Reviewing your notes and materials in the 24 hours after class is a critical part of recalling and retaining the information in class. It is also where you start to synthesize and apply concepts.
- Review: Read notes and text material to fill in gaps
- Synthesize: Summarize your learning in a few sentences
- Question: Clarify questions using resources such as instructor, TA, text, peers, tutor, etc
- Connect: Link new information with previous learning
Pause & Reflect
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- What helps you the most when you are trying to put ideas together after class? (Re-reading, writing, talking it out, drawing it?)
- When you review your notes after class, are you able to identify the key points?
- Do you understand how the topic fits in with other course content?
- Are there places in your notes where you left gaps or felt unsure about what the professor meant?
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Tip #1: Summarize Notes
- After initial review, consider using AI to condense lecture notes into key takeaways.
- Rewrite AI-generated summaries in your own words to ensure understanding and that the information provided by AI is accurate. Alternatively, have AI provide feedback on your own summaries by uploading your notes in addition to the summary.
Brain First |
AI First |
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Summarize these Economics lecture notes in three sentences |
✅ Brain-first + Specific Context Prompt
Attach relevant materials (example: your lecture notes)
- Imagine you are teaching a class on economic profit maximization to students who have a basic understanding of economics but are new to advanced concepts.
- Compare my summary to the attached lecture notes.
- Evaluate how well the summary explains the core concepts, important definitions, and why they matter in real-world economic decision-making.
- Suggest one thought-provoking question that I should be able to confidently answer to demonstrate my understanding of the lecture notes.
Tip #2: Clarify Concepts
- For difficult topics or gaps in knowledge, prompt AI to take on the role of a TA, tutor, or peer to enhance your understanding.
- Cross-check AI-generated explanations with reliable academic sources. You can follow up by asking the LLM to provide you with links and references to give you additional places to check.
Brain First |
AI First |
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Explain the concept of entropy like a tutor. |
✅ Brain-first + Specific Context Prompt
Attach relevant materials (example: your lecture & reading notes)
- Imagine you are a physics tutor who engages students by drawing on their understanding.
- My understanding of entropy is that it is a measure of disorder as determined by the arrangement and movement of particles as conditions such as temperature, volume, and pressure change.
- Using the attached lecture and reading notes, test my understanding of entropy as it relates to thermodynamics by asking me to explain it to
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- a college student with no physics experience
- a college student in my physics class
- my physics professor
- Based on my answers, provide me with links to additional resources to help me better understand this concept
Tip #3: Generate Post-Class Questions
- If there are areas that you would like more information about, or if there are questions that would be helpful for you to think through before the next course lecture/discussion/lab, ask AI what would be best to focus on.
- Don’t rely solely on AI for improving your understanding of concepts. Professors and TAs are there to help you along the way.
- AI is best used to indicate where your focus should be when meeting with them.
Brain First |
AI First |
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Describe to me the hidden nature of propaganda |
✅ Brain-first + Specific Context Prompt
Attach relevant materials (example: your lecture notes)
- Imagine you have just studied lecture and reading notes on the subtle uses of propaganda to influence the masses
- You are preparing for a meeting with your professor in political science to assess your understanding.
- You assume that the primary difference between ethical advertising and manipulative propaganda is using transparency in what is being presented but would like to have some concrete examples.
- Based on the attached notes, generate thoughtful and specific questions to ask your professor that will help you clarify nuanced techniques, recognize different propaganda strategies, and evaluate their impact on public opinion.
- These questions should guide a deeper discussion to ensure you grasp both the theory and real-world applications of subtle propaganda
