything**, and how to get them to work better for real life use".  Even though that was never a real course title, I had an overview of the curriculum in my head and could connect it to what I was learning that day and in the lab.

I've also seen highschool students struggle with math because of a lack of a "bigger picture" in mind.  When I tutored a student on derivatives, they got stuck on a question for a while, until I prodded them by reminding them to think:  "What are we trying to do, again?". 

Simple question.  "What are we trying to do?" 

But just by asking that, it made the next step so obvious:  Answer the original question.

.
They were solving an optimization problem.  
And they used derivatives for that problem, by turning it into a derivatives problem. 
So, earlier, they took a detour down derivatives lane to solve a secondary problem on the way.  So to speak. 
So now all they had to do was remember to head back to the original question to get their final answer, by taking one final step. 

They just had to remember why they did the derivative in the first place. 

Do you remember why you were reading this blog post?  :)

Making a road map of a lecture is helpful, because then you're less likely to get lost with a roadmap.  It reminds you why you're at the current step, and how all the details fit together. 

Some details are just more important. 
Some details are okay to forget. 
Some details you can reconstruct. 

Just like my experience with the highschool student, sometimes we focus so much on the details that we forget about the bigger picture.  (This happens even if the lecturer described the bigger picture in the first minute, although usually no one seems to write it down.  Sadly, sometimes even the lecturer themself doesn't write it down when they say "this is important").

Sometimes we get lost before we realize it, if we don't have a road map.

Getting a roadmap can be done by starting with a resource:

1. Lecture notes from your professor.
2. Lecture notes from your professor, from previous years.
   (Try googling the course code.  I was surprised how many profs re-use slides, or share slides when profs "take turns" teaching the same course.  I found old websites for the same course, with all the slides already posted.)
3. Notes from students who already took the course.  (You still need to make it your own though, for it to actually stay in your brain.)
4. Reading materials.  Like textbooks, etc.  (Which you can make use of these reading motivation ideas for.)

Of course, these might be things you already have anyways.
So what's the difference?

The difference is:  how you use it.  (i.e. lecture notes, reading materials, etc.).

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 MAKE A MAP



Here are the "How"s:

--> Three action items:

• Get one sheet of paper (medium to large size preferable),

• Write down the main points of the lecture beforehand, with space for details.  (If you don't have slides or textbooks to map things out beforehand, pay special attention to any slides that say "contents".  Write them down fast!  Usually the lecturer zoops so fast through this slide that no one remembers it anyways.  Zoop is a word.)

• Recommended:  draw shorthands of the main points using a pre-made set of pictures/icons.  This enables yourself to make a quicker visual sweep during review time (versus plain text notes, as described in this post).  Being prepared has a bonus of speeding up writing and thinking.  Personally, I just reuse a small set of symbols that are versatile enough.  I very seldom "invent" symbols for myself.  But when I do...I use google images and usually search icon images for inspiration.  Otherwise I write single words and "process" it later (i.e. review it).

(The basic process.)

Here are the "Why"s:

Why paper?  Compared to typing, physically writing things down slows your brain down, forcing it to focus on the essential details.  This is when a lazy hand is sorta helpful.  On the other hand, drawing instead of writing makes the process slightly faster, while still using your brain.  Plus looking at pictures is faster than reading words for meaning.  I started using a sketchbook from Michael's (at a discount) when I realized I was typing away on my laptop with no real brain processing.

Why only one sheet of paper?  And why a medium-to-large paper?  This is all a set-up for having one, quick visual sweep of the lecture contents.  This is just like how using pictures can compress writing and are processed faster by the brain (like computer icons).

Why leave extra space?  Because you'll use this note sheet during the lecture too.  You can even add quick self-test questions for after the lecture.

Here's a real example:  a lecture on "Sleep Apnea"

• One sheet of medium-sized paper.  Check.

My sketchbook of many one sheets of paper. 
And yes, this sketchbook's cover got printed upside down.

• Main points with space for details.  Check.  (I used wiktionary definitions and etymology to realize that apnea is just "stopping breathing".  Note:  the picture shorthands are very personalized.)  This is an example with details cropped out to show you what I started with:

Click to enlarge image.  Basic map of the Apnea lecture. 
Note the titles+pictures+shapes for the 4 main sections:
Definitions, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis (Dx), Therapy (Tx). 

• Some of the pictures/icons shorthands.  

Personal picture shorthands.
Click to enlarge.

 Final product:  (After adding details during lecture and refining things after lecture.)

Click to enlarge.  More details added to the "roadmap" outline above.

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More Examples:

(Disclaimer:  the shorthands are very personalized.  These are just full examples of final products after adding details and review self-test questions.)

"Shiftwork & Circadian Rhythms", with side notes on the presentation techniques they used:

Click to enlarge.  Notice the main headings having "icons" in blue circles.

"MagnetoEncephaloGraphy" (MEG):

Click to enlarge.  Notice the main headings are in red circles.

"Technology in Hospital Pharmacy", with self-test questions I added for rapid review sessions:

Click to enlarge.  Notice self-test questions on bottom right testing memory of main points.

Hopefully you find the techniques above helpful as another tool in your toolbox.  If you find a way to stay alert in lectures and engage your brain in a meaningful way, you'll be "safe" and won't get lost.  I now leave you with a message from Bert and Gert:

"Stay alert, stay safe." - Bert and Gert

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LINKS TO OTHER STUFF: 

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Chinese Learning Projects:
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 - HSK 1
 - HSK 5
 - Homonyms Mnemonics

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Footnote:

**That description was sort of an exaggeration.  Fourier transforms did dominate the latter half of my undergrad by spontaneously manifesting during lectures and scaring students.  And that was a dramatization.  XD
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