Smartblog PREPS

PREPS: 5 Steps for Electronic Notetaking Success #reinventingwriting

Want to know how to take notes electronically? Frustrated because students can never find their notes or pictures they take of the board? There is a solution but we have to move past the (awesome) Cornell notetaking system and other systems we've used in the past into 21st century notetaking. I use a system that I share in Chapter 4: Reinventing Notetakingย of Reinventing Writing. Recently on SmartBrief I gave an overview ย of PREPS and how it works.

PREPS stands for Prepare, Record, Engage, Ponder, and Sync.

Here's the first part of the article on SmartBrief, you'll want to go to their SmartBlog and read the rest.

Students everywhere are taking pictures of the board. It is almost like a โ€œget out of jail freeโ€ card when it comes to taking notes. Can they find them later? Do they ever look at them again? Do they review them for the test? Obviously, we need new note-taking systems to help students learn, recall and capture in this modern age.

In light of the unique nature of electronic note taking, Iโ€™ve developed a system that I share in my new book โ€œReinventing Writingโ€ย that I call PREPS. In my opinion, there are two contenders for best notebook service:ย Evernoteย andย One Note.Iโ€™ll mention them throughout this guide.

1. PREPARE

Set up
Prepare your notebook by setting up categories and notebooks. Plan ahead for a class or meeting by using a template inย Kustom Noteย for Evernote or use one of the templates included with One Note. If you need help organizing, watchย the Evernote Secret Weaponย videos…

Read more about PREPSย on my guest post onย SmartBriefย “5 steps forย electronic notetaking success”

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Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis

Vicki Davis is a full-time classroom teacher and IT Director in Georgia, USA. She is Mom of three, wife of one, and loves talking about the wise, transformational use of technology for teaching and doing good in the world. She hosts the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast which interviews teachers around the world about remarkable classroom practices to inspire and help teachers. Vicki focuses on what unites us -- a quest for truly remarkable life-changing teaching and learning. The goal of her work is to provide actionable, encouraging, relevant ideas for teachers that are grounded in the truth and shared with love. Vicki has been teaching since 2002 and blogging since 2005. Vicki has spoken around the world to inspire and help teachers reach their students. She is passionate about helping every child find purpose, passion, and meaning in life with a lifelong commitment to the joy and responsibility of learning. If you talk to Vicki for very long, she will encourage you to "Relate to Educate" or "innovate like a turtle" or to be "a remarkable teacher." She loves to talk to teachers who love their students and are trying to do their best. Twitter is her favorite place to share and she loves to make homemade sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls and enjoys running half marathons with her sisters. You can usually find her laughing with her students or digging into a book.

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3 comments

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Dr. Frank Buck July 4, 2014 - 7:51 am

Vicki, I think this article is really significant. How best to take notes (pencil/paper versus digital) is a real interest of mine, and that interest extends from how best to to it from the classroom to the board room to phone calls to 1-on-1 meetings. With devices and software that mature continually, we need concrete “best practice” strategies. I would like to see you continue to write about implementing digital note-taking with your students.

Vanessa Charlton July 5, 2014 - 3:59 am

As a user of Audio note, I find it useful, though with the odd flaw. I can record the detail and still take notes and add pictures. When I need to review I have the benefit of listening again to all that took place. One drawback is background noise can interfere with voice capture and so I usually try to sit at the front of lectures. I then transfer really important info to Evernote and save it as it is compatible for use with Microsoft.

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