[NABS-L] College note taking, and studying

[Nikhil Dadlani]

Hi, 

I hope that you are well. 
Congratulations on how far you have come thus far in your educational journey, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. 

Regarding note-taking, I would suggest a few ideas: 
1. I understand that your school is trying to use less of in-class note takers. However, if this is something that would help you in your studies, you could speak to your college’s disability services office on why you believe that you would like to have a note-taker in your classes, while also explaining the benefits of this method over using apps or listening to recordings. 
2. Another method I would suggest is for you to request the lecture materials from your instructors ahead of time. This way, you would be able to follow along with a slide deck or information sheet on your own personal device, similar to what your sighted peers see on the projector in the classroom. This would then help you in choosing whether to take notes on what you have in front of you, or to use the given slide deck(s) or other handouts to retain and analyze specific information.
3. Additionally, everyone has different strategies on note-taking, study habits and the like. For me personally, I find that re-reading the textbook chapters and slide decks is the most helpful. However, others may have different advice and methods. 
If you would like to connect more with fellow students to gain additional perspective, the NABS WhatsApp community is an excellent and vital resource for you. Not only can you connect with others and ask questions on various topics, but you will also hear about various NABS events, where we highlight the lived experiences of various blind students, including differing study habits and note-taking styles. 

Here is the link to our WhatsApp community: 

https://chat.whatsapp.com/FBaGcxKgKd8CjiEQmQO0l8
The National Association of Blind Students
chat.whatsapp.com

I sincerely hope that this is helpful to you. If you have additional questions, please do not hesitatns e to reach out, and of course, to ask questions in the WhatsApp as well. 
Have a great day! 
Regards, 
Nikhil Dadlani 

On Sep 15, 2024, at 3:00 PM, Terri Stimmel via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> 
> I hope this message finds you well.
> 
> I just have a few questions, and I hope someone with much more experience, can possibly give me some answers.
> 
> 
> So, I am now in my third semester, at my local community college. I live in the state of Missouri, near Saint Louis. I am a totally blind student, and the college does not have much experience working with people who are blind. I am also an older student. So of course this can present it's own issues. Not for the college really. But for me, and just more in general.
> 
> 
> My first two semesters had some struggles. Although, overall things haven't been too bad.
> 
> However, there are some pretty big issues for me, and I just do not know quite what to do. Once I finish up here at this community college, I do plan to go on to get my bachelors degree. Then, if things are still going well for me, I will attempt to get my masters degree. I was planning to go into social work. But now, I am leaning more toward psychology. We will just see how it all plays out.
> 
> 
> So, for those of you who have attended college, or who are attending college now, how did you go about taking notes?
> 
> I never learned how to do such a thing in middle school, or high school. I didn't even really learn how to write a paper. So now, this is a huge issue for me.
> 
> Three, out of my four classes, are pretty writing intensive.
> 
> 
> My college is getting away from having others take notes for you. They are recommending this App to use called, Jamworks. I do not know if I have spelled this correctly, or not. But it is basically a program that will listen, and turn the lecture into notes.
> 
> 
> That is one option. The other option I have is that I can record my classes. Then go back and listen to them, and then make my own notes this way.
> 
> 
> However, I do not know how such a thing is even practical. There just isn't enough time in the day to do this, along with everything else. When I tried to politely explain this to the lady at the accessibility resource office, she told me that on the weekends, she listens to recordings of her meetings, and takes notes on them.
> 
> 
> However, everything I do takes me so much longer, than it seems to for most sighted people. Studying is a struggle for me as well, because in some ways I just do not know how to study.
> 
> 
> So, how do you all handle taking notes?
> 
> What are some ways that work best for you?
> 
> And, what do you find challenging to keep up with?
> 
> 
> Also, might anyone here have some study tips, or habits, they could share?
> 
> 
> Any help would be very much appreciated. I really want to do my very best to make B's in my classes, if at all possible. I know in the spring semester, a couple of my classes are going to be more difficult. I will most likely be taking a biology class. At some point, I still have to try and take the math placement test. So that I can then figure out where I might land, regarding math. I will most likely have to take either a beginning algebra class, or, a statistics class.
> 
> 
> I have a laptop, running Jaws, that I use at school, and at home, for school stuff. I also have a Focus 40 Braille display, and, a Braille embosser.
> 
> 
> Any thoughts, or suggestions are very much appreciated.
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> 
> Terri
> 
> 
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