Learn Hardcore German: Die Dozentin sagte heute, jede Studentin solle nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben. - The lecturer said today every female student should write a short note after the lecture.

In indirect / reported speech, written German often uses Konjunktiv I to show that the speaker is reporting someone else’s words, not stating their own view.

Direct speech: Die Dozentin sagt: „Jede Studentin soll …“
Indirect speech: Die Dozentin sagte heute, jede Studentin solle …

So solle marks: This is what the lecturer said, not what the narrator thinks.

What is the difference between solle and sollte?

Both come from sollen, but they are used differently:

solle = Konjunktiv I (subjunctive I), mainly for reported speech
- Die Dozentin sagte, jede Studentin solle … = she said that each student is to / should … (reported words)
sollte = Konjunktiv II (subjunctive II) or past of sollen
- As Konjunktiv II: should in the moral / hypothetical sense
  - Du solltest mehr schlafen. = You should sleep more.
- As past tense of sollen: was supposed to
  - Ich sollte gestern anrufen. = I was supposed to call yesterday.

In this sentence, solle is chosen because the focus is on indirect speech, not on advice or hypothetical meaning.

Could I just say … jede Studentin soll … instead of … jede Studentin solle …?

Yes, especially in spoken German, people often use the normal indicative:

Die Dozentin sagte heute, jede Studentin soll nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben.

That is widely accepted in everyday language.

However, in more formal written German, solle is preferred because it clearly marks reported speech. It signals: This is not my instruction, it’s what she said.

Why is there a comma before jede Studentin solle …?

The sentence has two clauses:

Die Dozentin sagte heute – main clause
jede Studentin solle nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben – the reported clause (what she said)

German separates these with a comma.

You can think of an invisible dass:

Die Dozentin sagte heute, (dass) jede Studentin solle …
(Though if you actually add dass, you normally move solle to the end:
…, dass jede Studentin nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben solle.)

So the comma marks the boundary between the reporting clause and the content of what was said.

Why is the word order jede Studentin solle …? Why is solle in second position?

In this kind of indirect speech without “dass”, the reported clause keeps normal main-clause word order: the finite verb in second position.

Subject first: jede Studentin
Verb second: solle
Rest: nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben

If you introduce the clause with dass, then it becomes a subordinate clause and the finite verb moves to the end:

…, dass jede Studentin nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben solle.

So:

Without dass: jede Studentin solle … (V2)
With dass: …, dass … schreiben solle. (verb at the end)

Why is jede Studentin singular when the sentence talks about the whole group?

German often uses jede + singular to refer to all members of a group individually, just like English “each student” or “every student”:

jede Studentin = each (female) student, every (female) student

So:

Die Dozentin sagte heute, jede Studentin solle …
≈ The lecturer said that every (female) student should …

If you want to stress the group as a whole, you could use a plural:

alle Studentinnen sollen / sollen … = all (female) students should …

But grammatically, jede Studentin is perfectly normal and means “each one individually.”

Why is it Studentin and not Student? Does this mean only women?

Yes. Studentin is the specifically female form:

der Student = male student
die Studentin = female student
die Studenten = male students / mixed-gender students
die Studentinnen = female students only

So jede Studentin literally refers only to female students.

In many contexts today, speakers try to use more gender-inclusive forms, for example:

jede Studentin und jeder Student …
alle Studierenden … (participle used as a gender-neutral noun)

But in your sentence as written, jede Studentin is grammatically and semantically female-only.

What is the difference between Dozentin and Professorin or Lehrerin?

All three can be translated as teacher in English, but in German they are more specific:

die Dozentin
- female academic teacher at a university or college
- can be a lecturer, instructor, etc.; not necessarily a full professor
die Professorin
- female full professor (holds a Professur) at a university
die Lehrerin
- female teacher, usually at schools (primary, secondary), not at university

So Die Dozentin here suggests a university-level teacher but not necessarily someone with the rank of Professorin.

Why is it nach der Vorlesung and not nach die Vorlesung?

Because nach is a preposition that takes the dative case when it means after (time).

Preposition: nach
Noun: die Vorlesung (nominative singular, feminine)
After nach, use dative: der Vorlesung

So:

die Vorlesung (nom.)
nach der Vorlesung (dat.) = after the lecture

The same happens with other nach + time phrases:

nach dem Unterricht (after the class)
nach der Pause (after the break)

Why is it eine kurze Notiz and not something like einen kurzen Notiz?

The phrase eine kurze Notiz is accusative singular, feminine:

Noun: die Notiz – feminine
Article in accusative singular (feminine): eine
Adjective before a indefinite article (feminine, acc.): kurze

Pattern:

eine + kurz +e + Notiz
- eine (indefinite article, fem. acc.)
- kurze (adjective ending -e)
- Notiz (feminine noun)

If the noun were masculine, you would see -en:

einen kurzen Text (masc., acc.)
eine kurze Notiz (fem., acc.)

So eine kurze Notiz is exactly the form you expect for a direct object that is feminine singular.

What is the difference between Notiz and Note in German?

This is a classic false friend for English speakers:

die Notiz = note in the sense of a short written memo / jotting
- eine kurze Notiz schreiben = to write a short note
die Note usually means grade / mark (in school or university)
- eine gute Note bekommen = to get a good grade

So in this context, Notiz is correct.
If you wrote eine kurze Note, Germans would probably first think of a short grade, which doesn’t make sense here.

Is the position of heute in Die Dozentin sagte heute fixed, or could it go elsewhere?

You have a bit of flexibility. Common options include:

Die Dozentin sagte heute, …
Heute sagte die Dozentin, …
Die Dozentin sagte, jede Studentin solle heute nach der Vorlesung … (if today belongs to the action of writing the note)

In your sentence, heute modifies sagte (she said it today), so the most neutral positions are:

After the verb: Die Dozentin sagte heute, …
At the very beginning: Heute sagte die Dozentin, …

All are grammatically correct; the choice slightly shifts the focus.

Could I use the present tense sagt instead of sagte?

Yes, that is possible and changes the time reference:

Die Dozentin sagte heute, …
= The lecturer said today … (she said it earlier today; the saying is in the past)
Die Dozentin sagt heute, …
= The lecturer is saying today … (she is saying it at some point today; could be ongoing, or a scheduled statement today)

Both are grammatical. Sagte is just the simple past and is very common in written narration.

Could I rewrite the sentence without the subjunctive, using dass and a normal present tense verb?

Yes. A very natural version in contemporary spoken German would be:

Die Dozentin hat heute gesagt, dass jede Studentin nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreibt.

Or in simple past:

Die Dozentin sagte heute, dass jede Studentin nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreibt.

Here, schreibt is indicative, not subjunctive.
This is idiomatic, especially in speech, but more formal written German still often prefers Konjunktiv I:

…, dass jede Studentin nach der Vorlesung eine kurze Notiz schreiben solle.

So all of these are understandable; the original version is just more formally “correct” in traditional written style.