Tag:

Class Notebook

Go Digital with Cornell Note-Taking and the OneNote App

by Miguel Guhlin September 1, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

Back in September, 2016, I had just begun working with Microsoft OneNote to setup a Cornell Notes type page in OneNote Desktop (a.k.a. OneNote 2016). Since then, Microsoft has made tremendous updates to its free OneNote app on Windows 10. The popular app, which works on iOS, Android, and Mac, has a different way of getting things done. As a result, my earlier guide to Cornell Notes is now a bit dated. To reflect the new OneNote app on Windows 10, I’ve created a whole new guide. Since OneNote 2016 is still in use in many districts, I’m leaving my earlier step-by-step online.

Learn More About Cornell Note-Taking

Image Source: LifeHacker

Don’t know about Cornell note-taking? I know I hadn’t heard about it until I attended AVID training a score of years ago. Here’s a bit of history about it as an approach that’s been around since the 1940s. Wikipedia shares the following:

The Cornell Notes system (also Cornell note-taking system, Cornell method, or Cornell way) is a note-taking system devised in the 1940s by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University. Pauk advocated its use in his best-selling book How to Study in College.

The Cornell method provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes. This system of taking notes is important as a high school or college level student. The student divides the paper into two columns: the note-taking column (usually on the right) is twice the size of the questions/key word column (on the left). The student should leave five to seven lines, or about two inches (5 cm), at the bottom of the page. Learn More

Ready to see the Cornell note-taking template in OneNote? Before I show you that, did you know you can customize pages in OneNote, as well as insert tables to help organize your content?

Customizing Pages in the OneNote App

As wonderful as the OneNote app on Windows 10 is, you won’t find templates like you did in OneNote 2016 (a.k.a. OneNote Desktop). The most you will find is the ability to customize the number of ruled lines on a Page. You can do this under the View menu, as shown in the screenshot below:

Note that you can also change the color of a Page. This is, so far, the sum total of Page customization in the OneNote app. OneNote Desktop/2016 templates are just a feature not (yet) present in the app. That raises the question, how can you create your own templates for students?

Creating Your Own Templates for Students

Creating your own Pages in OneNote is easy. To make your own template, you will need to get comfortable with inserting tables. What’s neat is that you can shade different cells in the table to reflect information.

Need Directions? Want to add a shade of color to an individual table cell? Click in the table cell you want to shade, then go to the Table tab in your OneNote navigation bar. Click on Shading, then pick the color you want the cell to be shaded as.

In the OneNote app, you are able to create a page (or copy and paste) with the format of a Cornell Note-Taking page. To accomplish that, you will need to open an existing notebook with the template, then copy and paste the frame that has the template. Once you have customized the template the way you want, you can use OneNote Class Notebook to distribute that page to all students.

You may choose to place the template(s) in your Class Notebook’s Content Library so that students can copy and paste a blank copy. The video in the next section below will take you step-by-step through the process.

Get a Cornell Note-Taking Template or Two

To get you started, I’ve placed a completely editable OneNote notebook with Cornell note-taking templates online for your use. You can navigate to this notebook, then copy and paste the frame of the page from my pages to your OneNote Notebook. Here’s a video that models the process:

That’s pretty much all there is to it! Have questions? Don’t hesitate to leave them as a comment below and I’ll get back to you with an answer.

Did You Know?

Want to share a OneNote notebook with others? Marjolein Hoekstra (@OneNoteC) says “It’s no longer necessary to give people edit rights to a notebook. Place the notebook on OneDrive.live.com (using a free Microsoft account). Follow these steps:

Share the READ ONLY link to the notebook

Sign in with a personal Microsoft account. This will make a button available labeled “Open in OneNote”

Once the notebook is open on the OneNote app, they can copy the Cornell template pages to their own notebook

This approach will NOT work with Office 365 accounts.

September 1, 2018 0 comment

Enhancing Parental Access with OneNote Class Notebook

by Miguel Guhlin May 21, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

On April 19, 2017, Microsoft made an announcement that a lot of classroom teachers had been eagerly awaiting. Microsoft announced that teachers can now get read-only links to various aspects of the OneNote Class Notebook Content Library, as well as individual student notebooks. This is a much anticipated feature since it facilitates parent/guardian access to student work. If this were the only new feature add-on for Class Notebook, that would be enough. However, Microsoft also released three additional enhancements to a product teachers and students use every day.

OneNote Class Notebooks have a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts, and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities (source). Get the OneNote Class Notebook add-in for OneNote desktop (2013 or 2016). It is designed to help teachers save time and be even more efficient with their Class Notebooks. The add-in includes page and section distribution, quick review of student work, and assignment and grading integration with many Learning Management Systems LMSs). No integration with Microsoft Teams, which takes the place of Microsoft Classroom, is available yet.

About Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content, and apps together in one place. Educators can create collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and communicate with school staff all from a single experience in Office 365 for Education. Find out more

Feature #1: Delete Student Content from OneNote

Teachers sometimes need to remove a student and that student’s content. Using the Manage Notebook web interface, teachers can now remove a student and then select a check box to also delete that student’s content. Here is a screenshot illustrating the feature:
OneNote

Feature #2: Permissions in the Collaboration Space

As mentioned earlier, the OneNote Class Notebook Collaboration Space serves as a common area for students to work together online. The teacher can divide students up into various groups, facilitating project-based learning (PBL) and collaboration. The new Class Notebook enhancement makes it easier for teachers to allocate student permissions for each section. The benefit is that the teacher can decide whether or not students in one group can see or interact with content in another group’s section. This makes it easy for a group of students to co-create projects and then. when appropriate, that content can be viewed by other students.

Feature #3: Extending Learning Management System Support

Microsoft has continued to expand support for third-party learning management systems, student information systems (SISs), and parent portals. This expanded support comes after an announcement earlier in the year . That announcement focused on richer grade scales, including custom points, letter grades, and pass/fail percentages supported by Canvas and Skooler, two learning management systems. Connecting your LMS/SIS has never been easier.

Kudos to Microsoft’s Commitment

I applaud Microsoft for adding these critical enhancements for educators using OneNote Class Notebook in Office 365 districts. These enhancements affirm Microsoft’s commitment to listening and implementing changes teachers that recommend.

One desired enhancement, relevant to Microsoft Classroom (now, Microsoft Teams since Classroom will be sunset July 31, 2017), I have heard from teachers is the inclusion of a “lite” gradebook. Another is easy embedding of straight MP3 audio files into OneNote pages that results in an embedded player. What enhancements would you request from Microsoft to make teaching and learning easier?

May 21, 2017 0 comment

iOS Tips and Tricks Microsoft Tips and Tricks

Improved Teaching with Microsoft

by Miguel Guhlin January 19, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

“We sure wish Class Notebook worked in OneNote Online,” several teachers remarked to me at a Fall Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) session. Microsoft was listening. On January 18, 2017, Microsoft improved teaching and learning with OneNote! These new features expand integration for OneNote’s most popular add-ins, Class Notebook and Learning Tools.

Big Announcements

Today, in the announcement, Microsoft shared their two popular add-ins are now available for OneNote Online, as well as OneNote for Windows 10 (the free version that comes installed with Windows 10). Some additional enhancements were also covered.

OneNote Enhancements

You already knew that YouTube, Vimeo, Slideshare, Sway, Docs.com, MS Forms, and Office Mix could be embedded into a OneNote page for easy student access. As of today, you can also embed Quizlet, ThingLink, GeoGebra, Wizer and Sketchfab 3D! Check out Marjolein Hoekstra’s (@OneNoteC) example OneNote Notebook (as well as her demo of Padlet embedding!). OneNote has also been enhanced to include stickers for student feedback. These stickers won’t peel off!

improved

Class Notebook

For teachers, Class Notebook for OneNote Online and OneNote for Windows 10 means easier distribution of content to all students in a class. It also empowers teachers to review student work sequentially (click and grade your way through a class roster with ease). This is phenomenal since it adds class management functionality the online and app versions of OneNote 2016 (the cadillac version). These features are rolling out on January 18 for OneNote Online. A new version of the Win 10 OneNote app will allow you to enable the feature via the settings in the Options menu.

Learning Tools

Learning Tools, which provides access to the Immersive Reader, dictation, and more, has now been expanded. It works on Word Desktop, Word Online, OneNote Online and Office Lens for the iPhone. A great dictation feature translates you when you say “period” or “question mark” and inserts respective “.” or “?” inline. Other new features include six new languages, as well as the addition of three dictation languages.

Office Lens Adds Immersive Reader

Image Source: Microsoft Blog

You may have missed the message that Office Lens for iPad and iPhone now includes Immersive Reader, which “lets you hear text from a scanned page read back to you as words are highlighted,” functionality. This is an incredible addition!

Microsoftastic Updates!

Thanks to Microsoft for modeling continuous improvement, listening to teachers AND students, and implementing these changes.

