One of the issues that consistently arises during iPad training sessions is, “The students want to and have to write up their work by hand into their books”. This is a global issue, the exciting, mobile technology can’t and shouldn’t replace handwriting until exams are online. Students this month have started exams, some of which are two hours long and they will be expected to fill that time handwriting pages with a black pen. Exams will most likely migrate online, but not soon.
The wonderful free app Paper 53 for the iPad sits perfectly in subject lessons where students need to roughly sketch out thoughts, a plan, or sequence and mind map ideas, quickly and simply. An elegant app, that produces gorgeous results, quickly. It’s not there to replace handwriting or drawing in books, it can be used to compliment those traditional class activities.
With Paper 53 it’s easy for students to create journals for each lesson, filling them with sketches, ideas and notes. These can be saved or printed out. Paper 53 also encourages students to create portfolios of their work, saved in one place, then easily accessible when they need the information.