I have been intrigued by note-taking in the classroom for almost a decade now. My first proposal for an educational study when I came to NC State was using Livescribe pens to capture student concept maps and share them to evaluate and compare to other digital tools such as Lucidchart. We have been using electronic lab notebooks (ELNs) since 2014. With colleagues, we are learning how to use Hypothes.is to annotate and create together and engage all students in the process. I learned about PowerNotes last year when I virtually attended my first Lilly Conference online. That session described how PowerNotes can be used with students to document and help them write. This time, Jimmy Fleming from PowerNotes and Leah Bublitz from Macomb Community College presented “Improving Writing Skills With PowerNotes” as part of the 2021 Lilly Conference. Fleming began by describing PowerNotes and writing. Bublitz has been in instructional support and tutoring for almost a decade. Bublitz also acknowledge the hesitations with introducing new technology for both instructors and developing readers and writers. Bublitz described how PowerNotes helps confident readers to classify and organize their observations. Developing readers get reminded of the value of their own observations and thoughts, according to Bublitz. PowerNotes helps “name” connections synthesize the information, and for developing readers, Bublitz mentioned that PowerNotes reveals the connections they have made across readings. Bublitz explained that for students doing research, the software helps confident researchers reinforce the collection process and for developing researchers it “introduces a nonthreatening method to engage with multiple texts at a time” which was a wonderful way of describing the organization this tool provides. For confident researchers, Bublitz thinks that PowerNotes helps them create visible bibliography with links and rough citations. I think this can help students be more confident. PowerNotes can help students beginning to write to develop a foundation for their drafts. I do think that is empowering for students to see and feel.
Bublitz had recommendations that included try it out, introduce with the research process, and mentor students to help them become familiar with the program and the process. Several attendees asked questions about features of PowerNotes and how to implement in a course or low-stakes assignment. I am excited about using the tool to organize information for a literature review. I wonder if you can share notes and collaborate on a single project? Fleming did a demo showing what users experience when highlighting text. PowerNotes has browser extensions that make it easy to highlight, tag, and then organize text. What is really great and worth learning more about is how PowerNotes can create the bibliography as an RIS file. Fleming mentioned that PowerNotes allows users to export bibliographies to Zotero. PowerNotes does not generate bibliography. Kyle Zegarac from PowerNotes described how they work with educators and librarians to update the tool based on instructional needs. Fleming mentioned working with a group of friends on a project with PowerNotes to share materials and organize them. There is also a bookmark feature in PowerNotes. This response may answer my previous question about collaboration and brings up a new one: how does PowerNotes work with (if at all) Hypothes.is? I’m now ready to try this for a couple of projects!
