NoodleTools: A Teaching Tool

Julie S. Baun

Librarian

DuBois Area Middle School

August 28, 2009

Inventions That Have Changed The Classroom

Books

TV

Internet

“THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING”

Today’s student approaches all aspects of learning differently

because of technology

Technology Is So Much More Than Microsoft Office

• Tagging• Social Networking• RSS• Information Management• Global Partnerships• Blogs • Skype• Wikis• Google Docs• NoodleTools

New Media Consortium (NMC) has come out with an annual report on emerging

technologies in a K-12 version.

Identifies and describes six emerging technologies that will have a huge

impact on k-12 education within the next 1-5 years.

 1 Year Or LessCollaborative Environments Online Communication Tools

Collaborative EnvironmentsVoicethread – allows users to collect multiple voices and fosters teamwork and critical thinking skills

Online Communication ToolsTwitter, Skype, Edmodo - make it easy for students to move past the classroom walls and connect with their peers locally and around the world

2-3 YearsMobile Devices

Cloud Computing

Mobile DevicesIPods, Smart Phones - record audio, video, store information, access the web (function like laptops)

Cloud ComputingFlickr, Google Docs, NoodleTools - complete tasks via a web browser while the software and files reside in the cloud.

4-5 YearsSmart Objects

The Personal Web

Smart ObjectsClassroom Responders - connects the physical world with the world of information

Personal WebRSS Feeds - collection of technologies that confer the ability to recognize, configure, and manage online content rather than just viewing it and builds according to personal needs and interests.

Cloud Computing

• General term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet

• Network and all the resources available on it

• User taps into the “cloud” for his or her computing needs

Characteristics That Distinguish Cloud Computing From The

Traditional Approach

• It Is Elastic – You Use What You Need

• The Service Is Managed By The Provider – Saves The District Money

• Experience for the end user is superior

What Is NoodleTools?

Citation And Note Taking Software• MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian

– All formats (blogs, wikis…)• Links sources, notes and outline• Extensive help, always up-to-date

– Pop-up explanations– Searchable Knowledge Base– Expert answers in 24 hrs

Why NoodleTools?

Promotes an ethical academic climate• Teach (rather than police) ethical behavior

– Safeguard against accidental plagiarism• Builds a common process and consistent attribution

throughout the grades• Ease of use encourages student buy-in

I have used it with 5th-8th graders and I find that students are actually willing to consult more than the minimum number of sources because they know they will have help creating the proper citations. This encourages curiosity and intellectual engagement. Our English, History and Science teachers love NoodleBib and they are using it for their own research.

- Constance Vidor, Middle School Library Media Specialist

Why NoodleTools?

• Because paper notes– Get lost

– Get out of order

– May not have correct citations

– Discourage students• “I hate note cards”

Student Learning

• Helps students identify sources– Journal vs. magazine– Subscription database vs. open Web

• Tips for each element (with examples)• Scaffolds reading comprehension• Coaches paraphrasing• Prompts for original thinking• Answers students’ at-home questions

Teacher’s View

Sensible Online Teaching Space• Organizes teacher’s class lists• Integrated assessment tools

– Monitor ongoing student work– Add feedback to notes and sources– Capture evidence for evaluation– Collaborative assessment option

A Window On Students’ Thinking

• You Can See If The Student Has:– selected quality, relevant sources – included an appropriate range of sources– identified key points in the author’s quote– grasped the author’s meaning– taken relevant notes– used your feedback to improve– seen alternative ways to organize information– asked thoughtful questions

Three-step Notetaking Process

1. The student captures the author’s words/images– Acts as a check on plagiarism– Links quotes and sources

• Say good-by to “I can’t remember where I got that” or “I need that quote about…”

– Uses colors and highlighting to understand the author’s words• By interacting with their notes, students

understand them better

Reading Comprehension:Analysis And Synthesis

2. Next the student paraphrases the author’s words – Easy to see the annotated cut-and-paste– Adds tags to identify and analyze information

• Word tags enable searching and grouping by important terms, names and key ideas

• Color tags encourage student-defined sorting (e.g. red=problems, green=solutions, etc.)

• Visual icons remind student to follow-up(e.g., “incomplete,” “important,” “need help”)

Prompts For Original Thinking

3. “My Ideas” is the student’s thinking space– Encourages analysis and reflection

• How does this fit with what you know?– Promotes questioning

• What questions do you have?• What don’t you understand?

– Supports planning• “What’s next” approach instead of “all done”• Creates “to do” list

Organize And Outline

Students Can Process Notes In Multiple Ways• Order and reorder notes into piles

– Experiment with tentative subtopics• Attach multiple tags to a note card

– Label important details, themes, concepts• Search notes - by one tag, by combinations

– Investigate new ways to order information– Encourages flexible thinking

Teaches Students To Self-evaluate

Scaffolds Self-directed Independence– Software automates punctuation

• Student scrutinizes source field-by-field– Software highlights possible errors

• Student make decisions about corrections– Software displays data about sources

• Student evaluates quantity, variety and currency

NoodleToolsA Teaching Tool

Questions?

For more teaching ideas: support [at] noodletools [dot] com