My Take
This is a very simple Venn Diagram app. It's design is not geared to any particular level, so it works in elementary, middle, and high school. It is especially helpful for students who have trouble drawing their own Venn Diagrams, or those who simply run out of space in their work. Students also have an easy way to store and save their work so that they do not lose it in the long run. When it came to using the item description box, many of them would use it to elaborate on their original label.
It does help if students are familiar with the iPad and the keyboard, and have a basic understanding of what the app does. For students who do not, it would be best to give them a print out of a Venn Diagram instead. It would also be nice if there were a way to move around the titles for each circle, and give each diagram a name overall. My students were confused when they could not do this, as it had been a requirement any other time they created a Venn Diagram.
Overall, it's a decent little app, and a good way to use technology to rope in the hesitant writers. Some may prefer being able to create their work on the iPad rather than on pencil and paper.
How I Use It
I used this project as part of whole group demonstrations and in small group activities. Students would use it to compare and contrast characters in their reading stories, events in history, and characteristics of living things in science. Before using the app with them in small groups, I would use it in whole group sessions to let them understand what the app did and how to make it work. This not only made small group time easier, but it also created more digital helpers to help out when I was unable to do so. After small groups, I would email the finished diagrams to myself for data purposes.
This app didn't work best with students who had trouble using the iPad or alone if they did not understand how to compare and contrast in the first place. These students were often needing help and more focused on what the app was not doing instead of the work at hand. When this occurred, I would pair the student up with another student to provide assistance