“There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery” Charles Dickens

Hello and a very happy Monday to you all, I hope you had a good weekend. 

So, this week I will be talking to you about ‘ists, ‘isms and ology’s and other new words that have entered my vocabulary since the start of my course!  The first time I heard the term ‘pathetic fallacy’ I assumed it was an insult but apparently not, it means “The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, especially in art and literature “well, who knew? Some days my head feels like spaghetti, and I think that my menopausal brain won’t cope, but it does, and then along comes another one to blow your mind. Thus far and to name but a few, empiricism, positivism, idealism, rationalism, constructivism, epistemology, ontology, quantitative (I always forget that ‘at’ in the middle and write “quantitive” by mistake) and so on.

So how to remember them? I use flashcard books for each subject and put the word and its description on each page.  Then I print out lecture slides in the format of three slides per page so that I can make notes in each lecture as the slides appear…THEN I have a notebook to make additional notes in.  This all worked well until Christmas, because after Christmas I started a couple of new modules.  Both of which are Sociology modules which are outside the cohort of the Centre for Lifelong Learning.  Most of the seminars are with a group of other lovely first years, those of the 18/19 year old age group.

There I was with my rucksack and my book and my printouts and my notebook.  Oh, and a pencil case, did I say I have a pencil case?

Now.  I was so proud of my filing and printing and copying and multitude of coloured pens, pencils, and highlighter pens.

But.

Then.

I had my first seminar in person.

They don’t use books.  They don’t use pens and highlighters and post-its and paper and printouts.  I can honestly say my first few seminars I watched in wonder as they pulled out their laptops, iPad, and tablets (not those of the “I’m in pain” type either!)

I could feel the looks as I whipped out my notebook (not the electronic kind the actual real paper kind!) and then I got out my pen (not the stylus kind – yes, I’m hip, I knew that one!) and I made notes. Actual notes. Written notes.  I waited for the sharp intake of breath or the looks of ridicule.  I could feel my face getting hotter and pools of sweat starting to build on my forehead.

But there were none.

That is because when you are a university student you are an adult.

You do what suits you.

You do what works for you.

Your note taking or annotation is done however you want to do it. For me I will continue with my reams of paper and pens and books, and I will continue to highlight the ‘isms, the ‘ists and ‘ology’s with my pencil case full of beautiful colours.

I’m so happy x