The Language Teacher • JALT Praxis: My Sharethe board so that they can be used as comparisons iftime permits.

Conclusion
For discussions to work well it is important thatstudents understand their contributions areimportant, that mistakes are acceptable, and thatdifferent opinions must be respected (Brown & Budding, 2015). This activity achieves this by providing
students with the opportunity to work collaboratively and engage in learning that deals with moral
situations in a fun and communicative way.

Brown, C. & Budding, C. (2015). Using TED Talks to build
large-group discussion skills. The Language Teacher,39(3), 18-19.

[RESOURCES] TLT WIREDEdo Forsythe

In this column, we explore the issue of teachers and technology—not just as it relates to CALL solutions, butalso to Internet, software, and hardware concerns that all teachers face. We invite readers to submit articles on
their areas of interest. Please contact the editor before submitting.
Email: tlt-wired@jalt-publications.org • Web: http://jalt-publications.org/tlt/departments/tlt-wired

Getting (and Keeping) It
Together with OneNote
Sojo UniversityI

am a neat freak: Shirts hang in my closet according
to the visible spectrum, and my television volume
is always adjusted to even numbers. But the realm
in which I most enjoy establishing and maintaining
order is my professional environment. It is no secretthat organization plays a crucial role in the lives ofteachers and students—units must be planned, resources assembled, research conducted, manuscripts
drafted, conferences attended—all of which require
gathering, analyzing, and recalling information.
Navigating the accumulated nebula of information
can test even the most fastidious record keeper.
Fortunately, technology has provided a few gifts andthis article will introduce my personal favorite tool
for staying organized, Microsoft’s OneNote.

The Basics
Free for everyone and available for every platform,
OneNote combines the tried-and-tested organizational layout of a physical notebook with thefunctionality of other MS Office products such as
Word and PowerPoint. Several versions exist, themost extensive of which being OneNote 2016 forWindows, which is bundled with the MS Officesuite and included in the cost of that package.
Alternatively, the standard OneNote app boasts animpressive range of functionality and is available forfree through the Windows App Store, Google PlayStore, and iTunes Store.
Those familiar with any of the Microsoft Officeproducts will soon recognize the familiar ribbon at
the top, where one can change input styles, add bullets and numbering, insert multimedia, link to resources both within and outside the notebook, anddraw shapes or figures. All of these tools are also
readily accessible in the iOS and Android mobileversions. In addition, the ability to sync and sharenotebooks across platforms and devices empowers
users with mobility and connectivity. The focus of
this article is OneNote’s central feature: its organizational structure. This article will explain how

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER 41.6 • November / December 201727

JALT FOCUS

Branden Kirchmeyer

JALT PRAXIS • MY SHARE

References

ARTICLES

have only one solution or action for each dilemma,
but they should be encouraged to think of as many
justifications as they can. Students should write
their answers on the worksheet as they will need toremember their groups’ responses in the next stage.
Step 5: Reorganize the groups so that all of thestudents are now working with a different set ofstudents.
Step 6: Have the students report their previous
groups’ responses and justifications to each other.
Encourage them to take notes of all of the responses.
Step 7: Have the students discuss which response
is best. They must decide on one ‘best’ response foreach dilemma.
Step 8: Ask the students to report back to the wholeclass which response their group thought was best.
It is a good idea to write the students’ choices on

The Language Teacher • JALT Praxis: TLT Wiredteachers can use this tool for instructional planning,
research, and professional development.

Instructional Planning
OneNote is structured simply and intuitively, likea book or a website. Each level is only a click away,and teachers can even cycle between their favorite
notebooks without the need to exit the application.
For each course I teach, I create a new notebook
with the course year and name as the filename (Iactually duplicate similar courses from prior terms
to save time). Within this course notebook (seeFigure 1) I have several sections including Course
Plan and Lessons. The Course Plan section contains
pages titled Course Outline and Class Schedule, andthe Lessons section has a page for each lesson of thecourse, containing lesson plans, teaching notes, andcontent: both actual files and links to outside sources. The section titled Student Information contains
data and notes on individual students, which has
proven useful for recordkeeping, lesson differentiation, and disciplinary measures.

Research
Keeping research projects organized can be challenging, and writing reports is even more so. Organizing with OneNote has allowed me to keep muchbetter track of progress through the different phasesof research. Possibly the most time-saving aspect ofOneNote is the ease in which data can be collected,analyzed, and commented on by all members ofa research team, who can use OneNote to jointly
work on research or manuscripts. Collaboration ismade simple with the sharing button, which allows
you to add an author, share a link, or send copies ofnotebooks.

Figure 2. Research & Collaboration. This figure
illustrates a configuration of OneNote for research
projects.