January 19, 2017 0 comment

Microsoft Tips and Tricks Podcasts

Exploring Microsoft Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin August 25, 2016

written by Miguel Guhlin

“How can I connect OneNote Class Notebook assignments to Microsoft Classroom Assignment grades?” What a fantastic question to have pop up in the no-cost TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) session I facilitated in Wichita Falls, Texas earlier this summer. In this blog entry, I am going to recap some of the conversations and provide responses to the questions that popped up during the session

Microsoft Classroom has many features and benefits, bringing the full force of Office 365 suite (including online versions of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, as well as Outlook, Group Conversations, and, the jewel in the crown of Microsoft’s education offerings, OneNote Online), as well as the installable, full-blown versions of these products.

Selecting Your Tool

In the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) one-day Teacher Academy, one of the points that is shared is the importance of students being able to select their own tools as appropriate for the job. This, for me, goes to the heart of what it means to be a learner, an artisan, a craftsman at work. You have to learn enough to know what technologies can be used to create the effect you are seeking when communicating, collaborating, and problem-solving with others. Microsoft, like its competitors Apple and Google, brings a wealth of tools to the table. Those tools include the following:

Microsoft Classroom – This provides a virtual space, a classroom where interactions with students can begin and be managed. It is accessible online to students and staff in a school district domain (although I’ve made the suggestion to Microsoft that they make it so that anyone external to a domain can be a part of it, so that those engaging in professional development can access content as part of a class). You can get to it online here. Some possible uses include:

Assignments can be set and students can submit work created in Word on their computer or the Word Online version and then share a link back with the teacher.
Assignments can be “turned in” by students, then graded by the teacher, who simply has to access each student’s assignment in one place and then add notes and a grade.
All assignments end up in the Classroom Outlook calendar, which is a component of the MS Classroom.

MS Classroom has several components “baked into it,” including:

Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook – This provides access to the premier Classroom resources for staff and students. It can serve a variety of purposes, such as a jointly-managed ePortfolio for student work, a way to disseminate assignments created in Classroom, as well as any handouts (a.k.a. Content Library) materials created by the teacher that the students can copy to their own section. This student section is specific to each student and only the student and teacher have access. Furthermore, Class Notebook features a Collaboration space where students can work together on documents and whiteboards.

But wait, there’s even more greatness! In addition to all of this interactivity, students can access OneNote Class Notebook on any device, although the MS Surface and iPad versions allow for interactivity and digital ink possibilities. If you’re not familiar with digital ink, this means you can actually write on any document you have rights to in the Class Notebook. Consider these scenarios:

Students can use a Cornell Notes Planner and fill it out.
The teacher can share a copy of a PDF or document (e.g. quiz, graphic organizer) and students can fill it out by hand using a stylus and tablet.
The teacher can snap a picture of a form or insert a PDF version as a print-out of a document, then share it out to students for completion. Also, students can do the creating for peers and their lead learner, the classroom teacher.
As a teacher, you can create and grade assignments (wow!) from within OneNote Class Notebook that get sent (or synchronized) to your connected Learning Management System (LMS), such as Microsoft Classroom. Make a change in MS Classroom assignment for a grade, and it gets adjusted in the Class Notebook.
Participants at TCEA MIE Teacher Academy in Wichita Falls, Texas. Sign up at an upcoming session near you!

Online versions of the Office Suite – This includes a variety of tools, such as Word Online, PowerPoint Online, and Excel Online.

Microsoft Office Mix – This turns on many great features for both students and educators alike, enabling them to add audio, video, screencasting (great for flipped classrooms!), and more into interactive elements.
Microsoft Snip – Quickly capture images of your device (a.k.a. screenshots) and then annotate them with audio, highlighting, and text.

To see MS Classroom and OneNote Class Notebook in action, check out these videos for a walkthrough.

Microsoft Classroom Videos

Setup and explore the MS Classroom environment. In this quick 10-13 minute video, we explore Microsoft Classroom and set up a classroom from scratch.
MS Classroom Big Picture View. In this video, explore MS Classroom and its various aspects. We take a quick look at Assignments and Calendar. We’ll begin exploring Class Notebook and how it interfaces with MS Classroom.
MS Classroom and Setup of OneNote Class Notebook. Setting up OneNote Class Notebook. Continued exploration of MS Classroom, Conversation, File space, and more. We also discuss the different OneNotes that exist, including OneNote Online, OneNote 2016, and the free app, OneNote.
MS Classroom and Connecting OneNote ClassNotebook. In this, we look at Class Notebook in more detail, including how to connect your Class Notebook on OneNote 2016 to your MS Classroom Learning Management System (LMS) (as well as others). That way, when you record grades in Class Notebook, they are reflected in your MS Classroom Assignments area, and vice versa!
Adjusting Grades in OneNote Class Notebook and seeing changes reflected in MS Classroom

Be sure to stay tuned for even more video walkthroughs!

Image Credit: Tweet by Katharine Gordon (@kpaigegordon)

August 25, 2016 1 comment