Research Tools

Artifacts:

Challenge 1: Screencast of OneNote (here).

Challenge 2: Screencast of Wakelet (here).

Challenge 3: Mindmap created using Mindmeister (here).

Software used: OneNote, Wakelet, & Mindmeister

Reflection:

I have used OneNote for years in work environments; it is an easy way to store and share information. In the artifact, I used it to explore "Ethnoautobiography" in Learning Design & Technology because I am very interested in the intersection between this cross-disciplinary approach to viewing self, place, and others and my current field of study. I found OneNote to be effective at tracking my ideas and embedding information to refer to later. I will be using what I started with this OneNote notebook on future assignments that allow me to explore Ethnoautobiography in LDT more, so it is a great start. I already have a lot of saved information within folders in my browser Favorites, and I plan to transfer a lot of what I have there into OneNote as a more user-friendly repository for information. 

I had never used Wakelet before, but I can appreciate its use in certain situations when you want to specifically group blocks of information and resources together. It's a little more clickable that using something like OneNote because it arranges things in "Collections." For my demo, I created four Collections on different aspects of ethnoautobiography as it intersects with LDT, yoga, antiracism, and indigenous artists and activists. I will continue using these collections as I do projects centered on ethnoautobiography and LDT. 

Lastly, I used Mindmeister to create a mindmap. I have taught the brainstorming technique of mind mapping or clustering for almost 20 years but I have never encouraged students to use a digital tool for this. I really enjoyed creating my mindmap in Mindmeister because it was easy to move parts around, use color coding, and generally build a quality mind map using the tool. I centered my mind map on "Ethnoautobiography in LDT" and presented information in this graphic form that I otherwise had presented in the Wakelet and OneNote links and collections. 

I think the three types of tools together reflect a holistic approach to collecting and categorizing resources and research and then taking the next step to organize into workable ideas that can be turned into projects or activities. For this reason, I do think I'll use these tools for future design and development of learning modules on the back end and as activities for future students who will be end users of the materials. For instance, I can foresee using Wakelet and Mindmeister as pre-writing activities for a writing assignment and OneNote as a tool for peer review in a writing class. And if I were designing a full yoga teacher training (not just a module on designing a class from scratch, as indicated within this portfolio), I would have my trainees use these tools throughout the entire 3-4 month teacher training to collect and organize their thoughts on the topics we are covering (sequencing, safety, ethics, etc.).