Have you ever used a Google digital notebook and created a presentation on the spot? If you have, then you know how easy it is to create and share presentations with your classmates or even your boss without any software to download. If you are an instructor of college courses, you can give presentations on your Google digital notebook. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to use complex software programs just to make your presentation. In fact, creating a digital notebook in Google Classroom is very easy and will not take too much time.
First, you will need a free Google Classroom account. Sign up for one if you don’t already have one. The reason why you need to sign up is because you will be able to use the free teaching tools that Google provides. The most common among these are the Project Runway and the Google SketchUp templates. These two tools are extremely helpful when it comes to making 3D illustrations, drawing tutorials, and more. Once you’re done using these tools, you can go ahead with the actual creation of a digital whiteboard.
For teachers, there are several advantages that using virtual whiteboards have over using real ones. First, virtual whiteboards are lighter than real ones. Thus, they are more comfortable to be used by younger students. With the whiteboards, you can easily manipulate the visual interface to get the point across. You can simply draw a visual example on the board using the interactive whiteboard that Google provides.
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Second, creating a digital notebook in Google Classroom is easier compared to creating one from Microsoft Office programs. The programs provided by Microsoft are bulky and heavy to be used in a class setting. A student can carry one of these programs wherever he goes, and he’ll still be able to view the diagrams, documents, presentations, clipart, and more. He won’t have to get down on his hands and knees just to see if and how a letter looks like or to select an image from an application.
Third, creating a digital notebook in Google Classroom is a lot easier because of the drag and drop features. This means you will no longer have to manually drag one document or clipart or any other item onto the page where you would like to have it printed. All you have to do is drag it to the place on the page where you want to have it printed and let Google automatically print it out. Teachers can also easily update the lessons and other information using the web browser that Google provides for users who access the Internet via their laptops or desktops.
Fourth, teachers can easily measure the progress of their students during a lesson. They can easily tell what point of the lesson was the most difficult or what part of the lesson was the easiest. When using the Google Dictation Service, teachers can instantly create online versions of their lessons and students can access them at anytime through the Internet. With the service, teachers can avoid having to carry physical notebooks around with them to record every single step of a lesson.
Fifth, it is an easy way for the teacher to share visual examples with students who may be struggling in a certain area. For example, if a student has trouble spelling, he can see an example in a book and have the student try to spell the word. If he successfully spell the word, the teacher can show the visual example in his notes or post it on the discussion board. This can help improve not only spelling but reading as well.
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Sixth, using a digital notebook has a great impact on the productivity of the students. The students will finish their work on time, since they can just click on the time next to the clock on the laptop. They do not have to print out documents or take them somewhere else just to make sure that the work is complete. It will just print it on the digital notebook when the work is done. That makes life easier for both the teacher and the students.