EasyBib Notetaking

As teachers, we have to prepare our students for the digital world and that includes reading on-line documents and taking notes. Many of the students do not organize their notes and admitted they wrote notes on paper and then scrunched the pages into their backpacks.I introduced EasyBib online note taking to 10th grade students as a tool they could use into adulthood. Below we see notes in graphic form on the left, and in outline form on the right.

Notes from a classOne bonus of using EasyBib for note taking is that you can reference each note, and connect it to the bibliography that has been established in the project. You can organize your notes by color, tags, and group and ungroup them. Once you have decided on groups, you can slide the groups to the right hand sidebar and create an outline. If you do not like the outline, you can move and edit the outline as well as the note blocks. It also presents another way to mind-map.

Teaching students to use the EasyBib notetaking tool had a direct effect on their study habits, organization and learning.

Lesson Plan

Click to see Winter Sports Noteboard. A class created this based on watching three different skating videos: speed skating, ice skating pairs dancing, and hockey.

Ann Garland's portfolios

3. Digital Graphics and Media

Glogster project on Italian cooking

4. Project-Based Learning

PBL using Web 2.0 strategies

5. Digital Study Skills

EasyBib for 21st century notetaking and bibliographic skills.

6. Project Rubrics

A sample of my rubrics for student projects

7. My Research

Presented at the NorthEastern Educational Association's Conference, Oct 2012.

8. My Resources

My Twitter, Livebinders, RSS feed, Diigo, and Blog from student teaching.

9. Résumé

Skills, education, and work experience

MPA Capstone

Masters of Public Administration Strategic Plan
11 portfolios

Student handout

This is what guided the students in the lesson

Handout

Note Taking Rubric

Reflections

I taught this lesson ten times. Each time it was different but around the fourth time, I think I got the elements and timing right. In the first class I only used the notes (alpha, numeric and a mix), and showed the students how to group them, but it didn't engage the students. In the second class I added one video but there wasn't enough material. In the third class I added another video and an article but the article did engage the students. In the fourth class I had my three videos in place (speed skating, pairs dancing, and hockey) and then depending on the individual class, kept the same strategy, but modified the timing, writing on the board, completing all the notes etc. In the end it was very effective and showed the students a new way to mind map and take notes.