Introducing PocketLab Notebook

PocketLab Notebook is a cloud-based lab notebook, designed to meet the needs of science teachers, science students, and citizen scientists for collecting data inside and outside the classroom.

With PocketLab Notebook you can organize data, notes, images, videos, questions, responses, tables, and graphs all in one place, so you can easily perform and document a science experiment. We're excited for you to give it a try!

The three most important things you need to know about PocketLab Notebook: 

1. The PocketLab Notebook will launch in the upcoming weeks on our web applications that works on Chromebooks, Macs, and Windows computers in the Chrome browser. Some functionality is also available on Android through the Chrome browser. Support for iOS is coming in 2020. 

2. All the features of the PocketLab App you know and love are still FREE. New features of the PocketLab Notebook like saving data to the cloud and creating lab reports will also be FREE. 

3. Teachers can also use PocketLab Notebook Pro which provides additional features to manage classroom and students' lab reports. PocketLab Notebook Pro will be available to select beta users who apply for Early Access Here. 

PocketLab Extended Tour

PocketLab Notebook Pro

There are two types of PocketLab Notebook accounts. A standard PocketLab Notebook account and a PocketLab Notebook Pro account. PocketLab Notebook Pro is a teacher account version of PocketLab Notebook. Teachers can create student accounts for their science classrooms, assign Lab Reports to their students, and more with PocketLab Notebook Pro.

Get early access to PocketLab Notebook Pro by signing up for the beta. After signing up, you'll get a code that provides free access to PocketLab Notebook Pro for the remainder of the school year (June 2020). We'll provide training materials and opportunities to give us feedback. Help make PocketLab Notebook a transformational tool in science classrooms around the world. 

PocketLab Notebook Pro Getting Started

Steps to Setting Up Your Classroom and Assigning Lab Reports

Step 1: Open PocketLab Notebook
    •    Open a Google Chrome browser on a Chromebook, Windows 10, Mac, or Android device
    •    Open a Google Chrome browser
    •    Go to thepocketlab.com/app

Step 2: Create an Account
    •    Click “LOGIN”
    •    Click “Create an Account” 
    •    Create an account using a valid email address. We will send you an email with a verification number
    •    A prompt will ask you to enter your email and the verification number Click “Verify”
    •    You can now login with your email and password

Step 3: Switch your Account to PocketLab Notebook Pro
    •    Your need to switch your account from a standard PocketLab Notebook account to a PocketLab Notebook Pro account.
    •    Click the profile icon in the upper right corner of the screen. 
    •    Click “Go to my profile” in the drop down menu. 
    •    Find where it says “Account Type: Standard” and click “Edit”
    •    Enter your access code. 
    •    Your account will now switch to a PocketLab Notebook Pro account.

Step 4: Navigating your PocketLab Notebook Pro Account
There are 3 main sections in PocketLab Notebook Pro: 
    1.    Trials page - Connect your PocketLab for quick and easy data collection and experimentation. 
    2.    Lab Report Library - Create your own Lab Reports or import publically shared Lab Reports to use with your classes. 
    3.    Classes - Create classrooms, add rosters, assign Lab Reports
and monitor student progress. 

Step 5: Set up your Classes
    •    Click on the Classes button
    •    Click “Create New Class”
    •    Enter the name of your class and any other relevant information (period, subject, room number). 
    •    A class code will automatically be generated for this class.
    •    You can create as many classes as you need. 

Step 6: Adding students to Class Rosters/creating Student Accounts
    •    Adding students to a class roster will create PocketLab Notebook accounts for each student. 
    •    In a Class page, click “Add Students”. 
    •    A dialog window will pop-up. Enter student usernames by typing them into the text box or copy/pasting them from a roster. 
    •    Student names must be separated by a new line. 
Example:   
Albert E.
Marie C.
Thomas E. 
    •    Click “Done”
    •    Your Class Roster will now populate with your student usernames. 
    •    Student Accounts have now been created for each student in the Class Roster.

Step 7: Student Accounts
Students will need two items to log in to their PocketLab Notebook account. You need to provide them these two items. 
    1.    Class Code. This is automatically generated when you create a class in PocketLab Notebook Pro. Every student in your class will have the same code. It can be found at the top of the Class page in your account.
    2.    Username from the Class Roster. The student username will be the exact name you have for that student in the Class Roster. 

Step 8: Assigning Lab Reports to Students
    •    In the Class page, above the Class Roster is a list of Lab Report Assignments. 
    •    Add a Lab Report Assignment by clicking “Add Lab Report”
    •    A list of all the Lab Reports you currently have in your Lab Report Library will appear (to add more Lab Reports or create new Lab Reports, navigate to the Lab Report Library page). 
    •    Select the Lab Report you wish to assign to your students. 
    •    That Lab Report will now be added to the list of Lab Report Assignments. 
    •    Click on the Lab Report Assignment to assign it to students in Lab Groups or to work on individually. 

Step 9: Creating Lab Groups for a Lab Report Assignment
    •    Click on the name of the Lab Report Assignment
    •    Click “Use Lab Groups”. 
    •    Click “Add Group”
    •    A Lab Group will be added with a group number. 
    •    Click on the Lab Group and a drop-down menu will open with your Class Roster. Select a student to add to the group. Click on the Lab Group again to add more students.
    •    Click “Add Group” to add another group. Continue this process until all your students are organized in Lab Groups. 

