Digital Notetaking

Notetaking is one of the most dreadful tasks that high school students can conjure up in their minds.  Never having learned or been taught how to take proper notes, it was a bit of a guessing game when I first starting having to record what my teachers presented in class, commencing around grade 7.  It was one of those things that you were expected to learn through osmosis, similar to how I recall learning how to read. There wasn't an explicit way I was taught- I seemed to pull those skills out of thin air.
Jennifer Hart and Allison Papke, doctoral candidates at the University of South Florida, presented some practical strategies that students can use to take a proper set of notes on the second day of the Florida Educational Technology Conference.  One of the first strategies presented in their Get Caught Passing Notes presentation, was using the Cornell Note-taking system, which has students structure their notes using a graphic organizer.  Check out this helpful video here, which clearly outlines the process.  As participants, we were given an article and asked to go through the process of summarizing the article using this outline.  I found it incredibly useful and wished I had heard of this technique years ago.  Jennifer and Alison suggested that this technique be presented to all students, taking the time to go through and model each step of the process.  You can copy and use the template that was shared with participants here.
What I enjoyed most about the session other than the above mentioned tool, was the fact that the presenters discussed tech tools I had never heard about.  One of them was Canva, which allows users to create a infographic using pictures and text.  It was pretty user-friendly and new to me.  An easy way to cite references is to use citelighter, which, if you are a regular user of Google Chrome, can also be added as an app to your browser.  Simply highlight text from an online article and the app will cite a reference in APA, MLA, or Chicago format.  Jennifer and Alison presented  few other amazing tech tools, including my favourite, Evernote. This comes in both a web based and app form.  If you haven't heard of any of these technology tools, then I would highly suggest checking out these great apps that can be used to assist students at the middle and senior years level.

Google Chrome

I received an email this morning from TCEA, a technology education and development organization that offers great conferences and workshops in Texas.  Now that Google Chrome has been added to our school division's image, it is time to start exploring this as a great accessibility tool for students that need additional support.  Here is just one of the many extensions and apps that can be added to the Google Chrome browser.  Have a read through these 'tech notes' for further information about Read and Write.

Notable App

I love when I get emails from tech organizations like TCEA in Texas that send me information about an online application to which I haven't previously been introduced.  Today, I browsed my inbox and discovered the notable app.  If you are thinking about having your students blog, or if they have already created a blog, you will definitely want to check out this website.

Basically, the tool at www.notableapp.com allows you to annotate on screenshots of webpages.  You plyg in a URL, the app takes a screenshot of the page on which you are looking to comment. You can add your own written comments and then email the annotated version of your screenshot to the person of your choosing.  You can literally annotate on any webpage. If you have flipped your classroom, this would be an excellent tool for you to have students use.  As an educator, you could list instructions or pose questions for students to respond to right on the screenshot of a particular webpage. This would allow for pre-reading at home, branching into a discussion in class the next day. There is also connectivity to your Google Chrome browser as you can add this as an extension. I immediately envisioned using the notable app for giving feedback on student-created blogs.  If you have students documenting their work or their learning journey through a particular project on a blog, you could provide descriptive feedback or pose thought-provoking questions for your students to consider about their writing. (Consider a hosted blog site such as kidblog.)  Your feedback can be emailed for students to read. I'm going to explore this app further for some additional possibilities and update this post with some more options for using the notable app. If you'd like to learn about some possibilities for blogging with your students, please have a look at this blog post!

Accessibility Options through Google Chrome

At the Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis, Paul Hamilton from SET B.C. presented a plethora of online resources for little to no cost. The title of the session was "Free and Low Cost Technology" and it was worth the conference costs to participate in the session. One of the main focuses of the presentation was the apps and extensions that are available through Google Chrome.  Some of the online software available on particular websites was only available through the Google Chrome browser.  I'd like to go through and highlight some of the ones that I think our divisional SST can implement effectively and easily with many students. I'll add more as I go. Remember: any of the material I'll discuss in this post is available only through the Google Chrome browser and is PC friendly- MAC, I'm not so sure.  

• I'd like to start with Talk Typer.  This online software is a dictation software that will display spoken words in text form.  It works similarly to the Dragon Dictation software. I tested the software using my SST assigned laptop and the accuracy of the software was very good.  I envision this software being paired with SOLO.  The user can have questions read aloud in SOLO 6's Write:OutLoud program, dictate their responses into the Talk Typer software and then cut and paste into the Write:OutLoud document to complete a written task.  Students who have strong oral communication skills, but lack the ability to create written work will benefit greatly from this software.
• Another great app offered through Google Chrome is SpeakIt. This app is available through the Google Chrome store for free. SpeakIt allows the user to highlight the online text they would like to have read to them, hit the speaker icon on the top right hand side of the browser, and hear the text read aloud.  This works very well with the next app I'm going to mention.
• Google Dictionary.  If you love the ability to define text on the fly with the iPad by clicking on a particular word and selecting 'define', then you'll enjoy the Google Dictionary just as much.  This app is available in the Chrome store and will appear in the upper right hand side of your toolbar should you choose to download it.  Highlight a word you would like defined for you, select the dictionary icon, and a definition of the word will appear in a window.  Highlight the text within the box and use SpeakIt to have the definition spoken.

There are many other apps that could be used to support students' learning in the classroom.  These are a start, I make mention of a few more in posts to come!

Readability and Evernote Clearly

If you are like me and would rather not be distracted by adds and irrelevant information while perusing a website, then Evernote Clearly and Readability are two options that will make gleaning information from websites a little more pleasant for the average individual and a whole lot more accessible for the student struggling with ADHD or reading difficulties.  These two applications are both available through Google Chrome- Readability is also offered as an app for the iPad.  These applications de-clutter websites and open the text you are actually interested in reading in a new, clearly formatted page, without the distractions.  The option of highlighting or printing the page is offered, allowing the student some flexibility with the newly created page.
Readability is offered as an app in the App Store, but it can also be accessed through the Google Chrome Store.  The iPad app provides directions on how to create a bookmark that automatically alters webpages that you are currently viewing into a more readable format.  This reminds me of pinning favourite webpages into your Pinterest account, in that there is a special bookmark to complete the task of 'pinning' a webpage. The Readability bookmark sweeps all the unnecessary content off the page.  Pinterest is a whole other post in itself.  If you don't have an account, you are missing out on a great resource.  Most evenings I end up browsing technology pins instead of reading Tolstoy. 'Tis the nature of a TILT.

Google Chrome

If you've never heard of Google Chrome, it will change your perception of internet accessibility as you now know it. Well, at least I think it will be that earth-moving!
Google Chrome is a browser that has wonderful extensions which greatly increase the accessibility options for anyone looking to customize their internet experience or anyone who needs additional supports built into the web browser.  Here are the steps required to get Google Chrome set up on your computer:
1- Open a Google account.  Go to www.google.com, look at the options at the top of your window and select gmail. Follow the steps to create a gmail account.
2- In your current web browser, search Google Chrome.

3- Download the software by clicking on the red, green, and yellow icon on the right side of the window and follow the steps to download.
4- Once you have downloaded Google Chrome, you will see it appear as a 'neighbour' to Internet Explorer on the bottom menu.
There are several apps that you can browse and upload the suitable applications that fit your needs or those of your students.  You can explore and browse the apps here.

Please note: Google Chrome has a portable app that can be uploaded to a memory stick and used by students who require the accessibility options that Google Chrome offers.  This is an easy way to use the features that Google Chrome offers without downloading it onto a computer! This can be accessed through a download at the website: www.portableapps.com

Please see my next post for excellent accessible options for PC!