Escape the One Note

Before OneNote, my students had much less access to our materials. I could post things in our LMS or email them out, but often I ended up printing things so my students could annotate. Now, they can access anything from class, including our shared notes, annotated text, and assignments, 24/7 on their devices. Unless your school's internet and your classroom management skills are phenomenal, be careful with the collaboration space. Otherwise, this is the perfect place to put all of your materials, procedures, readings, and lesson plans. Students are so empowered when all their resources are in one place!

This tool has extremely powerful capabilities when utilized correctly. OneNote works in a way where each students get their own notebook with different chapters and pages. Teachers set up the "students" notebook with certain pages, and throughout the class year can send them pages with material on them. Student's don't have to download anything or go to any website. What's more is that teachers can access each students notebook, so students can complete the work that shows up in their notebook and teachers can easily go into their notebook to leave feedback. This removes any confusion as to where the homework is and where to submit it.

I like the open-ended nature of the tool because it allows teachers (and students) to use the tool however best fits their learning/teaching experience. Some of the technical aspects can be challenging, especially if they aren't working correctly - if things do not sync up right, or there are log in issues. However, the tool overall is a great addition to the classroom learning environment.