6. Why go digital?
There are more resources for students than
ever before, and they are increasingly
electronic sources!
Who wants to keep print lists of those LONG urls?
Photo: Microsoft Office 2010
7. Why go digital?
Less hauling around a forest of
dead trees
More time for reading and
researching
Photo: Microsoft Office 2010
8. Why go digital?
Not as easy to lose information, especially if it
is stored “in the cloud”
Photos: Microsoft Office 2010
9. Why go digital?
Easier to navigate and find information
Easier to share with multiple people
Photos: Microsoft Office 2010
10. Why go digital?
Supports Collaborative Learning (and is often
FREE)
Photos: Microsoft Office 2010
11. Roles of Organizational Tools
Organizing Student’s Life in preparation for
research
Organizing Resource Files, Website Links,
Images
Organizing information found within Files and
Links
Organizing Student Work (drafts and revisions)
19. E-notecards using Word Processing
Software
Electronic Note Card Student’s Name: Research Topic:
Title: Author:
Publisher: City:
Date of Publication: Type of Source:
Email Address: Date of Download:
URL:
MLA Citation:
Direct Quote:
Research notes (in own words) drb.lifestreamcenter.net/E-note.r
33. Works Cited (and Consulted)
“10 Popular Sites Like Symbaloo.” MoreOfIt.com. Web. 1 April 2012.
<http://www.moreofit.com/similar-
to/www.symbaloo.com/Top_10_Sites_Like_Symbaloo/>.
“Cloud Computing.” Dictionary.com. Web. 1 April 2012. <
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cloud+computing >.
E-note. Web. 1 April 2012. <drb.lifestreamcenter.net/E-note.rtf>.
Fisher, Stacy. “8 Free Online Word Processors.” About.com. Web. 1
April 2012. <http://freebies.about.com/od/computerfreebies/tp/online-
word-processor.htm>.
Google Sync For Your Phone. Google. Web. 1 April 2012.
<http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/>.
Head, Allison and Michael Eisenberg. What Today’s College
Students Say about Conducting Research in the Digital Age.
Web. 4 Feb. 2009. 1 April 2012.
<http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_ProgressReport_2_2009.pdf
34. Works Cited (and Consulted)
Keshker, Narendra. “15 Best To Do List Manager to Organize Your Work
and Life.” Narendrakeshkar. Web. 8 Aug. 2011. 1 April 2012.
<http://www.narendrakeshkar.com/blog/2011/08/01/15-best-to-do-list-
manager-to-organize-your-work-and-life/>.
Organize Research Materials. Web. March 2010. 1 April 2012.
<https://digitalresearchtools.pbworks.com/w/page/17801693/Organize%20
Research%20Materials>.
Pierce, David. “5 Great Alternatives to Google Docs You Should Consider.”
MakeUseOf.com. Web. 26 March 2009. 1 April 2012. <
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-great-alternatives-to-google-docs-you-
should-consider/ >.
Taufer, Michela, et al. Collaborative Research Tools for Students, Staff, and
Faculty. University of Texas. Web. 1 April 2012.
<http://gcl.cis.udel.edu/publications/conferences/006sun-utep_mtaufer.pdf
>.
Word Processing & Productivity Tools. Web. 1 April 2012.
<http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Word+Processing+%26+Productivi
ty+Tools>.
35. Applications (in order of
presentation)
Google Calendar
hitask.com
Tadalist.com
Rememberthemilk.com
Delicious.com
Diigo.com
Evernote
Zoho (notebook, but other specific programs available)
Adobe Buzzword
GoogleDocs
Microsoft Office Web Apps
NoodleBib
NetVibes
Protopage
iGoogle
Symbaloo
Hinweis der Redaktion
Standards of the 21st Century Learner: Somewhat covered in plain type; Strongly Covered in Bold1.1.8 Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and pursuing inquiry. 1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding1.3.3 Follow ethical and legal guidelines in gathering and using information1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within the learning community. 1.3.5 Use information technology responsibly2.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to analyze and organize information 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners3.1.6 Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information4.4.3 Recognize how to focus efforts in personal learning
Word association from the PAST: What do you think of when I say… “Libraries and Research”- Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Books, indexes, heavy lifting…
Notecards, hand cramps, and papercuts.
and lastly, Frustration. The “old” way, or shall we say the “traditional” way, of taking notes was to have a stack of note cards. Write down information from the text with pages, and give it a source number. Order them, and then write your first draft. Print it off. Make corrections. Try again. The stack of books next to the stack of cards is daunting. Writing entire passages word for word, time consuming. Grading this huge “packets” of information … you get the point. Can our students’ (and our) time be better spent? Is there an easier way of organizing information that will lead to more efficient research, easier grading, and resulting in better research skills? Okay, I can’t promise perfection or no frustrations, but we can make our lives a whole lot easier. Let’sgo DIGITAL!
Now we have new, more exciting ways to organize information that can be more efficient, as long as you have the resources for student access to computers, internet, etc. and you have the time for the initial set-up, teaching the programs, etc.
