Response to "Using Digital Writing Tools for Collecting, Connecting, and Organizing Information"

The best heading in this chapter had to be "Using Delicious Tagging in a Literature Text". From there, that section went downhill for me. I had a difficult time understanding both the process for tagging as well as its purpose. I would have truly liked to see examples of tagging, multimodal texts, digital notetaking, and digital storage. It would have been great if the authors had provided websites for projects or examples of these as they did for some of the projects in chapter one.

It also would have been helpful if this chapter provided more information on evaluating search information. The criteria to use in the evaluation of search information is implied through the example of the student who felt comfortable using a PBS-based site with information from a source with a Ph.D. who was linked to a University. However, it would be wonderful to have a list of items for students to consider when evaluating a site such as: does this information seem to match what other sources (both online and physical) say, who are the authors and what are their credentials, what organizations are linked to this site and what are the reputations of those organizations, etc. etc. Perhaps this list is outside the scope of this book.

The most powerful part of this chapter for me was the use of the student-produced, inquiry-based collection of videos and images in the classroom. I envisioned myself using this to have students explore theme in texts such as To Kill a Mockingbird or Julius Caesar, for example. This could possibly be done as a prereading activity to build prior knowledge.

I was grateful for the many examples of Web 2.0 applications. My primary concern is that before I use them, it would be helpful to see examples of their applications by other teachers and students.