Paperport Notes (née Noterize) enables core student tasks

Students in our 1-to-1 iPad program use Paperport Notes
to take notes, annotate documents, record audio

The iPad impacts learning and studying in many ways that are transformative. New uses are energizing and exciting. Yet it is also good for us to review past choices with our 1-to-1 student iPad program and our app choices. There are some basic tasks for students where tablet computing excels:

• Organizing PDF and other documents: handouts, articles, assignments;
• Critical reading and annotating: making notes in the text and margin while reading, creating an active relationship with the text;
• Taking notes by either typing or handwriting with a stylus or finger.

One app that we have had as part of our core "toolbox" for our students is Noterize. We made Noterize available to our students because it combined the functions listed above in one, easy-to-use app. Further, it functions well with Box, the cloud file storage system we use. Better yet, it became free in the summer of 2011. While it has not been a perfect tool for our students -- some students experienced the app crashing with loss of homework -- for many, it has been effective.

Noterize disappeared from the App Store a few weeks ago and has reappeared with a new company and a new name: Paperport Notes. There are a few new interesting note-sharing features that are not directly relevant to our student community this year but are worth investigating. We're also hoping that some bug fixes made it into this revision. We're hopeful this is a first step towards a larger update. But don't get me wrong: Paperport Notes, especially at it's free cost, is definitely worth investigating!

Do you use or like Paperport Notes? Or have an alternative app that you love? Please comment below!