Cool Tool Review #2 - Porquois

So, I decided to try to multitask with this particular post.  I am hoping to start doing some serious work on my major project while also exploring a new tool.  One of the goals of learning French was so that I could better appreciate Moliere.  So, I was hoping to be able to translate a scene by the end of this class.  I found an online resource that provides texts of Moliere's plays.  I took the text of the play and fed it into an annotation tool so I could see how much I might be able to translate right now.

On to the tool...Annotate.  This is an online tool that allows for multiple users to annotate a particular text.  In this case, I have selected a scene from my favorite Moliere: The Misanthrope.  You must create a free account to be able to use the service.  Be aware that only limited functions are available for free.  There are limits to the documents you can create and the number of editors that can have access.  After creating an account, users will be greeted with a screen like this.

I created a document called Moliere project.  I inserted the text (which I had to copy to Google Docs and then insert - it could not be done directly from the website).  I set a timer for 20 minutes and went to work.  Here's my finished product with translation.  I have left the ability for folks to annotate as long as they have the link.  So, feel free to play with the tool as you click the link.  (However, with limits on the number of annotators, do not be upset if you cannot make changes.)

Different views are possible.  Here is one where the notes and annotations appear a bit more easy to follow.

The tool allows for one work station to be created and all the documents shared from that station.  Editors can insert comments, link to online resources, or even draw in the document.  It is also platform free.  Where Microsoft Word or Google Docs usually require you to have an account, this would not.  However, I am not sure that it outweighs the benefits of a Google Docs document.  The limit on the number of annotators and readers of a document for the free account really seems to be a burden.

I could see using a resource like this for primary source reading in social studies classes.  Again, with Google docs, a student could actually change the text of the source.  Here, students could leave notes that would be easily read by other students.  It would be a fun way for students to engage in layered reading of a primary source.  Students could either annotate sources provided by me or I could also ask students to excerpt sources and then feed them into Annotate.

My own use is similar to this primary source analysis.  I am taking an original text and trying to make sense of it.  This would also be of great use for Think Alouds in literacy.  Rather than a teacher lecturing at a class and talking through thoughts, students could read through them in annotated documents like this.

Finally, I do think that this would be challenging for students to use.  It does not have a required tutorial (i.e., before you can start using the tool you do not have to go through training).  A lot of the editing functions and buttons are not intuitive.  I basically had to just keep clicking buttons to see what they did rather than having a good idea of what they did based on the symbols.  Once you do learn how to use the functions, they are repetitive.  So, again, if all primary sources were shared this way, students would have familiarity with the tool and be experts within a few weeks.

Overall, this could be a great way to help students engage with primary sources.