Why Take Virtual Notes? 5 Reasons
Posted by kerry-kitka Monday, October 17, 2011Notes Virtual Cloud Research Education Tech Education
We’re all familiar with the tried and true method of jotting down notes with good old pen and paper. But we live in the 21st century now and there are a myriad of great tech tools that can help you be more organized and efficient. Reasons like:
5. Easily keep track of the sources you’re using. Taking notes with pen and paper? Ugh. Good luck formatting your citations too. Using online tools, however, you can effortlessly keep track of bibliographic data and links. You will know where your data comes from, and will avoid plagiarism. And if you use EasyBib, it will automatically format your citations and associate them with your notes ;-)
4. Easily transfer information from notes, to outline, to paper. If you’re taking hand-written notes you have a lot of copying to do. From the outline to the paper, you often re-write much of the information from your notes. With virtual note-taking you type from the get-go, ensuring that you can copy and paste your ideas at every step - meaning you’ll save time and be better able to coherently keep track of ideas. Moreover, with EasyBib, you can associate notes with your outline, and link your notes and outline to a paper in Google docs.
3. Easy editing, formatting, and linking. With hand-written notes you’re always making a mess on your page: scratching things out, squeezing words to fit the margins, and forgetting to make lists or indent. With virtual note-taking there’s no need to sweat that, especially if you’re a perfectionist. You can always go back and easily delete or add things, insert formatting, and even stylize your text. Let’s see your ballpoint do that.
2. Traditional note taking requires paper. By taking notes online, you not only save costs on paper and pens, but by lowering the demand for such resources, you help improve our environment. Taking virtual notes means being green!
1. Access your notes from anywhere. With most online note-taking services all of your data is stored in the so-called “cloud.” This means that you can start taking your notes at home on your PC, then transition to school (or anywhere else) and pick right where you left off on a different computer. Moreover, it’s safe, you can’t lose them, and they can’t be destroyed.
Luckily for you, your pals over at EasyBib have their very own Notebook tool. Check it out, because it can do some pretty cool stuff. Associate your notes with sources you cited, quote, paraphrase, tag, group, color code, create outlines… Woah. That’s some powerful stuff.
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Join EasyBib for the #EdReach Chat this Sunday
Posted by kerry-kitka Tuesday, August 23, 2011KFK Educators EasyBib EdReach Twitter Hashtag Chat
We love talking with educators on Twitter and participating in hashtag chats. There’s so much great info out there and so many things to be learned by engaging with some of the most forward-thinking and tech savy teachers.
That’s why we’re so honored that this Sunday, August, 28, at 7pm CST/8pm EST EasyBib will be co-hosting the #EdReach hashtag chat with the great people from edreach.us. So feel free to join our conversation by adding #EdReach to your tweets. We’ll be answering questions about our service and showing you new and exciting ways that EasyBib is helping students research smarter. We hope to see you there!
Top Education Stories This Week
Posted by kerry-kitka Thursday, August 18, 2011Here’s your weekly digest of the top 5 stories in education from around the web.
Joplin Defies Odds, Just by Opening Schools
“When the schools here were reduced to red-brick rubble in the deadly three months ago, abruptly ending classes just before final exams, district leaders made a promise that seemed like a long shot: the new school year would start on time.
And on Wednesday, right on schedule, students were reunited for the first day of school, streaming excitedly into makeshift buildings that replaced the nine schools damaged or destroyed by the tornado and marking the end of a difficult summer.”
Via: The New York Times
Judge: School Violated Rights by Punishing Girls for MySpace Photos
“An Indiana school district violated the First Amendment rights of two teenage girls who were punished for posting sexually suggestive photos on MySpace during their summer vacation, a federal judge ruled.
The case involving Churubusco High School and Smith-Green Community School Corp. raised questions about the limits school officials can place on out-of-school speech in a digital era.”
Via: EdWeek
U.S. Students’ Low Math Test Proficiency Could Have Consequences For GDP
“U.S. students rank poorly in proficiency on both domestic and international math exams, a problem that could cost the country $75 trillion over 80 years, according to a new study.”
Via: The Huffington Post
Ariz. Program to Focus on Competency Rather Than Age
“A handful of public schools in Arizona are the first to undertake an ambitious new program this year to not only improve what students learn but also to demand results and reward them by allowing some to graduate two years sooner. Under the Move On When Ready initiative, approved last year by the Legislature, 14 schools will offer a new, more-intense curriculum. After two years, students will take examinations to prove that they have mastered core subjects.”
Via: AZ Central
Educators waiting for relief from No Child Left Behind
“Educators across the state are holding their breath and their paperwork. They’re waiting to see if the U.S. Department of Education fulfills Minnesota’s waiver request to be relieved of No Child Left Behind sanctions and hold NCLB accountability goals steady.”
Via: Austin Daily Herald
Top Education Stories This Week
Posted by kerry-kitka Thursday, August 11, 2011KFK Education Top Stories Master's Social Media Separation Business Skills Apple Ebook Pricing Lawsuit
Here’s your weekly digest of the top 5 stories in education from around the web.
The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s
“Call it credential inflation. Once derided as the consolation prize for failing to finish a Ph.D. or just a way to kill time waiting out economic downturns, the master’s is now the fastest-growing degree. The number awarded, about 657,000 in 2009, has more than doubled since the 1980s, and the rate of increase has quickened substantially in the last couple of years, says Debra W. Stewart, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. Nearly 2 in 25 people age 25 and over have a master’s, about the same proportion that had a bachelor’s or higher in 1960.”
Via: The New York Times
U.S. Teachers Protest Social Media Crackdown
“As they prepare lesson plans for fall, teachers across Missouri have an extra chore before the new school year begins: purging their Facebook friend lists to comply with a new state law that limits their contact with students on social networks.”
