Digital Notebooks for Students

Digital notebooks have been used for several years now but are gaining broader popularity due to their ease of use and access. In a previous post, we looked at OneNote (Microsoft product) as an example of a collaborative low cost planning tool as it is included in the most basic and low cost office suite. It can also be used as a digital student notebook. Students can complete assignments, conduct group activities and collaborate across schools, districts and countries with tools of this nature. The teacher can provide multimedia instruction which can be differentiated and universally designed as well as allowing parents to view the student’s work on a regular basis through a shared link. Microsoft Partners in Learning shares some ideas.  The instructional ideas are endless and only limited by your own creativity. The digital notebook will still need instructional support in learning how to organize and manage it. These are important life skills for students of all abilities. The concept of ePortfolios is another area of increasing interest at all levels. Having students develop and manage their ePortfolios early on and build on them each school year, supports ownership and pride in learning. Here are some other resources (many more out there);

Sparklix –free digital notebook

Digital Notebooks Overview

The lab notebook

Apps as Digital Notebooks

Google Apps

The video looks at the power of tablet PCs including OneNote (other software just as appropriate). This particular modality is unique in the way you can integrate a variety of forms of input and output. With budgets tight everywhere, we need to make wise choices across everything we do.