By Suzanne Crowley and Jennifer Fischer Trapper Keepers. They answered the prayers of the ‘80s most disorganized students. Style. Organization. Velcro. Trapper Keepers had it all. Let’s be honest, there was a time not so long ago when you couldn’t walk down a school hallway without seeing these colorful three-ring binders and their super-stylish plastic flaps. Add to that the personal stylings of a pegasus, a Lamborghini, or a Care Bear. It was enough to make a kid stand up and shout, “Yea, see that Care Bear sliding down that rainbow? Yea, that’s my stuff.” Never before was a school supply considered this cool. Now a lot can be said about the advances of modern technology. Even more about the 1:1 initiative that’s taking most schools by storm. You can’t argue the benefits of technology in the classroom. You just can’t. And while we love (with devotion) all that Google Classroom has to offer, searching through Google Drive just leaves us wanting more. Color-coded folders? Sure, that’s a help… but still everything seems so… same. It’s hard to harness the excitement and hype of 1980’s school supplies when there is no individuality. No personality. No fun. When we think about student achievement in the classroom, and compare it to what the digital generation students “get” to the students of years past, again, it leaves us wanting more. The content is the same. The kids’ desire to achieve, also the same. The things is, it’s become difficult for kids to stay organized, to easily locate important notes and documents. Here’s why: Google Classroom has allowed the teacher the control to organize their drives for them, to literally label every document for them, to push it into their drive for them. And that’s the problem: for them. They have little ownership. And when you don’t create it, everything just looks, well, the same. Now, imagine the ability to take all that modern technology (eh-hem, Google) has to offer, but add to it individuality, ownership, and personality. Imagine taking the best of the Trapper Keeper and bringing it into 2017. Imagine adding fun. Enter the DigiKeeper. Using the power of Google Sites, DigiKeeper takes what made the Trapper Keeper great and...get this...brings the features into the digital world. The best part(s)?
DigiKeeper. The best of 1980’s school supplies. Without the velcro.
10 Comments
Heather C
1/31/2017 12:40:27 am
Really like this idea! How do I create one or where do I go to set it up?
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Heather C
1/31/2017 12:42:24 am
Apologies - just saw "using Google Sites"
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Jennifer Fischer
1/31/2017 06:35:08 am
I realize that I need to make the Google Sites idea more prominent! :)
Loreen Sullivan
1/31/2017 12:07:59 pm
Is there a site template for the DigiKeeper that's shareable?
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Jennifer Fischer
1/31/2017 12:16:42 pm
Hi, Loreen! The new Google Sites does not allow me to create a template,nor does it allow me to make a copy of an existing site to use as a template, but you can use this link to view the basic format: https://goo.gl/ySKvYQ
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Loreen
2/1/2017 07:04:12 am
Thanks Jennifer!! It's a shame the the new version does not allow for that. Although this site is easy to emulate, templates are so useful, and for some folks, the idea of creating it 'from scratch' is daunting.
Heather C
1/31/2017 01:10:30 pm
Like other Google products, this is really easy to figure out especially with the images she posted.
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Mary
4/1/2017 06:28:03 am
Hi-
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Glenn Hervieux
6/7/2017 06:39:01 am
Hi, Jen. Thanks for sharing your idea of Digikeeper, which feels something like an "online portfolio" from what I can see. It can certainly be used in a variety of ways for different age groups. For older students, using it for one subject area makes sense. I think teachers would have to have a method/routine for how to get students to move items to their Digikeeper. For high school seniors in a district I worked for, we had a template (old Google Sites) for them to put a variety of things and it was tied to a few classes. They did cross-curricular projects and had a plan for the types of things students would create and put in their portfolio (Ex. docs, slides, video, images, etc.). One cool thing about using Google Sites is that students can transfer ownership of their site to a personal Google account if they leave or graduate.
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Kate
8/1/2017 07:22:35 pm
Once in google sites, how do I locate Digikeeper?
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AuthorJennifer Fischer is a former middle school English teacher, full-time instructional coach, and part-time edtech nerd, who strives to help next JENeration educators transform learning for all students.
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