Via: EdWeek
Indianapolis HS Separating Girls and Boys
“Arlington has joined a group of hundreds of schools across the country that have kept schools co-ed, but have split classes into single-gender sessions in an effort to improve students’ academic performance.”
Via: The Huffington Post
A Business Skills Test for College Graduates
“The Certified Business Laureate Exam is a standardize business skills test intended for people who want to apply for entry-level corporate jobs (undergraduate business majors, this means you). Guy Friedman, a 2010 Wharton Business School grad, created the test and enlisted faculty at schools such as Wharton, University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Loyola University Chicago and others to write test questions indicative of skill and understanding.”
Via: Businessweek
Apple and Big Publishers Conspired To Fix Ebook Pricing, Lawsuit Alleges
“A Seattle-based law firm filed a nationwide class-action suit on Tuesday against Apple Inc. and five of the Big Six publishers alleging that the companies conspired to illegally fix ebook pricing in an effort to undermine Amazon’s ‘pro-consumer, discounted pricing.’”
Via: Library Journal
EasyBib Deploys New Paper Link Feature
Posted by kerry-kitka Friday, August 5, 2011KFK Updates EasyBib Research Google Docs
We’ve been back in the labs, working to develop some great new stuff for you to aid in the research process. Keep a close eye and you’ll start seeing some big new changes soon.
For now, take a look at a cool little trick we just implemented. You can now associate your projects with a paper you’ve already saved in Google Docs. Simply log in and go to “Projects”. Find the one you want and click the “Paper” link.
You can then create a new Google Doc to associate your bibliography to, or you can link it to an existing one.
From there, once you’ve chosen to use an existing doc, just select its title from the list and hit “Next”.
Now, anytime you log back in to your projects and select the “Paper” link, you’ll automatically be taken to that paper in Google Docs. Pretty cool, huh?
Cute Puppy Gets Quite Excited for Dinner
Posted by kerry-kitka Monday, July 11, 2011KFK Monday Grind Vegging Out Cartoons Puppies Dogs Cute Hungry Excited Happy Cuddly Fluffy Dinner JC Videos
Ugh… It’s Monday again Bibs. Back to the old grind. But that’s just how it goes. I had a pretty good weekend anyway. What’d I do you ask? Oh, not to much. Just vegged out a lot. Watched some cartoons. Went hang gliding over an active volcano. Y’know, just one of those boring but relaxing weekends we all need every now and again.
So maybe I wasn’t all that exciting, but you know what is? PUPPIES! But what’s more, or rather, what’s even better than puppies are puppies that are excited. You see we’ve now entered into a paradoxical realm where your excitement is derived from their excitement and then….
Oh, never mind. Just hit the jump to see the cutest vid of a hungry/excited pup you’ll see all day
Read More7 Natural Wonders of the World
Posted by kerry-kitka Friday, July 8, 2011Awe Beautiful Earth Grand Canyon JC KFK Mountains Northern Lights Spectacular Wonder World Videos
Well Bibs it’s been quite a pretty week. From expansive and barren salt flats in Bolivia, to beautifully terraced rice fields in Asia, and not to mention the gorgeously colored tulip farms in Holland, we’ve had a lot of good stuff to gawk at.
So I thought I’d finish out the week with a fun video for you that compiles 7 of the most spectacular wonders of the natural modern world.
Hit the jump to check it out.
Read More11 Gorgeous Pictures of Tulip Fields
Posted by kerry-kitka Thursday, July 7, 2011KFK Beautiful Tulips Flowers Gorgeous Awesome Farming Netherlands Holland Eye Candy Wow Colorful JC Pretty Vibrant Pictures
Bibs it’s just turning into a super beautiful week over here at HQ. Your dearly devoted StudyBreak writer (me) is slaving away to share the love and bring you some of the prettiest darn scenes from the world that you ever did… well, see.
For today’s viewing pleasure/eye candy might I direct you to the vast expanses of tulip fields. Now I’m sure you’re all familiar with the Netherlands and their infamous cultivation of tulips, but did you know that they’re also grown in the U.S. states of Oregon and Alaska, as well as Iran and China, and many other places?
Well of course you did, you’re all so clever aren’t you? Hit the jump to see more of these gorgeous and vibrantly colored tulip fields. What? No, no dog post today. Maybe next week if you behave.
Read MoreTerraced Rice Fields
Posted by kerry-kitka Wednesday, July 6, 2011KFK Beautiful World Nature Earth Farming Rice Fields Magnificent Awesome China Vietnam Indonesia Pictures
Bibs, those pictures yesterday got me so inspired that I figured I’d follow them up with some more magnificent photos of our beautiful world. Today then, why not take a look at some very inventive ways that people around the world use the land they have for agriculture.
From Wikipedia:
“Terraces are used in farming to cultivate sloped land. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease erosion and surface runoff, and are effective for growing crops requiring much water, such as rice.”
After the jump you’ll find some of the most awesome pictures of rice terraces from places like China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Read MoreSalar de Uyuni
Posted by kerry-kitka Tuesday, July 5, 2011KFK Salt Flat Bolivia Wow Amazing Beautiful Earth Nature Clouds Reflection Sky Pictures
Fresh from the long weekend and I’m ready to get back to the grind. How about you Bibs? And nothing quite tops off a great weekend like some pictures of beautiful nature. Such as the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia.
From Wikipedia:
“Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi). It is located in the Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above the mean sea level . The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar.”
Not to mention that, when covered with water, the Salar becomes one of the biggest mirrors on Earth. Don’t believe it? Hit the jump to see the amazing pictures.
Read More
