I am wondering if I should be taking notes along the way when I am doing my readings, which I do find time consuming and not sure if it is that helpful to me, since this course is a bit more independent on how you study it, I am wondering what is the optimal way to do it.

If you need to make notes to remember things, then yes.
If you don't find taking notes helpful, then no.

I took this class last year and I found it highly effective to take notes for both the readings (just write down what you think is most important) and the online lectures as well. You have to pause and it extends the lecture quite a lot but it made a big different for me.

YESSS. It will help you alot. Try to do the courseware/textbook readings before watching the module so you can gain a sense of what he's going to teach.

Or, you could always watch the modules twice. One time watching attentively and listening and gaining info. The second time, doing the same thing and taking down note and maybe catching/understanding things you didn't hear the first time.

Unless you remember everything you read then yes I think it's in your best interest to take notes. Also because there's always 1-2 questions on each quiz from the textbook. What I suggest is watch the module, take your notes there and then when reading your text only take notes on the topics that were not mentioned or slightly different.