Zoho Notebook

I absolutely love this application and think my students would benefit greatly from it. It allows you to add text, audio, video, pictures and links. You can move your notes to different parts of the page and organize it in a way that works best for you. One function I really loved was the audio function. Normally, you have to go to the start menu, applications, find your sound recorder, etc…before you can record sound. With Zoho, there is a built in sound recorder. When you hit insert audio, you can hit record and it will record and immediately save to your notes page. This application is similar to MS Word, but some of the buttons are even easier to figure out. The actual page is very self-explanatory and easy to follow. I haven’t been frustrated or found anything that I don’t like about this application. I wish I had found this when I was taking high school and college courses because group work always played a significant role in my classes.

Students would need to learn how to create a Zoho account, but only need minimal technological skills going into the using of this application. To share documents, there is a share button at the top of the page. When you click share, it allows you to e-mail the document to anyone you would like. This would benefit students in class and when working with groups. In class, students can share notes and compile a new set that has everyone’s notes. It is difficult for every student to write down every important note. The notebook application doesn’t require you to sign up for any additional fees and you can share with anyone that has a valid e-mail address.

I think this application would be invaluable for any subject, but I especially like it for my English class. We have many in-class discussions and several assignments and assessments are based on those discussions. Zoho allows students to take notes quickly and easily organize them later. If they share with other students, they can move notes around to add other student’s notes with theirs and keep an organized, chronological order. I know it would be a great asset to a Math or Science room as well. Students can link to class websites and upload/open notes a teacher posted there, add more, include pictures/websites or videos that teachers have found. An electronic copy of notes also makes things easy to find and stay green!

Group work is made easy using Zoho notebook. Along with what I’ve already mentioned, students can use any document given to them and place it on Zoho notebook. It is simple to take a MS Word or MS Works document and import the information without worrying about formatting. Teachers can create a class/group site on Zoho and students can use all the applications, especially notebook for their group project. With notebook, each student can e-mail their notes to each other and they can be organized in a quick, simple and organized fashion. Some times, a student must retype someone’s notes because they don’t work with the versions of Windows/Mac that the student who is compiling the project is using.

Collaboration is also made easy with an AIM type chat feature. If students create a group, they can leave messages on the chat for each member of the group and the member will receive it when the log on. This can work nicely if you all plan on working at the same time from different locations or even if you are just working and need to leave someone a note.