#3: Note taking is an acquired skill
None of this information is remotely useful if you don’t know how to take notes in the first place.
We talk a lot about the ‘note taker’s dilemma’. It’s a basic problem anyone sitting down in a lecture faces. The question is, ‘do I try and record everything I can? Or do I focus on listening and absorbing the information?’
The truth is, people really struggle to find the right balance between these polarized objectives. And you can’t blame them. For all students, regardless of disability, this dilemma is made manifest by a general lack of study skills instruction. We simply leave students to their own devices, hoping they’ll pick up note taking naturally.
Note taking is a cognitively demanding task. It requires a complex interplay between simultaneous processes in the brain.
And for students with note taking accommodations, we sometimes fail to give them the tools to do this independently.
What can I do about it?
Speak to your institution’s academic success department (or equivalent, if your institution has one). Find out what study skills resources are there for students and do your best to publicize these and create awareness. If there are no departments like this at your college, just start to speak to students about what specifically they find challenging about note taking.