Blackboard

fish-head

Could anyone give me an explanation of what it is?
I vaguely know-ish from sort of listening to my cousin talk about it but I'd like to really know.

spudmurf2k

its where u get your notes from. that's it. i think commerce people use it for other stuff. but all it is is where you get your notes, and *some* continuous assesment grades.

Blush_01

Not all departments (sorry, "Schools") use it. Some in Arts don't trust it.

fish-head

So does that mean in some lectures you don't have to take notes?
Hmmm. Interesting.

spudmurf2k

nah, u shud use them as an aid - ie, annotate them. I have slides from Materials Science and there's writing all over them, they were just bullet points and pics to begin with. Then I'd one lecturer who left blanks in the notes. that was just annoying more than anything else. no-one thanked him for it. just print them all off and have them is my advice.

fish-head

So just take the notes by hand first of all? Fair enough.

Thanks.

mloc

best system I've seen is people getting the powerpoint files off Blackboard, then using the notes system in powerpoint to annotate and add to them during the lecture on a laptop. saves ink and paper. plus if you find revising easier of a page, you can just print them out with your personal additions and all.

of course, this only works if you have a laptop, and the lectures are in powerpoint format, although I'd imagine Acrobat Pro has an annotation feature too.

spudmurf2k

no, use them as a complement to the notes, i.e., annotate them by hand.

I wouldn't be a fan of digitally annotating them like mloc was saying, as you can't use that with PDFs effectively (I have Acrobat Pro). Plus you can't draw little arrows and stuff. Maybe if you had a tablet PC and Microsoft OneNote, but that's a different (and expensive) story.

anyway. go out n get ****ed the first two weeks and hang around roebuck castle (that's were they're hiding first years this year I believe) and u'll be grand. plus ull have sumwere to crash.

fish-head

Yes sir!

spudmurf2k

no problem son.

BKtje

I just used them as is and it was fine in all exams bar one (maths which i didnt understand at the time at all).
That said you will do better if u make your own notes but (in first year anyway and in my experience) is not a must.

Stepherunie

I use blackboard for pretty much all my courses - what have a learned? Don't rely on it entirely - i went to lectures so i was okay - having the lecture notes there was great because it meant you just added in your notes right next to where it fitted in with the slides - i found it easier to keep it all together - then i'd write them all out myself - I learn by writing.

I know others didn't print notes, just looked at them online - generally those who did print them and added to them always did way better in exams and presentations.

Oh but be warned - when doing biochem in first year (now an optional course, dang first years) we had one lecturer who used to put her notes up on blackboard so a lot of people didn't go to her lectures as she was extremely boring - only problem was she always left out the key key slides out of blackboard and never really pointed that out so a lot of people were left stranded.

Others just like to put up keywords and like you to have the notes to add the stuff as you see fit.

mloc

Stepherunie wrote:

Oh but be warned - when doing biochem in first year (now an optional course, dang first years) we had one lecturer who used to put her notes up on blackboard so a lot of people didn't go to her lectures as she was extremely boring - only problem was she always left out the key key slides out of blackboard and never really pointed that out so a lot of people were left stranded.

Biochem lecturers are evil like that.

Red Alert

depends on the lecturer and lecture, but i always found making my own notes in full were better. i was probably more used to it though because most of the EE lecturers still write it out or give you a complete handout.

looksee

Dont you find static makes chalk dust stick to the monitor when she's cleaning it?:D