Two important and related learning strategies are summarizing and note taking. These two processes are higher order thinking skills because they require learners to synthesize information and put it in their own words. With the help of technology, the practice of note taking can be turned into a learning experience in and of itself. Technology also offers support with the skill of summarization.
Word Processing Applications are one technology tool that provides learners with an avenue to strengthen summarization and note taking skills. Summarization is a vital learning objective in the language arts classroom, so the features that word processing applications offer can act as learning aides to help students master this often challenging skill. I like the concept of rule-based summarizing because it gives learners a process and structure to follow when trying to distill the important points of a chunk of information. The Track Changes feature of Microsoft Word allows users to follow the steps of rule-based summarization while visually seeing the changes that are made. I think that this will prove to be an effective way to help students see how the summarization process takes them from a lengthy chunk of information into a more concise form. I didn’t know about another feature that Word offers--the Auto-Summarize tool. This, too, can be utilized in the classroom. Students can be given a piece of text that the teacher has already entered into Word and be asked to summarize it on their own. They can then see what Auto-Summarize comes up with and compare it to their summary.
Technology also gives us many Web Resources that can be accessed to assist with summarization and note taking. Most of these websites use a collaborative approach that allows students to work with one another when practicing these skills. This approach offers a valuable perspective because many educators approach the concept of summarization and note taking as an individual endeavor. Research tells us that students can increase their sense of understanding of difficult concepts when they work through them collaboratively, so using these web resources really offers educators an opportunity to more effectively teach concepts. Some of these resources are free, so all that the classrooms need are computers with internet access. Students can be divided into groups and then guided to these web resources. One website that I like is NoteStar because it allow students to take research and information from the internet and assists them in organizing it; the MLA or APA citations that it offers are also a valuable asset to student research because it shows them the proper way to cite sources. Think Tank is another free resource that educators can use to help students gather information and summarize it. Students can be introduced to the web resources at the beginning of a study or research unit and then allowed to explore and choose the one that is best for their project.
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Microsoft Word has many neat features that we don't fully utilize. I like the ideas presented here with the tracking feature and the autosummarize because teachers need to know that technology resources are tools in the learning process. There doesn't always have to be an end product such as a PowerPoint presentation or a newsletter. Our students want to be engaged in learning using the technology. They need all the practice they can get.
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