Teaching Tip: Note Taking in Your OM Class

We are always looking for ideas on how to make your students successful in their study of OM. The “rotating note taker” concept comes from Faculty Focus. This student serves as the class note-taker, posting his or her notes on the course management system before the next class session. The notes are graded pass/fail and count for 1% of the final course grade. If it’s a fail, the student learns why and is assigned another day to take and post class notes.

Having a designated student taking and posting notes does not relieve other students of the responsibility to take their own notes. The posted notes serve as an alternative to the student’s own notes. They may clarify or emphasize a different part of a concept, add more detail, or offer a different perspective.

You can introduce the assignment on day one. Recruit a student familiar with the learning management system (LMS) to provide the first set of class notes. Put instructions about posting notes on the LMS, offer recommendations about attaching files, and suggest making references to the text instead of trying to reproduce complicated graphs. If your class is large, have two students taking and posting notes for each class session.

Here’s a list of benefits that accrue from the strategy.

• Students report that they find the posted notes helpful when reviewing for tests. It’s an opportunity to compare what they have written with what someone else has in their notes.
• If a student knows that everyone in the class is going to look at his or her notes and that the teacher is going to evaluate them, it motivates careful note-taking.
• Students who aren’t good note-takers have the chance to see what a good set of notes looks like.
• If students miss a class, they have access to a set of notes.
• The strategy demonstrates your commitment to student note-taking.