No More Lost Homework

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2005

It's easy to lose a homework assignment, as many children know. But not when the assignment is stored online or submitted via e-mail. "The dog ate my homework" and similar excuses will no longer cut it.

The capacity to help organize student work is one reason why Kaaren Linton believes so strongly in a new software offering called Big6 Turbo Tools (www.big6turbotools.com)—and why she left an 18-year career as a librarian in the Salt Lake City public schools to teach other librarians how to use the program. Linton, who says some students can lose an assignment just by walking from class to class, comments, "The software really organizes for you."

Big6 Turbo Tools is a K–12 program that helps automate the research-paper process by putting all the tools online and giving students pointers on how to go about creating a research paper.

With Turbo Tools, students can drag and drop Web site URL's into their folders, making it easier to relocate online resources. The program even generates a schedule automatically—based on the date the project was assigned and the date it is due—that helps students stay on track.

Linton says teachers love the program, too, as students can e-mail completed assignments rather than submit burdensome paper.

So far, 25 schools have licensed the software, says Dixon Day, marketing manager for Turbo Tools' creator, Big6 Learning Resources. "And we think things will pick up this summer," he says.