Using Shared Microsoft OneNote “Binders” to Create a School Environment for Sharing, Continual Formative Assessment, & Information Organization

Abstract

This past academic year saw the implementation of structured OneNote notebooks throughout the middle and high school campuses, across all academic departments and extracurricular activities. Dynamically provisioned, stored, and secured server-side, teacher notebooks are visible to all students in the course (and their parents) with integrated student notebooks that are visible by the author, parent, and teacher; collaborative team-based notebooks were created as needed. An assignment dropbox and digital portfolio were included in each course for each student. There were enormous increases in teacher’s use and adaptation of OneNote along with parallel increases in the embedded technologies, including audio & video resources, and improvement in parental involvement and awareness of classroom progress. The community had a breadth of opinions on the growth in use and potential of always-connected students’ notebooks; this feedback informed changes for the following school year.