Class Notebook Makes OneNote Essential Classroom Tool

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.

Overall, I think OneNote's Class Notebook is a great organizational tool that streamlines the distribution of materials and facilitates collaboration between students. I like being able to exert some control over students' organization and having access to notebooks from previous years to reuse materials. I never have to lug home a class set of composition books again and can largely avoid unreliable copy machines, not only saving me time, but reducing my use of paper. However, after using OneNote the past few years, I am partial to the 2016 version and was not pleased when my students' computers were updated to the new 2018 version. Not only am I not familiar enough with the new interface to help my students use it, there also seem to be more issues with syncing delays this year with the new version. While I am normally prepared with paper backups for those who aren't able to access the materials in the notebook, I worry that if the syncing delays become pervasive enough, students will become frustrated with using the notebook and resist adopting it despite its many benefits, and finding another tool to organize students' materials as well as I have been able to with Class Notebook would require a significant shift in my teaching practices after using it so extensively the past few years.