Sure, it is easier to use notecards and notebooks—no internet or computer needed. Some perfer it, and that is wonderful. Some require it because of no access… However, we can’t overlook this fact: “So far, we have found that no matter where students are enrolled, no matter what information resources they may have at their disposal, and no matter how much time they have, the abundance of information technology and the proliferation of digital information resources make conducting research uniquely paradoxical: Research seems to be far more difficult to conduct in the digital age than it did in previous times.” (Head)With more difficult research, we need a more efficient way of organizing the vast information that is out there, while trying to combat issues like plagiarism and ethical use of information, as well as determining the quality of the resources.Plus, most of our resources are becoming electronic…
Less hauling around a forest of dead trees… Of course students will still be working with print books, magazines, pamphlets, etc. They may even have a simple notebook to jot down ideas. However, the confusing stack of print-outs, note cards, and other organizational tools can be translated to a digital format, saving room in their heavy backpacks.More time for reading and researching… Students may not have to spend so much time handwriting notes from electronic sources, especially. If the assignment is to take notes from sources in a word for word format on note cards (labeling the source, of course), then it is much easier for students to type, bookmark, or copy-and-paste into an application that is built to manage this information. That way, students know that all of the “source” notes will be directly quoted from the text, making it easier to fight unintentional plagiarism—and easier for the teacher to check the source. The time it takes to bookmark or copy down information is minimal compared to handwriting every word. More time can be spent on organizing, synthesizing, and evaluating these resources and other research. Not to mention, for many it is what students would authentically do in the real world.
Define “the cloud” as information saved in a digital form that can be accessed from a “remote server” aka the internet (on a computer, phone, etc.)Dictionary.com defines it as… cloud computing nounInternet-based computing in which large groups of remote servers are networked so as to allow sharing of data-processing tasks, centralized data storage, and online access to computer services or resources.
-Easier to navigate and find information …. Most of the applications used in organizing research have features that makes it easy to find information. In some, information can be organized in “sections” or “tabs” that can be created to fit a student’s individual need. In other applications, a search or find function gives students the quick task of typing in a word or phrase to find what they need!-Easier to share with multiple people… When working with paper organization, students would have to “give up” their research while the teacher or peer reviews their work—haulting their progress. Many digital tools will allow multiple users to see the same information, often seeing changes being made in real time! Finished products will be easier to share, too, giving students a more authentic audience. If any question emerge as to plagiarism problems or source information, students will have their research, often in its original form, at their digital fingertips.
Moreover, digital organizational tools supports collaborative learning because students can share their work. Four patrons from the University of Texas researched basic organizational tools and came to this conclusion that can be said about almost every application I will show you today: “Within a collaborative research environment a myriad of challenges present themselves with respect to the storage, organization, sharing, and communication of information within and across groups... Because the tools are web-based, they are portable, i.e., they can be used across platforms and operating systems… Because the tools are open-source, they do not require payment of license fees and they can be partially customized and extended to accommodate new features” (Taufer). This makes it easier for students to use the same applications to contribute their work to the group.
Online applications for calendars, To Do lists, and more can be found online. To have students start with their lives in order will help them to keep their research in order, too! When is the first draft due? Just check online or on your phone.
Google Calendar – great basic calendar that you can load other people’s calendars to yours: want to include the football schedule? Just download Coach Ford’s. Want to know the due dates of your research project? Download Ms. Smith’s calendar. Teachers and students can work hand in hand to combine a personal-life calendar with an educational one! Google Calendars can be used with many blogs, sites, and can be used on many telephones like Blackberry, iphone, Nokia, and Windows (Google Sync). This does require a gmail.com e-mail address.The others are a variety of to-do lists and personal organizers. Hi task (hitask.com) can be found on almost any electronic device (not necessarily as an app). Tadalist.com, a basic “To Do” list management site says that the iphone can access it. Remember the Milk (Rememberthemilk.com) can be used with Google calendar and can be accessed from Blackberry, the Andriod App Store and the iphone app store. Milk is one of the more popular applications to be used for this purpose. This blog entry, “15 Best To Do List Manager to Organize Your Work and Life” by NarendraKeshkarhas these and many more examples listed! Check it out (Keshker)!
To not overwhelm you, I will show you a few tools that can be used. There is a myriad of tools, and we’d be here for a week if I showed just a quarter of them. There are quite a few I will show you here, so please don’t feel overwhelmed—you wouldn’t use them all at once; you’d chose what works best for your needs! Need something different from what you see here – LET ME KNOW and I’ll be happy to help out!
Bookmarking is simply finding a program online that you can access to save all of the links you may ever need. We are used to saving them onto our browser, but when we are using public computers or even ours at home, we can’t move them with us! Online bookmarking applications gives us a place in the cloud to store those sites
Delicious allows you to gather your bookmarks, give them tags and set them in “stacks” (another name for what you would use as a “folder” in your bookmark menu). You can also add an image to help you remember what each link is. You can also publish them and look at other people’s collections. Best of all? You can access it from almost anywhere!
