This is the eigtth post in the series "MIEExpert Spotlight for South Africa". The tab with all the posts can be found at: http://bit.ly/1ZYy8Z7. Today we focus on Linda Foulkes from Cape Town who is one of our Microsoft #MIEExperts for 2016. She has written about her use of OneNote in the classroom. Linda was one of four teachers representing South Africa in 2015 in Seattle at the E2 Global Teacher Exchange in Seattle in 2015. Follow her on Twitter at @folklindLinda Foulkes, a current Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, believes that “the potential of OneNote for Education is unlimited. OneNote has so many benefits and most schools do not even know about this hidden gem and its power!” According to Linda, OneNote is a powerful tool for connected classrooms as “it can be used to provide tutorials for subjects in and out of the classroom, it can be used as a multimedia note taker and as a subject resource to share live with teachers and students”
"The potential of One-Note for Education is unlimited. OneNote has so many benefits and most schools do not even know about this hidden gem and its power!”
In her previous position, at Elkanah House High School in Cape Town, Linda was involved in creating learning activities for staff, students and teachers on a continual basis and providing professional development and support for staff in integrating technology into their teaching. Linda noted that as their school was running a Bring Your Own Device program “it was necessary to find a manageable work flow which embraced teaching and learning for all involved and took into consideration our bandwidth and other constraints which teachers face today.” Linda found that OneNote played an important role in empowering teachers to actively use ICT in the classroom as she was able to show them how they could plan meaningful lessons using the Microsoft Office tools which they were already familiar with and which students could access on a range of devices.
Microsoft Innovative.
OneNote as a multifunctional tool
In addition to showing teachers how they can use OneNote as a tool to organize lessons, collect resources and set up class activities, Linda actively uses OneNote to curate and share resources that teachers can use to integrate technology into their lessons. Linda explains “my role is a supportive and training one. OneNote was the perfect opportunity to come alive in the lives of those around me by using it as a shared, collaborative, resource notebook for teachers and students. The benefit of compiling this activity was extremely rewarding not only within my own school, but across the globe, helping students and teachers integrate technology into the classroom.”
Linda's BYOD OneNote shared resource
Linda's 'BYOD Shared OneNote Resource for Teachers' is updated almost daily and shared with teachers across the globe. It is very useful tool for me to share in the classroom with children and when preparing for subject related lessons. The tools are thoroughly researched and tested on all platforms and devices, so the work is done for the busy teacher. I update the resource with my conference talks, webinars and TeachMeets and share the same notebook at conferences as a resource. You'll find it here.
“My BYOD Shared OneNote Resource for Teachers is updated almost daily and shared with teachers across the globe. It is very useful tool for me to share in the classroom with children and when preparing for subject related lessons. The tools are thoroughly researched and tested on all platforms and devices, so the work is done for the busy teacher. I update the resource with my conference talks, webinars and TeachMeets and share the same notebook at conferences as a resource.”
Making the most of the technology available
As a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, Linda was selected to attend the 2015 E2 Educator Exchange in Redmond and found it to professional development at its best! She loved the collaborative opportunities the Global Exchange afforded her such as being part of a group project with other MIE Experts from all over the world, crossing language barriers and learning about their environments within education.
The E2 Exchange encouraged Linda to keep promoting Microsoft technologies. “What motivates me is my passion about the training of Microsoft Technologies and the importance of certification. If I can make a difference to just one person a day by showing them something they did not know which could benefit their teaching and learning, and make this easier and simpler, I feel a sense of achievement. My favourite saying to teachers who ask me…”is there an app for that?”…my reply is…”yes, it’s called Microsoft OneNote, PowerPoint, Word, Excel….”
Whilst she is no longer working at Elkanah House High School, Linda is still actively involved in training others. She says, “I have discovered my passion…teaching educators and learners how to integrate technology into lessons.”
Find out more about using OneNote
You’ll find the OneNote website at https://www.onenote.com/ Microsoft OneNote is a free must-have classroom or individual application from Microsoft, available online and offline as well as cross device. It is useful information gathering and multi-user collaboration application. OneNote can be used to gathers users' notes (handwritten or typed), drawings, screen clippings, document attachments, videos and audio commentaries. You will find tutorials shared by teachers around the world about OneNote on the Microsoft Educator Community. Take a look at http://bit.ly/1QXY0jG for an example
Get involved in the Microsoft MIEE program in 2017
If you are a teacher who likes to be innovative in the classroom, think about entering Microsoft's Innovative Teacher MIEExpert program in 2017 when applications reopen later in the year. You can learn more about the program at this link: http://bit.ly/1H4gKcBon the Microsoft Educator Community.
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