- So I've just received an iPad from the school, and learning about the amazing potential of it as a learning tool. I was wary at first, because I had heard that the costs of buying apps is where Apple gets you, but within in minutes, I was tapping away, loading a bounteous number of useful FREE apps. The problem is ....
THERE ARE SO MANY. How do you pick? Which do you choose?
- I guess the problem is with free apps there are limitations to every program for what you want to do. You really need to consider what your needs are, in order to find the right program for what you want to do.
- At the moment, I'm looking for programs which my students can use to organise notes, and remains under the $5.00 mark, preferably free. Next year I will be at a 1-1 Macbook school, and during my practicum, I observed that students had huge problems with organising all their notes, and retrieving notes they wrote last lesson. I would ask students to please find the vocabulary list for hobbies and sports, and many of students would have saved it under "Vocab1,2,3,etc." which made it a painful process to find again. This was starting to make me think; "We need to go back to old fashioned notebooks!! They keep losing everything!!!" Each student had different problems with the way they organised, but one key issue was searching for key information they had "written somewhere", or had saved it in the wrong folder, etc.
As I began researching on an altogether different more personal tool for coordinating my notes (trying to keep track of all these amazing teaching ideas on the web and developing my own brainstorms), I realised that the students also needed a specific tool for note taking on their laptops, which also allowed them to have that free range ability to add side notes (to keep track of relevant vocabulary).
Microsoft OneNote
- For years, I've been using Microsoft OneNote, and it revolutionised the way I was able to study on my computer and online. It didn't completely replace my original notebook (though it easily could have - it's THAT good), but it has so many tools which enabled me to do exactly what I wanted when I wanted. Some simple tools which enhanced the learning experience:
- Search box, which will look through all your notes, and show you the notes which have that word.
- Recording lectures while I am typing
- Web clipping and pasting - automatically includes the link where you got it from, and with a click you can just go back to website.
- Copying .pdf files and being able to highlight and write notes right next to the document.
- Writing To-Do Lists, with a timeline, and being able to tick them off as I have completed them.
- Optional password protection, for files I kept on students.
- Export files as .pdf, so it can be read on any platform. So far finding the Macbook equivalent has been difficult, Microsoft have made one for iPads, but the reviews have mentioned that it really does not have the same capability as it does on a PC.
- So far, Growly Notes seems to be really the best alternative, and looks perfect for my year 7s and 8s. It's got a clear and colourful interface, easy to insert pictures. Even better, because it's completely FREE! Kudos to the creators of Growly Notes, I look forward to seeing how it goes...