If you would ask me, “What is a OneNote Class Notebook?” I would say that for me it is the digital space that connects students and teachers of one class into a virtual learning community. The OneNote Class Notebook tool is simple to use and to create portfolios for students, because it builds off the structure of OneNote automatically with a the push of a few buttons. Students like to compare their work from the last year and see how their knowledge developed this year. The practice of a few years proved that the methodology of a portfolio has a positive impact on students’ learning, creativity and motivation. It is hard to imagine it now, but in 2014, I created a folder in my OneDrive with 24 OneNote files for each student in that class, and then made a list in Word Online with students’ names and family names and links to each student’s portfolio, and shared that Word document with teachers who worked in that class and students. OneNote helped me to create a class portfolio where all students and teachers in one class were connected in one place. Many tools used for portfolios were technically hard for teachers to understand and for students to find all their work in one place and not scattered. It was easy for teachers and students to learn how to use. OneNote, which looked familiar to teachers and students (like a digital notebook) proved to be a great tool for portfolios. Back then, I was looking for a simple solution for kids and teachers to understand. A few years ago, I chose OneNote to create portfolios for my students and teachers. I have been working with kids, teachers and parents since 2012 on the concept of portfolio. Today’s post was written by Edita Rabizaite, ESL teacher and ICT coordinator at the Kaunas Kazys Grinius Progymnasium School in Lithuania.

Onenote class notebook