NoodleBib - A Teaching Tool

Rebecca Gerald

School Library System Coordinator

rebecca.gerald@dcboces.org

What is NoodleTools?

NoodleTools is a platform for student research• Students get support along the entire research process

– The components stay organized, high-quality work is encouraged – They get help and personal answers at the point of need– Self-assessment and responsibility are promoted

NoodleTools is a platform for teaching• Teachers view all student work (notes, outline, bibliography, paper)

– All instructors can monitor and assess student progress – Feedback (in context or general comments) can be given at various

stages– Evidence of achievement can be collaboratively assessed

Each student has a “control panel”

Goals are clear

Assignments, calendar, and pathfinders are easy to find

All work is visible

Planning skills are encouraged

A unified view of all feedback enables systematic revision

Feedback appears in-context on a note or citation

List view

Sources are always linked to notes

Students think about the kind of source they are going to cite - key preparation for their critical annotation later

Choosing a source

Copy-and-paste to avoid spelling errors

Fill in the form

Get help on each field

More help pops up

Dynamic help

The software can catch common

errors…

…but the student must decide which changes to make

Correctly formatted, correctly alphabetized

…with the student doing the thinking!

Student evaluates a source listbased on an information need

Noodlebib scaffolds thinking

• Software automates punctuation– Student dissects the source field-by-field

• Software highlights possible errors– Student make decisions about corrections

• Software displays data about sources– Student evaluates quantity, variety and

currency

A teaching tool

“NoodleTools stands out because instead of simply presenting an ambiguous form that a user may not correctly complete, it attempts to teach at almost every step. If a user chooses to cite a journal article, the software will provide a definition of a journal. This not only checks the user's choice, but reminds the user of the essence of the publication type selected…[and] continues to engage the user by asking if the journal was online or in print, from a Web site, or a database and will even coach the students on those "picky details" such as capitalization. The user not only gets an accurate citation, but has quite possibly learned something about sources and documentation.” – N. Tomaiuolo, “Citations and Aberrations.” Searcher Magazine, July/Aug. 2007

• CHOICE Magazine, June 2006 - Rating: "Highly recommended"

Three-step notetaking process

1. The student captures the author’s words/images– Acts as a check on plagiarism– Links quotes and sources

• Say good-by to “I can’t remember where I got that” or “I need that quote about…”

– Uses colors and highlighting to mark up the author’s words• By interacting with notes, a student

understands the content

Cut-and-paste…

Author’s image

Author’s words

…and annotate the text

Red for problems

Green for statistics

Highlight main ideas

Reading comprehension:analysis and synthesis

2. Next the student paraphrases the author’s words – Easy for the student (and you) to compare to the

marked-up quote– Adds tags to identify and analyze information

• Word tags enable searching and grouping by important terms, names and key ideas

• Color tags encourage student-defined sorting (e.g. red=problems, green=solutions)

• Visual icons remind the student to follow-up(e.g., “incomplete,” “important,” “need help”)*

And you can identify where they need help!

Explain it to yourself**Using words that you understand

It’s easier to add tags when you know more.

Add the main idea last

The software prompts for original thinking

3. “My Ideas” is the student’s thinking space– Encourages analysis and reflection

• How does this fit with what you know?– Promotes questioning, reflection and “meta” thinking

• What questions do you have?• What don’t you understand?• Why is this different than my other sources?

– Supports planning• “What’s next” instead of “all done”• Develops ideas for the “to do” list

What do you think?

I wonder…?

Reminder to add this to the “To do” list on the Dashboard

Students use the tabletop to organize notes

Drag and sort notes

Make piles

Students group ideas that belong together

By labeling notes with visual cues, students can search, reorder or revise them later

Add reminders, colors and tags

Organize and outline

Students can process notes in multiple ways• Order and reorder notes into piles

– Experiment with tentative subtopics• Attach multiple tags to a notecard

– Label important details, themes, concepts• Search notes - by one tag, by combinations

– Investigate new ways to order information– Encourages flexible thinking– Return to “incompletes”

Students can build an outline on-the-fly…

…or create it before taking notes

With notes and piles in an outline, a student’s work is organized for a paper (word processor, Google Docs) or project

…and work is never lost!

NoodleBib is an online portfolio of student learning over time

Organized view of classes

How student work is shared

Your one-click access to student projects, grouped by assignment

…with a quick overview of student activity

NoodleBib supports your teaching

• Monitor all research components (notes, sources, outline, writing)

• Select instructional feedback from a comment bank, then tailor it to the student’s needs

• Observe how the student applies feedback to work, then provide further support, if needed

• Respond to notes tagged “Need help”• Capture evidence to support evaluation• Collaboratively assess student work

A window on students’ thinking

• You can see if the student has:– selected quality, relevant sources – included an appropriate range of sources– identified key points in the author’s quote– grasped the author’s meaning– taken relevant notes– used your feedback to improve– exhibited flexible thinking using alternative

ways to organize information– asked thoughtful questions

Why NoodleBib?

NoodleBib promotes an ethical academic climate• Teach (rather than police) ethical behavior

– Safeguard against accidental plagiarism• Builds a consistent attribution process throughout the grades• Allows departments to teach the style used in their discipline• Continuous support encourages student buy-in

I have used it with 5th-8th graders and I find that students are actually willing to consult more than the minimum number of sources because they know they will have help creating the proper citations. This encourages curiosity and intellectual engagement. Our English, History and Science teachers love NoodleBib and they are using it for their own research.

- Constance Vidor, Middle School Library Media Specialist

You can focus on what’s important!

• Evaluate the student’s reading comprehension by comparing the paraphrase to the original source quote

• Assess the student’s understanding of information by examining the tags and main idea chosen for a notecard

• Assess the relevance and quality of resources using NoodleBib’s analysis software

• Examine the student’s ability to critically evaluate a source by reading the annotation

• Gauge the student’s engagement, curiosity and original thinking by reading “My Ideas” comments

An extra instructor

Students can get help at home:• To figure out tricky MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian

citations• To correctly identify sources (e.g., journal v.

magazine, Web v. subscription database)• Expert, personal answers in 24 hrs

Your students (or you) can tap into expert help beyond the handbook examples

NoodleBib - A Teaching Tool

Questions?