More details about Lab Groups
    •    When using Lab Groups on your next assignment, you can click “Use Previous Lab Groups” and the students will be automatically organized into their previous lab groupings. 
    •    When students are given a Lab Report Assignment as part of a Lab Group they all share a copy of the same Lab Report. Each student can write their own responses to questions which can’t be edited by other students. All students in the Lab Group will be able to see the responses of the other students in their Lab Group. 
    •    It is up to you and whether you want each student to write their own response to certain questions or whether a “Recorder” for the group will write a response for everyone in the group. 

Step 10: Monitoring Student Progress
    •    After assigning a Lab Report Assignment to your students, you can view their progress on the assignment at any point. 
    •    Navigate to the Class page. 
    •    Click on the name of the Lab Report Assignment you want to monitor. 
    •    A panel will open that shows every group (if Lab Groups were assigned) or every individual student (if it was assigned individually). 
    •    Click “See Lab Report” under each Group Name (if assigned to Lab Groups) or under each student name (if assigned individually). 
    •    A new browser tab will open with the students’ Lab Report. You can see their responses, collected data, and their progress in completing the Lab Report. 
    •    More features for giving student feedback and monitoring their progress in real-time are coming soon. 

PocketLab Notebook

Accessing PocketLab Notebook

PocketLab Notebook is compatible on Chromebooks, Mac computers, Windows 10 computers, and Android phones and tablets. Compatibility with iOS is coming soon. 

1. On a compatible device, open a Google Chrome internet browser. 
2. Go to thepocketlab.com/app. 

You can use PocketLab Notebook with or without a PocketLab account. If you create a PocketLab account you can save your recorded graphs to your account and access them from any device.

Create a PocketLab Account

You must be 14 years old to create an individual account with PocketLab Notebook. Student’s can login by clicking Student Login if their teacher has set up a PocketLab Notebook Pro account.

Create an Individual Account

1. Click “Login” in top toolbar. 
2. Click “Create an Account”.
3. Fill in the prompts to sign-up.
4. You will receive an email with a verification code. 
5. Use the verification code to verify your account. 
6. You can now login with your PocketLab account. 

PocketLab Notebook Pro
Teachers can use PocketLab Notebook Pro to create student accounts and manage their classroom’s Lab Reports. See the section on PocketLab Notebook Pro for more information. 

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Trials Page

The Trials page is where you can easily collect data from your PocketLab sensor. When you save recorded data to your PocketLab Notebook it will save in the Trials page. 

Collecting Data

If you have a PocketLab sensor you can connect it to PocketLab Notebook to record data in a variety of ways. When you can connect a PocketLab you will see three options. 

1. Connect to PocketLab - This is for most use cases. Click this button to connect to your PocketLab and record data from any of its sensors. 
2. Connect to VelocityLab - This is a specialized version of our app for use with PocketLab Voyager or PocketLab One. It is used for attaching PocketLab to a wheel and using it as a speedometer for position, velocity, and acceleration experiments. 
3. Use the internal device sensors - This connects your phone or computers onboard sensors to PocketLab notebook for recording data. It does not connect to a PocketLab sensor. 

Connect to PocketLab

1. Click “Connect to PocketLab”.
2. A connection window should pop-up.
3. Turn your PocketLab on.
4. Select the name of your PocketLab and click “Pair”. 
5. Your PocketLab will connect and begin streaming data to the Data View. 

 

Data View

In the Data View you can stream, record, analyze, and save data from your PocketLab or devices sensors. 

1. Click Record to begin recording PocketLab data. 
2. Clicks Stop to stop a data recording. 
3. Click Data Analysis to access data analysis tools. 
4. Click Save to save your recorded data. 
5. Click Clear to discard your data and begin streaming data again. 

 

 

Saving PocketLab Data

Clicking Save will give you three options to save your PocketLab data. 

1. Save to Notebook - This will save the graph of your recorded data to your Trials page. You must be signed in to use the feature. 
2. Upload to Google Drive - This will upload a .csv file of your recorded data to your Google Drive account. You do not need to be logged in to PocketLab Notebook to use this feature, but you do need a Google Drive account. 
3. Download .csv - This will download a .csv file of your recorded data to your computer, phone, or tablet. You do not need to be logged in to PocketLab Notebook to use this feature. 

 

Saving data to your Trials page

When clicking “Save to Notebook” your data will be saved to your Trials page. You can give each trial a name and add trial notes. You can access your saved data on your Trials page from any device when you are logged in to your account. 
 

 

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Lab Reports

A Lab Report is an entry in your PocketLab Notebook that allows you to collect more than just PocketLab data. You can add predictions, observations, videos of trials, images of diagrams, links to Google Docs, Youtube videos of phenomena and more.
 

Lab Report Library

Your Lab Report Library contains all of your saved Lab Reports. We’ve given you a few examples to start. From the Lab Report Library page you can access a saved Lab Report or create a new Lab Report.

Create a New Lab Report

You can click “Create New Lab Report” or click the arrow drop-down menu to create a new Lab Report. You can create a new Lab Report in three ways. 
 

Building a Lab Report

Add different types of Lab Report cards (text cards, image cards, data collection cards, etc.) to build out your Lab Report. You can then share your Lab Report with other teachers and PocketLab users. With a PocketLab Notebook Pro account, you can assign your Lab Reports to a class full of students. 

Sharing Lab Reports

You can share Lab Reports with other teachers and PocketLab users by getting a shareable link to your Lab Report. 

1. Open a Lab Report. 
2. Click the three-dot icon next to the Lab Report name. 
3. Click Share. 
4. A shareable link to the Lab Report will be created. 
5. With this link, others can view the Lab Report in a read-only version. Other users can also use the link to import a copy of the Lab Report to use in their own accounts.