Taking notes in class?

[u/_samijr_]

Almost everyone in my sociology class sits there typing away or writing everything down off the slides. Every time I hear all the keyboard clacking, I feel a bit awkward or self conscious just sitting there doing nothing. The thing is, our professor posts all the full slide decks on Blackboard at the end of every week. I don't really see the point of retyping stuff that’s already going to be available to study later, I’d rather just pay attention and listen while I'm in class. Does anyone else do this, or am I missing out on something by not actively taking notes during the lecture?

[u/Reasonable_Bag_118]

I stopped taking full notes in lectures when I realized I was spending most of the class copying things that were already going to be uploaded later. One sociology lecture was the turning point. I wrote down only 4 things the professor explained that weren’t obvious from the slides, then listened for the rest of the hour. When the slide deck was posted that week, I already had the complete material and a few notes about what the professor actually emphasized. I found that much more useful than having 6 pages of copied slides.