Evernote Feedback

The best part about using Evernote was having it save when you would write.  One thing that was a problem for me in using things like Microsoft Word was that they do not save automatically and I always lose documents.  Evernote seems to always save my documents.  Evernote was also better than taking notes on the iPad Notes app.  It had more options to different text options like sizes or bullet points. I don't have to always email myself the notes I took.  All the notes I took were stored there on my account.  That was something that was very tedious and Evernote gets ride of that problem.   Evernote Problems The problems with Evernote was that it does not have a good enough spell check.  When taking notes, you have to go very fast to type everything on an iPad. A lot of words get missed spelled and Evernote does not catch all of them. That's a big problem because when I start to write papers it does not get the spelling errors and the gramatical errors.  Another thing that was a problem was the having it all stored on the internet. Sometimes my internet wasn't working and then I wouldn't have access to my notes.  Also, it was hard to study my notes because they weren't right with me, they were on a screen.  I find it  harder to learn with out physically having notes with me on paper. Evernote Suggestions  Some suggestions for Evernote would to be to get a better spell check.  That really is a problem that I think would make it a much better site.  I also think that if the district got a 1:1 iPads for every student that they should all have to use Evernote that has premium features.  This way they are taking the best notes possible.  If Evernote was maybe more like Microsoft and had a lot more options it would be a better app to use.  Also if it was a little more user friendly, or if we had more instructions on how to use it.  It could really be helpful to note taking though.  Evernote was a great tool to take notes, but could be a lot better for students using iPads in school. 

iPads

Having the opportunity to have the iPads in class definitely had some benefits.  It gave us the option to use different learning tools and takes notes like Evernote.  During class we could also look up things on the Internet if we didn't understand them.  We could look up words, phrases, poems, really anything that we needed to.  That was a very beneficial part to the iPads.  It was also helpful to learn about the technology because technology is moving very fast. I never had used an iPad before but now I do. Those are helpful skills that we are going to have use in later years in life that we were able to get this year.   Limitations Some of the limitations that I faced using the iPads was only having them in class.  I would take notes in class on the iPad but it was hard to remember to email them to myself to look at them.  If we could have taken them home I wouldn't have had this problem.  It was also not convenient when we did not have the iPads and they were in a different class room.  I think that we were all used to using them everyday that when they were not there it was hard to be limited in research and note taking.  Also some of the apps were limiting because I do not have those at home.  For example, when we would use the iBooks to annotate text.  It was great to annotate the text right in the actual book on the Ipads.  However, I couldn't get that information to myself without copying it all down on paper. Getting More iPads The iPads were really helpful in class, but to be honest I think that the district should focus on spending there money in other areas.  They are very expensive and I think that there were a lot of limitations for taking notes and annotating.  If the district were to get more iPads, I would suggest that they get 1:1 environment because then students would have so much more access to there notes and annotations.  However, I think that they are only helpful in some classes.  For instance, in math it would be nearly impossible to take proper notes and I personally thought it was hard to take notes in English.  It was a hard to get used to typing on the iPads.  I also thought that it was impractical to take notes on the iPads because the only way to have them in your hand was to print them out.  This is very time consuming and taking hand written notes seem to be more beneficial.   If the district were to spend money in technology i would suggest that they get better computers in the library that are more fast pace.