[cnidocyte]

Heres how I do it. I first build a visual scaffolding of the subject and this is the essential first step to learning anything for me. I then build sub structures into this scaffolding and I then use the details to form the infrastructure and form connections between different areas of the scaffolding. I gain a pretty complex understanding of scientific concepts like this but sitting in lectures in college is of no use for me cuz in order to build the structures I have to jump to all sorts of different concepts at different times and sitting in a lecture listening to someone talk about the details in a serial manner like that only forms an array of scattered concepts with no connection to each other. What pisses me off is that some lecturers won't put lecture notes up online as an attempt to force us to come to the lectures. When they do this I have no idea what they covered. Colleges should make it mandatory for lecturers to put the notes up online and they should acknowledge the fact that not everyone learns well in lectures and are better off learning at home using their own methods.

[408]

I remember stuff I like.  If I pretend to like it, that works too.

[Charkol]

Things seem to sink in when I use them for different purposes.

I some teachers' lectures seem like a waste of time for me also.  I could rather be doing problems and reading ahead easier. 

The times that I do enjoy those lectures are when I have read ahead in the book and I can directly relate to what is being said.  I will sometimes take my own notes on the topic for the next lecture, then during class when he is lecturing I just add to them.  This works especially well if it is impossible to take direct notes from the lecture. 

I had one teacher this semester this year that gave his lecture from HIS notes.  Since everything was on the board, I took really good notes in that class.  However, I still had to do a lot of problem solving on my own.

[philonossis]

What pisses me off is that some lecturers won't put lecture notes up online as an attempt to force us to come to the lectures. When they do this I have no idea what they covered. Colleges should make it mandatory for lecturers to put the notes up online and they should acknowledge the fact that not everyone learns well in lectures and are better off learning at home using their own methods.

The reason professors want to force you to come to class is that they and the universities get paid by the state and federal governments for a head count of students in class.

Most professors don't want to do classroom teaching and have no training for it. But they cannot get enough funding by publishing books, or private consulting or from government or foundation or corporate research grants. They get paid the most by classroom teaching.

We have known since Gutenberg introduced movable type into publishing that students did not need to be in class, they could just take their books anywhere and read them. Academia fought back by trying to paint the "correspondence" degree as a second-rate degree, and that it was better for students to be sitting in class.

The way I learn is by reading the book. If you know the book you will pass the course whether you know the lectures or not.

[MissPhosgene]

I learn almost everything for my classes in lecture. I've found that exams are simply extensions of that.

For everything else (unless it is a particularly cool and useful class), I learn from books and papers.

I learn by looking at words, pictures, and lots of pacing my apartment. I think I have a particularly good memory for lines because I have yet to forget a structure and an intermediate in a synthesis I have read. I can always go straight to the book page or citation after a year or so.

[tamim83]

I am a read/write learner.  This means I need to do a combination of reading and writing to learn something.  Writing things down helps me to absorb better.  I take notes during most lectures and sometimes when I read; most of the time I can absorb what I read very well. 

As for attending lectures, as an undergrad I really had to scrape up financial aid (mostly loans) to pay for school.  I always felt that since I struggled to pay for this, I am attending every lecture that I paid for.  I did, rain or shine, sick or well.  I am not saying attending lecture was useful in all cases, but I paid for it so I went and paid close attention to what the professor was saying.  Even in grad school where I didn't pay tuition (I would be wasting someone's money if I didn't).  Besides money issues, I liked the experience of going to class so I went and for the most part learned a lot.  There are some things you can't get from books or the Internet that you can get from physically sitting in lecture. 

[jeffrey.struss]

I am a combination learner. I can learn well from lectures if I take notes and interact extensively. Additionally, I will sit down with the book and read and take notes. Using a combination of note-cards and doing practice problems from within the chapter until I feel that I really understand the topic. For me, I just know when I know something or not and it is always an AHA! moment where something just clicks and all of a sudden everything starts falling into place. Theory wise I am really good at learning theories (I have yet to meet one I couldn't master or comprehend) but route memorization takes a lot of work for me.

[Zerm]

The thing I can't stand is when subject material is presented as a collection of facts to be memorized.  Teachers who do this are the worst.  I particularly find this format challenging as I have very poor memorization skills.  Instead, I must thoroughly understand the theory or concepts which produce the facts to be learned.  When asked to recall information, very rarely do I actually remember that information, but rather I resynthesize it rapidly from conceptual understanding.  For example, I can never recall a particular rule or theorm in calculus unless I thoroughly understand the proof.  At that point, in my mind, the theorm is then implied by existing understanding rather than memorized without base. 

I struggled a lot in school and it was rare that I came across instructers who could really reach me.  I became really adept at teaching myself things on my own time.  I later quit college and taught myself to be an electrical engineer and I now design medical equipment for a living.  I still have a love for learning though and have made it my passion to constantly acquire new skills through self exploration.  I guess if there is a point to my rant, it is this:  We are individually responsible for our own development.  If you find the way a subject is presented difficult, then take it upon yourself to try other approaches on your own.  If you find one that works for you, it will be worth the effort.