Google Chrome offers a variety of extensions for taking notes on the web page you're browsing. After my own experiences (I still teach as an adjunct and taught online over 20 years before becoming the Distance Education Coordinator) and hearing stories from other educators, I am wondering if these online note taking services could help combat plagiarism.
Copying and pasting from online sources is so easy for students. Even if they go back and try to change a few words here and there, their work is usually flagged in such apps as Turnitin. If we make it easier for them to take notes on the materials, they would then have to write more of their own content for their papers and other assignments.
Here are 5 Chrome extensions, all with various features, that we can recommend to our students. They are Simple Notepad, Note anywhere, Mini Notepad, Note Board, and Chrome Notepad. Viveka Nagar reviewed these 5 features this past fall for I love free software.
Since it's not unusual for me to have sticky notes surrounding my computer screen and liberally posted across my desk and on walls, I tend to prefer the Note Anywhere add-on. Here's a snapshot from their app store of what it may look like:
I invite you to experiment with some or all of these possibilities and let us know if you and your students find them useful. Karen Nichols