Top Five Benefits Of Note Sharing With Peers

By Francine Fluetsch on February 20, 2014

Flashnotes.com is the student-to-student study materials marketplace. Flashnotes.com gives college students what they need most–more money and better grades. To learn more about Flashnotes, click here.

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You’re sitting in class, trying aimlessly to jot down everything important that the professor is saying. Your mind starts to wander and you start questioning whether or not you turned off the stove after you made eggs in the morning and totally stop listening to your professor. When you finally snap out of your daydream, you realize that you are completely lost in the lecture. What are you going to do? You need those notes for your midterm. Your blank expression alerts the person sitting next to you, who slowly slides their notes over and says “don’t worry, I got you.”

There are definitely many benefits to note sharing, whether you need some better notes or you are helping someone out with theirs. We college students need to stick together! Here are some reasons why you should start sharing notes with your peers:

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Different perspectives: Sitting still for over an hour listening to someone talk can be a daunting activity. Chances are you are going to space out at one point or another, and could possibly be missing out on some crucial information.

Gabriela Muller, an art history professor at Mira Costa College, said that “if students share notes with each other they might get a more complete picture of what is said.”

By seeing what someone else wrote down, you will be able to pick out what the most important points of the lecture were, and will be able to add to your notes if you missed anything.

Muller said that by sharing notes “students will be able to understand the lecture from a different perspective, since we tend to write down what we consider the most important and that can vary from student to student.”

Hopefully you and the person you are sharing with spaced out at different times, so you will be able to piece the lecture together and both come out with awesome notes.

Need help staying awake in class so you’ll actually take notes? Here’s what you do.

Get to know others: Use note sharing as a way to meet your peers and make some friends in your classes. Muller said that “sharing notes can be an ice breaker,” which she believes more students should utilize since she notices many are isolated in her classes.

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If you are shy, asking someone if they would like to share notes would be a perfect way to make a friend!

Dr. Lene Whitley-Putz, a writing professor at UC Santa Cruz, said that “sharing notes that you simply pass around is okay, but sharing notes and then sitting over coffee and talking about the concepts is even better.”

Talking things over with your peers will allow you to better grasp the concepts and have a good time outside of class. It is always good to know a couple of people in your classes, especially if you have to miss class, which brings us to our next benefit.

Don’t have time to meet up in person? Here is a link on how you can set up a digital notebook with your friends!

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Missing class: Whether you are feeling a bit under the weather or just don’t have the will to go to class (not that any of us would ever ditch), having someone in class that you share notes with will allow you to be caught up for the next lecture.

Michael Mangiaracina, a first year global economics major at UC Santa Cruz, said “if someone is sick I would definitely take notes for them as clearly as I humanly could.”

Students are always willing to help each other out, even if they don’t know each other very well. We are all going to miss class at one point or other, so just make sure that you return the favor if someone is taking notes for you. It might be good to share with more than one person, so if you are absent, you will be able to make sure that you got the full gist of the lecture.

Clarification: Have you ever had that moment when you look back at your notes and have no idea what you wrote down? I notice that as the lecture goes on and my hand starts to tire, my hand writing gets messier and messier as I try and scramble to write what the professor is saying.

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Mangiaracina said that some people are simply better at taking notes and that he himself is not a good note taker.

“My handwriting is really confusing so I would definitely enjoy sharing notes with people who are more organized,” he said.

So now you know who to look out for–the people with the perfectly scrawled notes! Don’t be embarrassed by your notes because everyone has that “I have no idea what this is saying” moment. You might just have to read yours to other people if they can’t read your writing.

Opportunity for growth: According to Whitley-Putz:

 “A very influential psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, argued that student to student interaction is very fertile ground for learning. He coined the term ‘zone of proximal development’ to explain how a student who is new to a task or concept might be helped by a student with a stronger understanding.”

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People learn at different paces, and are going to be good at different things. You and your note partner will be able to help each other understand concepts that you might not have been able to understand as well on your own.

“Essentially,” Whitley-Putz said, “if a student who ‘gets’ a concept explains it to a student who is struggling or confused, there’s a big opportunity for growth.”

When you explain things to other people, you yourself will be able to better understand the material, and therefore, whether you are the explainer or the explainee, you will be benefiting!

In conclusion: Sharing notes is definitely the way to go. You will make friends, learn new concepts, be able to take a sick day, and make sure that you get all the information and are actually able to understand what it says. Happy note taking!

Post your notes and study guides for sale today on Flashnotes. To learn more about Flashnotes, click here.

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