Diigo is more than just bookmarking, though. It is collaborative and allows you to save “notes” when you visit websites. If you buy into it, anyway, you can get Diigo to… “highlight text and attach sticky notes to specific parts of web pages. Diigo highlights and sticky notes are persistent in the sense that whenever you return to the original web page, you will see your highlights and sticky notes superimposed on the original page, just what you would expect if you highlighted or wrote on a book!” You can also make a list of URLS into a slideshow!
Once our students have the sites they will commonly use, how will they take notes on them? Diigo allows notetaking on the actual links. Here are some other ways…
drb.lifestreamcenter.net/E-note.rtfA plain but digital way students can take notes and store citation information is to do so in a word processing software using a form like the one shown. This can be done in an off-line program like WORD or an online application that does the same (you’ll see examples here in a bit). Benefits: The complete source information would be on every “notecard” and would be easy for teachers to check for unintentional plagiarism. Also, if students have computer but no internet access at home, they can still work on their research and composing with only a flashdrive, etc., if the school allows. Downside: There would be many documents without an easy way to sort/organize without printing it out. So let’s go into the cloud… or at least internet applications that will make organization even easier.
FREE! And easy to use. Downloadable, but also easy to keep searchable “notes” and even text within images, save websites, add tags to notes for easy organization, and more. You could use the e-notecard form from the previous slide in the notes for easier organization? Easy save of websites and information with the “clipper” installed. With a payment subscription students can share and let others edit their notebooks, as well as take away ads and things from the sites they visit and more!
Similar to the same basic functions of Evernote, Zoho also brings in other types of formats, including audio and video. The main screen is dashboard like, allowing you to move things around within the open white space. It also connects to word processing, spreadsheets, etc., from Zoho’s other applications.
Even though Zoho notebook has included options for word processing (google it!), there are applications that are strictly for this purpose. These programs are, also for presentations, spreadsheets, and the like. Most of these word processing applications online are FREE and can be used collaboratively. Just know… they often require a sign-up with e-mail address.
https://www.acrobat.com/main/en/pricing.htmlAdobe Acrobat’s Buzzword – Word Processing Tool that allows collaboration with one other person for free—”web conferencing” (more people can join with subscription). Works can be saved as a .pdfIncludes basic composing and creating tables/spreadsheet
GoogleDocs only requires a gmail e-mail and sign in, and you get collaboration tools that you see here! Although basic, these can be universally accessed from online and phones… and are very close to the ever-popular Microsoft Office suite. There are other features, like FORMS, that can be used for first-hand research.
Have a Windows Live account (hotmail)? MOWA allows you to do, as the screen says: access, edit, and share the Microsoft Office programs online in the “Skydrive” or cloud! You can create the documents online, but also edit them on the desktop if you would rather use the full paid-for versions. This is Microsoft’s answer to GoogleDocs! Certain cell-phones can access this information, too
Noodlebib – let’s see one that seems to have all the bells and whistles. This site is NOT free (teacher and students 60/year, but building and district-wide options available), but has options for almost every aspect of organizing research. It allows for project organization (To Do lists, multiple projects), sharing with teacher and others, electronic notecards with annotation and links to original source, search entire project, outline help, helps to create citations for source information, evaluating how diverse source selection is, and pairs up with GoogleDocs to write the paper. FREE tools: http://www.noodletools.com/tools/freetools.phpNoodleBib express … create a few citationsMLA Starter – grades 1-5 basic citationNoodleQuest – finding the best information for your topic. Teacher Resources - Debbie Abilock's award-winning Web projects:21st Century Literacies, The Curriculum Collaboration Toolkit, The Ethical Researcher
Dashboards are one-stop-shops for students to create their personal learning networks – all of the links, websites, RSS feeds, etc [DEFINE RSS FEEDS ETC???]. that they use daily. These organize both their lives and their research. Links can be made to their word processing applications, note-taking applications, and even to the MANY links that lead them to their original sources. It can also be used for students to keep abreast on the newest news on their topics (or general news from around the world).
These three are very similar in style. Netvibes will allow you to add links, webpages, Feeds, widgets, and more in as many tabs as you’d like. Your RSS feeds can also be seen as simply an aggregator of the newest posts instead of in this format seen here.
Protopage, much like Netvibes, has a different default tab setting: including a tab for bookmarks, notes, etc. However, these are all manpuliative.
Of course if you are using gmail, google docs, and Google calendar… you may want to top it all off with igoogle, Google’s dashboard! Again, similar to the first two we saw and customizable.
Symbaloo is, as you can see, different from the previous dashboards. The similar sized tiles will, for some, be more hassle-free when organizing links for personal use or research. It also gives different helpful widgets like free encyclopedia, translator, dictionaries, and more.
There’s a world of information out there. Digital information. And within that world, there are ways to organize it. Just remember – don’t be afraid to ask. Want to know more about what you’ve seen? See me. Want to know how to implement it into your project. Just ask! Want to find an application to do something I didn’t mention. Ask away!