Figure 1. Instructional Planning. This figure illustrates a configuration of OneNote for instructional
planning purposes.
Gathering content for lessons is a cinch using
the Insert tab on the ribbon. As shown in Figure 1,content can be externally linked (such as the PowerPoint file under the Materials heading), internallylinked (the “basic class materials” hyperlink under theMaterials heading connects to a page in the Course
Information section), or embedded straight into thenotebook (such as the video). One very useful featureof embedded content is that when copying media ortext from a website onto a page in OneNote, the object’s URL is automatically appended to the content
as an appropriately named caption. Furthermore,
content can be added straight from web browsers ordevice cameras with OneNote extensions.
28

Figure 2 shows one of my notebooks set up fora research project that I am currently conductingwith a colleague. The screenshot shows that somecontent has been added by my colleague (flaggedwith HK), and other content by me (unmarked here,indicated with BK in my colleague’s version of thenotebook). Another helpful aspect of OneNote forresearch is the ability to add tags, which can be customized and used to mark tasks, unanswered questions, and important ideas. A beneficial extension
for MS Office users is that tasks marked in OneNote
can be displayed in Outlook with options for setting
notifications and reminders.

Professional Development
The first time I started using OneNote was to takenotes during a presentation at a conference. From
there my Professional Development Notebook (seeFigure 3) has blossomed into a complete archive ofevery conference, training session, online course,and webinar I have ever attended. This notebook
allows me to effortlessly disseminate relevant information to my colleagues and administrators, either

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER Online • http://jalt-publications.org/tlt

The Language Teacher • JALT Praxis: TLT Wiredby sharing a page of notes on a particular presentation, or by linking a page from this notebook to apage in the aforementioned research notebook sothat my colleagues and I can both refer to it later.

ARTICLES

EndNote, official Microsoft templates streamlined
for class management (e.g. Class Notebooks), andintegration with learning management systems
such as Moodle.
Whether you’re a neat freak like me, a disheveled
genius, or something in between, OneNote canhelp organize personal and professional data. If youwould like to learn more about using OneNote foryour professional environment, consider attending
my TnT workshop on this topic at the JALT International Conference 2017 in Tsukuba.

Links

Other Uses for OneNote
The examples provided above are by no means an
exhaustive list of the different ways one could use
OneNote to organize a professional environment,
nor have I mentioned all of the features that make
OneNote a must-have program for teachers. Someother purposes I use notebooks for include:• planning, drafting, and indexing my publications,• planning my university’s annual conference, theSojo University Teaching & Learning Forum,and• keeping historical records of all my students.
Other beneficial features of OneNote include
add-ins and extensions developed for integration
with other productivity tools such as Chrome andEditor’s Note: This column has shared one of the manytech tools available to help teachers organize theirpersonal and professional lives. Visit the Technology in
Teaching (TnT) workshops and the CALL SIG Forum at
JALT2017 in Tsukuba for more tips and tools to help
you keep your classes Wired!

West Tokyo JALT

Presents international JALT conference
speakers: Asian Scholar, Dr. Stefanie
Shamila Pillai and plenary speaker, Dr.
Gabriel Díaz Maggioli• JALT Members: free
• Non-members: ¥1,000• Date: Saturday, November 11, 2017
• Time: 13:00 – 17:00 (Dinner schedule &details TBA)
• Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Library
2F, Seminar Room 2• Address: 2-2-26 Izumi-cho, Kokubunji-shi,
Tokyo, 185-8520
Head out to West Tokyo for an excitingand enlightening event with these two
distinguished presenters from the JALTInternational Conference Four Corners Tour.

THE LANGUAGE TEACHER 41.6 • November / December 201729

JALT FOCUS

In a separate but related notebook that I call myTeaching Notebook, I have been steadily accumulating a personal handbook for language teaching.
When I read an educational publication, I always
have this notebook open and ready to note down
new activity ideas, unfamiliar terms, and quotations
I might find useful in the future. Oftentimes I comeacross a figure or a table that I’d like to retrieve inthe future, so I snap a picture of it. Within threetaps, I can have this image saved onto the page ofmy choice in the notebook of my choice, and anamazing function of OneNote allows any text within that image to automatically become a searchable
part of the notebook.

JALT PRAXIS • TLT WIRED

Figure 3. Professional Development. This figure
illustrates a configuration of OneNote for tracking
professional development.

Class Notebook add-in for OneNote instructions:<https://support.office.com/en-us/article/ClassNotebook-add-in-for-OneNote-instructions-cd84f1a6945e-48fb-8fd9-e338a3eeedaa?ui=en-US&rs=enUS&ad=US&fromAR=1>
Introduction to the Class Notebook add-in for OneNote:<https://blogs.office.com/2016/03/08/introducingthe-class-notebook-add-in-for-onenote-designed-andbuilt-with-teachers/>
OneNote for Education video: <https://mva.microsoft.
com/en-US/training-courses/onenote-for-education13755?l=HshJgYbWB_4305192797>