In the past few weeks as I have been forced to learn about blogs, tweets, and apps, I've been surprised at how much fun I'm having, but I am also a bit frustrated that it has taken me so long to get started. I'd like to blame it on my kids since, whenever I've asked them if they thought I should have a Twitter account, they laugh at me in bewilderment and say, "why would you want to do that?" So, though I was familiar with the popularity of blogging and tweeting, it was not part of my routine. Regardless, I dutifully opened up a Twitter account and started learning. Using Twitter has unleashed a new wave of information overload at my doorstep and now I'm learning how to navigate (some of) it.
In addition to all the links, blogs, and posts I have found using Twitter, I have also been reviewing the websites and and apps recommended by AASL (American Association of School Librarians)--AASL Best Websites for Teaching & Learning 2013, AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2013, to learn about various technology tools that might be pertinent to our upcoming class presentation. Through perusing the links on these lists, I discovered a good organizational tool--Evernote. It's an organizational mapping tool that helps you make sense of all the information you find while researching a paper or brainstorming a project. As you find relevant information--notes, websites, blog posts, links, articles, images, audio, video, you can save them into folders. Tags can be assigned to each piece of information filed into a notebook which makes later retrieval much easier. The clutter and confusion of the research process is removed. All the information is in one place and it can be accessed at any time from any device. Though I am still learning all the ins and outs of this tool, it's been helping me to make sense of all the information I have gathered for this class.
Evernote is a tool that helps students meet the AASL Standards for the 21st century Learner: as the student finds, selects, and saves pertinent information, they are learning the essentials of Standard 1: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge. In implementing the research process--selecting files for folders, reflecting on the information retrieved, and assigning keywords for tags, students are learning Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. Students are often assigned to work on group projects in which they must learn to collaborate with other members of their group, and Evernote is a tool which makes collaboration and sharing of files easy. Collaboration and sharing of information helps students meet Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society: Evernote is not only a good organizational, curating, and research tool--that is--"educational" but a site that can be used to organize your own personal interests--"fun stuff"--that you find as you read and discover. This appeal and ease of use across the learning spectrum meets Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
We learned from our textbook, Meaningful Learning with Technology, that learning is meaningful when it is active, reflective, intentional, authentic, and cooperative. Evernote is a tool that if used as intended, will meet all of these criteria; it is a tool that gives students the opportunity to "learn with the technology, not from it" (Howland, 2012, p. 5).
Since I am a newbie using this tool, you might wonder if someone more credible than I am has endorsed it? Well, yes, Evernote was reviewed favorably by Alexandra Samuel in the Harvard Business Review Blog (12-18-12) as one of the better digital note taking tools available. It's a creative digital tool because it makes it easier to capture your brainstorming, get organized, stay focused, and collaborate with your colleagues. Likewise, Edutopia included Evernote in its recent list of creative apps which would support creative thinking--Creativity on the Run: 18 Apps that Support the Creative Process. Digital journals help us to tap into our creative side by making it easier to remember and archive our creative "aha" moments, and then sharing these discoveries with our colleagues.
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