Note-taking is a very important skill that students can use in many classes to help them better organize and learn. The process of note-taking can be very valuable because it helps the note taker make the information meaningful, stay focused on what is being said, and identify important concepts. In addition, students are able to review notes taken to help them recall key points, apply them to future projects and use them to study for tests. With the WBAIS laptop program in full functioning mode, paper-and-pencil note-taking continues to fade away and note taking becomes more and more high tech.
Teachers at WBAIS offer several opportunities for students to take notes with their laptops. During HS lectures, teachers often ask students to take notes. In addition, students in both the middle school (MS) and high school (HS) take digital notes when researching for projects, similar to the way they used to use note cards.
Digital note-taking programs offer students options that they don't have available with pencil-and-paper. For example, most programs allow the note-taker to quickly move ideas around a page while taking notes, highlighting along the way. In addition, some note-taking software allows students to add images, audio and video files to their notes, as well as automatically pull citations for bibliography use directly from websites.
Students and teachers in the MS and the HS have lately been experimenting with a wide variety of note-taking programs. In the MS Microsoft OneNote seems to be catching on. Often utilized in the business world, OneNote can help students gather, organize and store information in individualized ways, especially for research.
Also, some students, especially in Resource and ELL classes, have been using open source Webspiration, a graphic organizing tool that helps students map out ideas and thoughts.
Other note-taking programs happening around campus include the ubiquitous GoogleDocs, which allows for web-based storage and easy access almost anywhere. Blogs are also being employed as note-taking devices. In some classes teachers select individual students to take notes, which then are shared with the group at large.
Other note-taking programs exist: Note Scribe, Take Note, Sticky Notes, Tiny Notepad, etc. One of these should probably work for your child.
So as the school year continues, students in our MS and HS will probably try out a number of the note-taking options available. Hopefully, each student will discover which program works for him.
Resources:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx
http://www.mywebspiration.com/
http://docs.google.com/#all
http://www.notescribe.net
http://www.takenote.com
http://www.sticky-notes.net
http://www.sharewareconnection.com/tiny-notepad.htm
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