How do you typically learn the material?

[vikkamath]

I just wanted to find out how other people watch the lectures and absorb the material.
This is my second attempt at the course (I had to stop halfway during the first attempt due to exams).
But the way I typically watch the lectures is:
I download and print the lecture slides. While I watch the lectures, I take down notes and once the lecture is done, I spend about half an hour trying to put everything into place. Watching a one hour lecture takes me roughly 2.5 hours.

I just wanted to find out how other people are doing it.

[yaser]

Originally Posted by vikkamath

I just wanted to find out how other people watch the lectures and absorb the material.
This is my second attempt at the course (I had to stop halfway during the first attempt due to exams).
But the way I typically watch the lectures is:
I download and print the lecture slides. While I watch the lectures, I take down notes and once the lecture is done, I spend about half an hour trying to put everything into place. Watching a one hour lecture takes me roughly 2.5 hours.

I just wanted to find out how other people are doing it.

Thank you for starting this thread. I would be interested in the answer from different participants.

[gah44]

Once I got the book, I didn't take notes, but would look things up in to book.
The later chapters aren't covered in the book, though.

A few things I looked up in Wikipedia.

[vikkamath]

Originally Posted by gah44

Once I got the book, I didn't take notes, but would look things up in to book.
The later chapters aren't covered in the book, though.

A few things I looked up in Wikipedia.

So did you keep the book in front of you while you watched the lectures or would you watch the whole one hour lecture at a stretch and then go back to the book?

[bargava]

This is an interesting question indeed. Of course, different people will have different studying habits. But, I guess, how to learn in MOOC is an interesting stuff to know.

This is what I do:

I first review all the prior lectures (by looking into the slides of the previous week's lectures). Then, I look into the current video's lecture slides. Then, to borrow Professor's term, I snoop into the homework questions. After the first homework - this became my assumption: the key learning the Professor wanted to impart on us for that week is present in the homework. The choices for the homework are so well chosen; So, this helps me to really concentrate more on the lecture and its key points.

Generally, I watch the videos just once. I take some notes during the lectures. I do pause very often and think on what has been told. So, approximately, the entire process would take close to 2 hours.

I try to finish off both the videos by friday and start the homework over the weekend (and finish it by tuesday morning)

[alasdairj]

Having taken a few MOOCs now, I find that taking notes as I watch the videos helps me to think through the material for myself. I also have index cards to keep the main points accessible for use after the course (or for revision prior to the exam!).

I love being able to pause the videos so I can catch up, or so I can try to understand the material better.

BTW I find the method in the homework of generating data to be particularly useful for this course as it gives you an insight into the real-world generation of data for a target function subject to a probability distribution.