Evernote in the Classroom

I really enjoyed using Evernote this year. I found it very efficient and useful for taking notes in class. My favorite part about the app was how it would automatically sync to other devices. This proved to become very useful throughout the year as I took notes to prepare for exams and class discussions. I could take notes in class on the iPad and then access them at home that night to study and review them. I could also take notes on my home computer or even my phone and have them the next day in class without the worry of bringing the notes to class. The best part was that the notes would automatically sync to my other devices, creating less work for me to do. Overall my experience with Evernote was positive and I will defiantly be using it again.

A problem that I discovered while using Evernote is that you can't indent a paragraph. Only recently, towards the end of the year, did I find out that you can indent an entire paragraph by clicking the arrow in the upper right hand corner. However, like I said, I did not find this out until the end of the year because it was not marked. I simply thought it brought you to the previous note written. Also, this does not help me much because it indents the entire paragraph, not just the first sentence of the paragraph. It would be helpful to add a "tab" button so the first sentence of a paragraph can be indented. This would be helpful for essay writing using Evernote. Other than not having a "tab" button for a paragraph Evernote proved to be very useful.

One suggestion that I have to improve Evernote is adding a "tab" button to indent the first sentence of a paragraph. This would allow students to be able to write in essay format. Another suggestion is adding a function so a student would be able to drop a picture into a note and be able to comment on the picture. This would make annotations of literary pieces much easier. This way students could visually see what their annotations are referencing. For example if a student was annotating a specific paragraph form a scanned photo they could make a side note next to that paragraph instead of below on a note. This would visually allow the student to connect their own notes with a specific phrase, sentence or paragraph in a scanned piece of literary work.

iPads in the Classroom

As the year progressed I discovered that as well as being "cool", a class set of iPads served to be efficient and useful to the classroom environment. There were many benefits to having the iPads in the classroom, one including the extremely quick Internet connection. The iPads were very helpful when we were working on projects, making them more hands on. We did not have to waste time waiting for the Internet to connect when researching. The iPads were also very helpful when it came to taking notes. Various apps would allow one to sync notes taken in class to other devices that could be accessed at home, making it very convenient for the student. The iPad made taking notes much faster than handwriting, therefore allowing the student to obtain the most information possible. Overall I thought that the iPads in the classroom were very beneficial to both the students and the teacher in the classroom setting, as well as to at home.

The biggest limitation to having a class set of iPads were that the students had to return them everyday at the end of class and could not personalize them. Although the iPads were useful in class, it would have been better if the student could have taken it home with them. This way the students could personalize them and would have them at hand for the entire school year. A major problem that I found was that everyday we would spend a couple minutes in the morning unplugging them from the cart and signing in, and about 5 minutes at the end of class signing out and plugging them back in. To me this seems like a waste of time and inefficient. Everyday we would have to sign in to apps and programs used in class, and then sign out at the end of class, wasting class time. It was also became a  problem when students from previous classes would forget to sign out, leaving their information up for anyone to see. If we had a personal iPad throughout the school year that problem could be avoided and would save time.

Personally, I feel that a 1:1 environment is the right approach to take for the iPads. This way students would be able to use their iPads throughout the school day and at home. This would be more efficient because students would not have to constantly sign in and out of programs which would not waste time in the class. What I would like most about having my own iPad for the school year is being able to use it in my other classes. I find that taking notes on the iPad is easier than writing them down with pen and paper. It would also be helpful when it came to textbooks. Instead of carrying a huge textbook to a class one could simply have the textbook on their iPad. Another advantage is that the textbooks would not get worn down or damaged through the years, saving the school money. Although I know that I would personally take care of my iPad, not everyone might. This is why if the iPad gets damaged the individual student pays for it, not the school. That is one of the biggest concerns with individual iPads, however it can be avoided if the student pays for damages out of pocket. Overall I think it would be beneficial for students to get individual iPads for the entire school year.