If you’ve visited my website before, you may notice that I have a slight obsession with interactive notebooks. While interactive notebooks are not for every teacher or every student, they solve so many problems for me that I cannot live without them. Then the unthinkable happened, and we are now looking ahead to a school year outside of the classroom. So, I faced the hard choice – do I move on without interactive notebooks, or do I find a way to make them digital? Luckily, I learned that digital interactive notebooks were already a thing. Read on to learn how to use a digital interactive notebook in your class!
What is a digital interactive notebook?
Digital interactive notebooks are the solution to my virtual math note-taking conundrum. They are a file (such as Google Slides or OneNote) that is sent to students in their online learning management system that allows them to take notes. Students can type, add images, and drag and drop elements. Most digital interactive notebooks include tabs that serve as links to specific pages in the notebook.
How do you use a digital interactive notebook?
Since my district uses Google Classroom, I plan to send my students a Google Slides file to replace the interactive notebook we would normally create. This year, my students will not be creating a physical interactive notebook. After considering the options, and gaining more information from my district regarding this year’s plan, digital interactive notebooks make the most sense.
With a single notebook being an entire unit, I use the tabs to divide the notebook into the lessons within the unit. Each day that we are adding notes, I will assign my students specific pages of the notebook to work on. The tabs make it easier for students to find those pages.
How do math students show work in a digital interactive notebook?
Unfortunately, Google Slides does not have an annotation feature at this time. And, even if they did, my school does not supply our students with styluses for their Chromebooks. However, my students do have the capability to upload images.
My plan is to give my students a choice. One option is to type the work into their digital interactive notebook. Their other option is to take a photo of their work, and then upload it, and place it on the slide where work is required.
How do you grade digital interactive notebooks?
In the classroom, I grade interactive notebooks for completion once every unit. Since I will send students individual digital interactive notebooks for each unit, my plan is to continue grading one unit at a time. Through Google Classroom, I could ask my students to send me a screenshot of an individual page to check for engagement. On YouTube, Ansley Monroe suggested that I could have students share their slides with me, and check on their work throughout the unit.
We will not only be working on digital interactive notebooks throughout the year. We will be engaging in other online activities. Digital interactive notebooks are not my main form of assessment for students. I like to use them to supplement instruction, and to allow students to use them as a resource. Geometry especially includes tons of vocabulary, postulates, theorems, and more that need to be referenced throughout the year.
What kind of activities do you include?
Just like with a regular interactive notebook, the activities included are up to the teacher designing them. Typically, my students don’t care for foldables. So, I use foldables sparingly in my usual interactive notebooks. In Google Slides, I can incorporate activities like sorting, dragging and dropping (which I will use frequently for graphing), and fill-in-the-blanks. Additionally, students can add their own lines, shapes, and text boxes. Plus, the shapes, lines, and text boxes allow students more choice in the appearance of their notebooks.
Do you have to complete all pages before sending to students?
Before this school year, I transferred all of my paper interactive notebook pages into digital interactive notebooks by unit. Now that I have complete units done at once, I plan to send one entire unit to my students at a time. This seems to be the easiest way to send digital interactive notebooks to students.
However, you do not need to complete an entire notebook before sending it to students. It is possible to add more pages after you send the notebook to your students. There is a G-Suite add-on called Slip-in-Slide. I have not personally used this add-on, so I cannot speak to how easy or effective it is.
How can I make my own digital interactive notebook?
There is more than one way to make a digital interactive notebook. You can use the programs that you are most familiar with. I used PowerPoint and Google Slides, but people also like to use OneNote or Keynote.
In a recent video, I share all about my digital interactive notebook creating process. If you want to make your own, but also want to save time, I have digital interactive notebook templates available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Lastly, if you teach geometry, and want to have the whole year done for you, there is a full year bundle of digital interactive notebooks in my store as well.
