Have you ever found yourself reaching the next semester and realizing, you don't remember anything from the last one?
In high school year after year, I would cram my bejeebus off for a test only to forget it all the following week. This pattern continued until in college, I learned how to create Maps of Content (MOCs) inside Obsidian. A map of content is a summation of a bunch of related notes.
Through learning to create course MOCs in Obsidian, I not only remembered my learnings for longer but understood them at a deeper level.
You can do the same in Obsidian by following my simple four-step course MOC creation process.
Why Create MOCs For Your Classes?
MOCs allow you to see the relationship between seemingly unrelated classes and outside learnings.
MOCs allow you to think bottom up and top down. You can take notes inside of a MOC or from the atomic note level and link it into the MOC later.
MOCs allow you to do the thinking and linking first and the organization later once the disorganization becomes overwhelming.
MOCs don't use weird tags and folder structures making them super easy to understand.
How To Map A Course Using The Four-Step MOC Creation Process
Beginning Of The Semester
At the beginning of the semester create a class note with one MOC lecture note and one MOC concept note.
I fill out the lecture note with all the class lecture names and topics we will go over during the semester.
During Classes
During class, I will open the MOC lecture note and create a new lecture note out of the individual lecture for the day and take notes using my conceptual notemaking process.
After Class
Usually, in the day to week after class I will go into all the lecture notes that are tagged "#toProcess" and integrate them into my concepts note for the class in a way that makes sense to my organizational style.
After the Semester
After the semester I flesh out my MOC Concept note for the class by going through all of the notes I made for the class and connecting them into a final cohesive map. Importantly, I include relevant notes or even MOCs from other classes if I think they are relevant.
Conclusion: The Art of Compounding Knowledge
Using this simple four-step course MOC creation process, I'm building a unique interconnected body of knowledge.
Instead of going from semester to semester with a clean slate, having forgotten everything from the previous year, my knowledge scales from class to class, semester to semester.
I wake up every day with wonder and curiosity about what new notes and connections I will make.