My note taking preferences have changed over the years. My favorite ways of interacting with speakers and lectures is to use Evernote and Twitter. I like being able to save, share, and then re-live the topic that was discussed. I love the interactivity of the note-taking and the power it gives me to go back and research the topic as I lived through it at the time. Now, how do I convince my students there is a benefit to this process?
The novelty of using Twitter and Evernote in class lasted for a bit. After a while, I still had to go over note-taking skills. For the most part, this is no different from what I did with interactive notebooks. A great Avid method to teach studying and work with left brain/right brain thinking and processing, I have my kids create notes in Evernote that are similar to that of interactive notebooks. So, kids would take notes in Evernote, then take a picture of their assignment we did as a follow-up, and place that picture in their Evernote file. When it is time to study for the test, my students have the assignment and their notes in the same place, a great way to study for the unit final.
Twitter is a bit more basic, I have my student re-tweet important moments from the lecture, notes or reading. This has created more dialogue in class as well as increased student engagement. The diversity of posts by the students has sparked some interesting discussions as well as student interactions.
This process took some time, with a few exceptions, my kids are not overly organized, an ailment that befalls all teenagers at one point or another. I do know that my students who use Evernote lose fewer assignments and do better on Tests. The same goes for Twitter. When kids re-tweet important points from the lecture and then study those there is a tendency to perform better. Play with it, and know that utilizing technology like Evernote and Twitter will help your students stay more organized.
Cyber Cafe 
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