With so much emphasis on 21st century teaching and Integrating Technology in Classroom, the resources and tools teacher uses in their classroom has a great impact of how they shape learning for their students.

So what makes interactive notebooks a hot topic in educating students! How learners can benefit from using it! And teachers can use this tool to make learning student-driven!

The existence of interactive notebooks is nothing new for the educational industry. In fact, these spiral bound notebooks have been here now for quite some time! – An effective tool for engagement, evoke creativity, and encourage critical thinking. Interactive Notebooks works beyond simple notes making, it helps students organize, manipulate and synthesize information.

Traditionally, there are two sides to this notebook, the left side is for creative thinking, and the right side is used for objective materials for the same topic. And there is a Table of Content (TOC) in the beginning. While Integrating Technology in Classroom Interactive Notebooks can be digitalized and used for the same purpose. Also, when interactive notebooks can be used in digital form, it helps to reduce clutter from the classroom and makes the learning space easily maintainable.

Benefits of using Digital Interactive Notebooks –

  • Eliminates bulk use of paper
  • Students can work and edit their files any time
  • Technology can be incorporated seamlessly
  • Improves learners writing skills
  • Boosts students engagement with active involvement
     


How Interactive Notebook Is Apt For 21st Century Teaching And Learning!

Develops Organization Skills

Simply to put, interactive notebooks are designed to teach organization, students can use this tool to gather, build and structurize information in a way that makes sense to them. This whole process requires students to use multiple senses that make them think, evaluate and scrutinize the use of the left side and right side of the interactive notebook. It allows students to naturally organize their thoughts – thus, develops a sense of organization.

Accommodates Multiple Learning Styles

Interactive notebooks are the centerpiece for individual growth. Each student has their own format of interactive notebooks be it in physical form or digital version. It helps students to build their own understanding of their own learning styles. Whether you work with the entire classroom or in a small group, students' output activities allow each student use their unique ability to showcase their own understanding of the subject matter. An interactive notebook perhaps is a great tool to facilitate student-centered learning.

Promotes Autonomy

Alongside reflecting student’s growth in the most prominent way, interactive notebooks provide a wider scope for students to take ownership of their learning. When students are given the freedom of using this tool to use their imagination and creativity in making their files it allows them to personalize their interactive notebook. It also diversifies the whole learning process and evokes independent thinkers within them.

Top Ideas To Dig The Best Out Of Digital Interactive Notebooks

  • Use interactive notebooks in conjunction with your lessons. It can help expand both individual learnings as well as group learning more efficiently.
  • Build the notebook as you go, instead of giving the entire version of it at once for the year.
  • Incorporate the use of apps your students enjoy learning with as one of the hyperlinked activities.
  • Encourage collaborative study between students; pair them up with one another to access specific activities. It can create a window for peer evaluation and discussion.
  • You can also use interactive notebooks for grading them, not just composing lessons. Evaluate student's progress periodically and keep track of each student’s growth over time.

The digital interactive notebooks are one of the great resources of 21st century, with their effective use in the learning environment it can certainly prove to be the modern pedagogical strategy for teachers to use their teaching skills in more innovative ways. Since it is a collection of students learning and activities, Integrating Technology in Classroom with interactive notebooks can very much work as a student's guide for test and assessment purposes. With this learners can easily recall what they have done previously and reflect on the knowledge. – Both innovation and digital learning can be put together with Interactive notebooks.

 


Written By : Soma Adhikari