I've become increasing interested in the idea of learning how or practicing how to take sketchnotes. Initially for me I just thought it seemed like an interesting idea and some skill set that may be useful when designing and developing elearning. I was curious if it could help me to get better at storyboarding, which is a skill I know I'm not as proficient as I could become. With this in mind I began to research more and more about sketchnotes, graphic facilitation, and visual thinking. Then it just became, for lack of another expression, kind of cool.
If I think of something I want to physically make I can do it with ease; ask me about my fish lamp some time. Ask me to draw something and I feel so inept. I've had a few friends show me how easy it is to draw and it just always feels so foreign. The thought of trying to create drawings to capture what I am hearing in a lecture, conference, webinar....EEK. But, I'm determined to try. Again....it just seems cool.
One of the sketchnote gurus I listened too explained how we tend to be visual learners. Most of what we intake is visually, then some hearing, some by scent, some by touch. The act of taking notes and drawing visuals and analogies to what you are hearing helps the listener to process the information, retain the information, and mash it into images/symbols that more closely resonate with the listener.
I thought about this and it seemed to make sense, but really??? Really? I'm not sure it would ever work for me. I'm so use to just writing and writing and typing and typing notes. In fact I'm pretty good at it and if I really concentrate can almost capture a talk word for word. But there in lies the problem. I'm just capturing the words and not synthesizing as much of the actual substance of the talk as I should be and want. I'm there listening for the purpose of learning, not the purpose of transcribing.
So this has now brought me to my first attempt at taking notes in this manner. I wanted to start somewhere and I heard that the TED talks were a good place to begin. They are usually not much more than 20 minutes and the topics are incredibly interesting. I of course never start at the beginner level. I instead delve into a one hour webinar. However, I pick a topic I really an interested in and have some passion for hoping this will inspire me to draw and more importantly learn more.
Jane Hart hosted another "In Conversation With"
David Kelly this week about "
Curation in the Workplace". I highly recommend listening to it and looking at both Jane's and David's sites. Both add such invaluable information to our elearning/learning community and have been large influences on my own path.
So here is my first attempt at sketchnotes. I did have to pause the webinar during the first 30 minutes to get what I wanted down on the paper. Not the true idea of this type of note taking. However, as I went into the next 30 I had much less problem. I kept up with the conversation completely. I took notes freely and as I had learned from my reading and researching, embraced my mistakes as I went along. In the end I'm kind of proud of what I was able to capture. More surprising to me is I truly remember every moment of the webinar. I can recite all the points that were major to me and I don't have to look at my notes at all. The act of adding the images to my page, also implanted them into my memory. I love technology and all that goes with it, but this pen to paper method has won me over to try at least a few more times.
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