Forum Discussion
How Do You Organize your Class Notebooks?
We haven't started using it yet, however I am piloting for my school. We have used It's Learning for years, but I am hoping to replace ITL when we now launch Office365 for all the schools in our municipality.
In ITL we have organized rooms according to grades. So we have a room that is used for messages, and changes we need to make the kids aware of. When it comes to the subjects wh have organized them so that all the teachers that are, like me, teaching year 8, Norwegian, have acces to this area. All the pupils in the year level also have access.
My principal asked me if this is a good structure when starting to use Class Notebooks, and I am not so sure it is. I think I would prefer to have a book, let's call it Norwegian 8-1, for my 8-1 group, and then another one for my 8-3 group. However, we share a lot of information, links etc. with all of the groups - and I guess by doing one book, per subject and class we have to post information several places, and all the teachers have to do so? Could we do a year 8 Norwegian book, but select pupils and divide them in to groups within this book, and give acces to the teachers in each class? I am thinking that it will be a lot to manage if I get acces to 100 pupils and their folders, as I would with this set up?
With one book per group (class), and subject, there will be a lot of books to manage. Most teachers here in Norway teach more than one subject, and more than one group in each of the subjects they are teaching. I guess we just need to try out, and see what works for us, in our organisation, but I would really like to get some input on how you all organize this at your schools. Have you stopped using Fronter/ITL (or similar tools), or are you currently using both? And how does that work?
Not sure I made any sence, but hopfully you got the gist of it, and understood what I am asking about.
Seline
2 Replies
Seline Kopperud Sørensen it is a very good question and I'm not sure if there is one correct answer. We have not fully implemented Class Notebooks but I have given it some thought and I have also created some Class Notebooks. Perhaps others with more experience will weigh in.
There are two approaches to what you want to achieve:
- Using Class Notebooks and
- Using Microsoft Classroom
A Class Notebook is the simplest implementation and is only based on OneNote. Microsoft Classroom is a broader implementation which uses a Class Notebook but also includes other elements such as a calendar, shared discussions in an email group, a shared file storage space and assignments. A learner will see all the classes to which he/she belongs and can access those resources. A teacher will also see all his/her classes etc.
A class is basically a group - so one can also create a broader class (think group) to which the other classes belong. You could draw a Venn diagram to illustrate this. You would then have Norwegian 8 as a "class" to which all the learners and all the teachers belong. At the same time you can have 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3 classes to which only those who are relevant belong. That which is common could be placed in the Norwegian 8 class space and that which only relates to a specific class, in those class spaces. This setup would provide you with the most options. Learners (and teachers) would have to be aware of which space they are in. (They would see two "classes" for Norwegian: Norwegian 8 and Norwegian 8-1 (or 8-2 etc.)
A similar organisation could also be created with Class Notebooks only. You would have to set up a Class Notebook for each grouping that you want. AFAIK Libraries can be shared/synced between Class Notebooks, but I haven't used that feature yet.
Thank you, Marius Pretorius. Since I just recently was asked to do this, I haven't been able to get a complete overview of the different programs and opportunities they give.
I just recived an email this morgning, saying that they want me to pilot the Classroom, and your response is clearifying. I now know that I will be able to isolate my pupils within a year 8 Norwegian group, and I belive that is where we need to start.
I am exited to get started, however somewhat apprehensive due to access to computers, or the lack of access...We don't, at this point, have a computer for all students at any given time. We have enough to serve half a year level, but there is a strict booking system. I belive that we, in order to fully implement this, need to get enough computers to serve all learners. I know a lot of teachers that will be very hesitant with trying this out, because of the computer situation, and due to the fact that it, per now, only is availible in English. Not all teachers are comfortable with this, and definitly not all the learners. Hopefully the piloting will result in a Norwegian version of Classroom.
