Continuing on with our “Evernote for the Social Studies” series, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss how we can use Evernote to teach about the 2012 Presidential Election, seeing as how the presidential election is just over a month away.
Now is a great time to be a Social Studies teacher, especially if you teach Government. With all the issues being discussed during this political election year, there is a vast sea of resources for teachers and students to observe and study over. In fact, there are so many articles that are written and so much terminology that’s thrown around it can be overwhelming at times. Luckily, there are two awesome tools that teachers and students can use to gather and organize these resources…Evernote and Study Blue.
What is Study Blue?
We live in a world where everything is digital. Everything to paying bills online, finding news articles, and yes, even studying. Teachers and students now locate and share their content online, making the learning experience more engaging. Online tools such as Evernote, Livebinders, and Google have provided ways for teachers and students to gather that content and present it online. However, when it comes time to study, what digital tool is there to facilitate that need? Enter Study Blue.
Study Blue is essentially what I like to call “21st century studying” or what Study Blue calls “your digital backpack”. Studying has evolved beyond opening a text book and looking for key terms in the glossary, we now incorporate pictures, audio, and technology into the studying experience.
What is also nice about Study Blue, is that allows you several different ways of studying and adding studying materials:
With your study materials, once you have created your flashcard set, you have the option of studying as a review sheet, quiz, or as flashcards right their on your computer. However, you might wonder what happens if not all of your students have access to a electronic device? Study Blue also allows you to print off your flashcard set and cut them up into a hardcopy flashcard set or even export them into a Excel spreadsheet. Here’s the link to a flashcard set of mine to see what it looks like when you select to print them off: US Election Volcabulary. (Link opens in Evernote). You can also share the URL to the flashcard set to Facebook, Twitter, and email (though whoever you share the link with must be signed in to their Study Blue account to be able to view it).
Studying Goes Mobile
With all of our technological advancements today, students are usually connected to some kinda of electronic device. Text books are not the only means of studying now. Students are now studying with the phones, tablets, and laptops. Here’s a interesting graphic from Study Blue that shows some data about how studying has evolved over the years:
With Study Blue, students can study anytime they have their cell phones–in between classes, on break at work, or whenever they have free time. Even better, Study Blue allows you to connect your material on their website to your Evernote account.
Study Blue and Evernote
Once you sign up for a Study Blue account (which is free, by the way), you can choose to go under your profile preferences and connect your Evernote account to your Study Blue account. Once you have connected your two accounts, a new notebook in your Evernote account will be created, called “Study Blue”:
Let’s say, for example, that your students keep their class notes in their Evernote account. If they prefer, when they want to study said notes, they can simply copy that Evernote note and move it into the Study Blue notebook. Once that is done, that note will now be in their Study Blue account and they can simply go log into their Study Blue account and retype that note into flashcards.
How does this help the teacher?
Going back to how Study Blue and Evernote can help you teach the 2012 Presidential Election, one of the main things your students might have issues with is keeping up with the terminology. Politics can have a slew of terms, which from a student’s perspective can be very overwhelming. If you want to give your students some extra time with the terminology, creating and sharing these flashcards can be extremely beneficial. If allotted the extra time, students might have a easier time with it during class, thus cutting back the time which you would have to revisit the terms and material. Here’s the link to my Study Blue flashcards, or if you don’t have a Study Blue account, here’s the link to the notes in my Evernote account: Study Blue link or Evernote link.
All of this is just a sampling of what you can do with Study Blue. Sign up for a account today and give it a try!
For more information, here are more resources:
Evernote blog post on Study Blue
Part 1: Evernote for the Social Studies: What is Evernote
Part 2: Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote in the History Class
Part 3: Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote and Skitch
Part 4: Evernote for the Social Studies: Lesson Planning with Evernote
