Last school year I used digital notebooks with my 6th grade science students in place of traditional science notebooks, and I’ve received a lot of interest and questions from teachers out there who want to know more about how to set them up. I posted last summer about the basics of setting up digital notebooks, but one of my readers (thanks Belinda!) made a great suggestion to create some videos that could walk people through the process. So my new summer project is making a series of short tutorials that will explain both the nitty gritty details of setting them up and also show off some of the advantages over paper notebooks. Hopefully this will enable anyone out there- tech savvy or not- to give digital notebooks a try!
The first video in the series focuses on the “pages” of a digital notebook, which create using Google Docs. For those unfamiliar with Google Drive and Google Docs I explain some of the advantages, and then I demonstrate how you can use them to replace paper notebooks and paper handouts in your classroom.
If there’s anyone else out there using digital notebooks or considering going paperless, please join in the conversation! Despite the fact that our students are now “digital natives” and the technology available is more than capable of replacing paper, I have found very few resources out there about digital notebooks, and I would love to hear new ideas.
Thank you!
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I feel like I have scoured the interned for information about setting up digital science notebooks. Based on my searches, it would appear that you are the only person in the entire world doing this!
Your information is great. I am also a 6th grade science teacher, and I have my students create science notebooks religiously. Next year, I would like to have all our science notebooks be digital. I am looking to set things up now so I’m not figuring things out as I go along next year. Your blog and instructions are outstanding. Keep it coming!
Hi Ryan,
Thanks! I’m discovering more and more people like yourself who are trying out digital science notebooks, so our numbers our certainly growing! But we need more people sharing their stories (good or bad)- so please consider blogging yourself! We just had our first week of school, so I’m a bit swamped at the moment, but I promise to start blogging again soon. 🙂 -Nick
Good morning…. LOVE, love, love that you are sharing all of this new tech applications in the classroom with us! Thank you!! My question: I associated my “new stickers images” on the home page with your template “Unit” titles, i.e. chemistry, ecology..etc.. so that I would not have to recreate the subpages, I.e. “class stuff…x3” b/c I couldn’t figure out how to reconfigure this framework you’ve already designed. Can I now change the url name on the framework sites page so “chemistry” or “scientific inquiry” is no longer associated with my “weather and climate” and “forces and motion”?
Hi Jennifer, good idea to save time! But all you need to do to make new pages is use the template pages I’ve already created that should pop up as an option when you make a new page. I’m not sure if changing the url will break the link or not- give it a try- but the actual url won’t matter that much. Under page settings you can show the title and then change it in editing mode, which won’t break the links. Let me know if that makes sense!
Thank you – I’m teaching 5th and 6th grade science – this is perfect and I’m hoping to implement it this year! How long does it take to set this up? Or did you do it as you go?
Great video! I learned a lot!
I really appreciate the info. I am also trying to go digital
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I attempted to watch your tutorial, but the music was so loud and intrusive I could hardly hear what you were saying. Please consider removing the music from the video. Thanks!