• What are your current techniques for keeping your work organised, keeping track of resources and sharing these resources with others?
• How do you imagine the tools covered in this unit will change your workflow?
• How have digital technologies and internet access changed the way we organise ourselves?

Thoughts and reflections:

The organisation of my on-line environment is currently not as efficient as it could be and does not make use of the multitude of on-line tools readily available.

I probably use my ‘Favourites Bar’ far too much for bookmarking web pages to which I intend to return. I have a Diigo account but use it mostly for following interesting and useful links suggested by others in my user groups rather than for bookmarking and sharing my own discoveries. I check other favourite sites through apps on my phone such as: BBC News; SBS World News; The Telegraph, UK and The Age.

I have a PC at work but at home use either my husband’s or sons’ computers…..whichever one is free; this situation has probably been my excuse for not getting organised but in fact is the very reason why organising my on-line environment is so important!!

I hope that after completing the VicPLN2013 course I will have the knowledge and skills to implement a cohesive strategy for managing my on-line environment more efficiently.  Having examined web browsers, Diigo and Evernote within this unit I already feel well on my way to improving the management of my on-line environment;  I have already used a variety of different web browsers and now mostly use Google Chrome ( I also intend to try out the Chrome browser for my iPhone) and  I shall definitely start using Evernote on a regular basis as I found this a very user friendly and useful tool

’Digital Shoebox’ is a perfect description of Evernote……..I am starting to visualise my shoebox becoming full of interesting things and highly organised!!!

• Is teaching workflow and organisation techniques to students an important task?
• What have you noticed about the workflow and organisational strategies of students?

Teaching workflow and organisation techniques to students is a vitally important task both in the traditional classroom environment and increasing in the digital environment.  For
most children the acquisition of organisational strategies and skills does not come naturally and in the past schools have always taught students how to organise their work and belongings within the classroom context; it is even more important now as we move from a very concrete and tactile environment to the more abstract and virtual world of on-line learning that we equip our students with the necessary skills to succeed.

Modelling and demonstrating of good on-line skills is of vital importance as is the scaffolding of students’ learning so that an appropriate level of  support is given at each stage of their skill development, this along with plenty of time to practice new skills will  help them to become independent and well organised users of technology.

At Dandenong High School, junior students attend ‘Reading and Information Literacy’ sessions in the Learning Resource Centre; these sessions introduce students to relevant and useful on-line tools and then provide the time for students  to create their own  accounts, explore the tools and practice their skills.

Use of the Dandenong High School Intranet, Daymap and Sharepoint has significantly helped our students to manage their own online learning environments and consequently their organisation skills within the online environment are improving.

Communication between students and teachers within the online environment is certainly improving, with teachers setting tasks and work units within Sharepoint and students submitting assignments online. Teachers also facilitate access to various documents through attachments in Daymap.

Three or four years ago students were encouraged to set up digital portfolios in which they could store and link digital work and resources. Much time and effort was spent in assisting students to develop their own personalised portfolios in order to encourage good management of documents and files. Teaching the students to manage their digital environment in such a way was very successful; it promoted a rapid acquisition of relevant skills.  Technology has since progressed and the introduction of new computer software at school has meant that some popular and effective resources such as digital portfolios have been replaced along the way which is perhaps a shame?  In light of our study in VicPLN unit 2 we should perhaps encourage the use of Evernote as a tool for developing new digital portfolios?

The introduction of more advanced on-line tools has created some new issues of security and confidentiality within the school environment and also issues concerning school IT infrastructure.  However, the Web 2 environment offers many new and exciting learning opportunities within the school context and we all need to work hard to keep up to date with the new technologies in order to maximise the efficiency of our students’ digital learning environment.

Evernote link ……..  https://www.evernote.com/shard/s298/sh/762c47db-d750-4e39-9bed-74774d4aec38/7898b7033eb0c5bcb24956d99a37fca3

Unit 2 summary:

Sign into Chrome using Google account

Save a bookmark

Find out how to install extensions.

Sign up for Evernote

Login to Google chrome version of Evernote.Create and share notes and keep Evernote library organised.

Save web pages.

Join Diigo.

Add bookmarks.

Join groups and share links.