Description
Every day, people come across various reading materials on the internet that they would like to read. However, due to limitations such as time, the lack of access to the internet, and difficulties in recovering links to the readings, many people fail to read them. The reason for this is that they lack means to save the materials or import them to storage devices in order to read them later. As a result, they make several trips to libraries or cyber cafes in order to access the readings again.
This is common among teachers and students, who constitute the largest group of people that uses the internet on a regular basis. They often use the internet when developing their term papers, sourcing for additional course materials, and socializing with other users. Fortunately for students and teachers experiencing this problem, there is no need to suffer any more because Instapaper is developed to solve the problem.
Instapaper is a simple web based tool that allows a user to save links to web pages on devices such as iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and Android devices (Sparks, 2011). This tool offers a user the easiest way to save and store reading materials from the internet for the future use. The technology applied by this tool formats the saved material in such a manner that a user can access it from anywhere and at any time, regardless of whether one is online or not.
Instapaper makes it possible for one to save any material from the internet and read it later. It is accessible through the Apps Store for iPhone and iPad, while Android phone users access it on Google Play (Sparks, 2011). Core features of this tool include the ability to save web content into readable formats in various devices, as well as the ability to offer a reading environment free of online distractions like pop ups.
It also enables the user to edit the saved document to his or her reading preferences in terms of font type, size, spacing, margins, and brightness. In addition, Instapaper allows them to create and manage folders for all files saved from the internet. One can organize materials according to their relevance, size, date of retrieval, or their popularity. It is possible to share one’s saved material with others through a browser, or applications such as Bluetooth that facilitate sharing of files (Gordon, 2013).
How to use Instapaper
When a teacher or a student comes across articles and materials that they would like to read later, they can simply save them on Instapaper. It is important to know that one needs to have the application installed on their reading device before saving any file.
Once a user identifies the files to save, he or she presses a button on the browser, or chooses the option labeled “Send to Instapaper” (Sparks, 2011). When the application receives that command, it formats and saves all files into readable formats. This process can be performed on the Android devices, iPad, and the iPhone.
Using this tool on a computer is a bit different because in order to save a file, a user drags a bookmark labeled “Read Later” to the browser. Then, one should click the bookmark on the page that contains materials to be saved. The materials are automatically added into the list of unread files in the Instapaper (Gordon, 2013). Just like other devices, the files saved through a computer are reformatted to allow a user to access them when working offline. Users just need to create free accounts that allow them to save their files.
Students and teachers can use Instapaper to do more than just save their files because numerous updates on the tool have enabled them to identify and follow their friends who also use it. Friends can also access the articles and pages that their friends have liked and are reading.
This feature is accessible through a section on the tool labeled “The Feature” (Sparks, 2011). When reading, a user can encounter some difficult words that would require the use of a dictionary to get the meaning. This tool provides an offline dictionary that one can use to find the meaning of difficult terms.
Ways a teacher can use this tool
Teachers are literacy leaders and need to rethink the importance of improving their teaching skills in an era of technological developments such as the internet. It is important for teachers to embrace the use of technology in classrooms as a way of improving the learning experiences of all students.
Instapaper is a technological development that teachers can apply to support learning. Since learning entails a lot of reading, especially online due to easy access to the internet, it is important for teachers to develop a culture of reading even when they have no access to the web. Instructors can also use this tool to create an online resource center for various categories.
Ways a teacher can use this tool to support learning
Teachers can save the course materials on their Instapaper accounts, and share them with the students who can then access them from anywhere (Sparks, 2011). This ensures that students have access to course materials for their classes even when they are not in the library or within their learning institutions.
Teachers can use this tool to conduct interactive sessions with their students on their feelings regarding the course content, and any improvements they would like to see. The ability to create and manage folders containing various files also helps teachers share materials with students based on the topics of different tutorials (Gordon, 2013). Instapaper makes it easy for instructors to organize their teaching material and additional reading resources for their students.
How students can use Instapaper to support learning
Students can use Instapaper to support learning by bookmarking relevant materials for the future reference. This helps them expound on the content given by teachers in class. This tool can also assist students in writing quality term papers because they can save as much information as possible and read it carefully when they have sufficient time to study (Gordon, 2013).
Working on a term paper with the limited time and resources can be very challenging to students as they may end up producing substandard research papers. Students can arrange files in the preferred order using the mentioned tools, thus saving much of the time that would be spent in making quick references (Sparks, 2011).
The ability to access the information saved on this tool from anywhere provides students with an opportunity to make good use of their free time because they do not need to go to the library and access the information there. Students need to link their accounts with those of their teachers so that they can have access to a wider resource pool. Teachers have better research skills and can help students access more credible and reliable materials.
Additional resources
Instapaper Tutorial
This is a 10-minute video by Randall McRoberts who uses Instapaper on a daily basis for his work. The tutorial explains how to use Instapaper especially for first timers.
Video
A video by Joel Housman demonstrating how Instapaper works to save and retrieve saved articles.
References
Gordon, W. (2013). Read Later Apps Compared: Pocket vs. Instapaper vs. Readability. Web.
Sparks, D. (2011). iPad at Work. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.