Notability



Description

Notability is a multifunction note-taking application for all mobile iOS devices. It currently costs $2.99 in the App Store and is now available for the iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone, and iPod Touch (Calimlim, 2013). At it’s most basic level, Notability is a place for users to type notes. In addition to simply typing text, the app also includes the following powerful features:
 * A variable pen width to capture the user’s handwriting
 * Many color choices and pen types
 * Selections of fonts, styles, and outline templates to organize ideas
 * Annotation tools to mark up PDFs, slides, forms, and documents
 * Audio recordings linked to content within notes
 * Picture-taking and image placement capabilities
 * “Dividers” and “Subjects” to categorize and organize notes
 * Free in-app cloud services to collaborate on notes and share with others
 * Multiple device synchronization and cloud storage backup through iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box

Notability’s functions are often compared to those of apps such as Evernote, Noteshelf, iAnnotate PDF, GoodNotes, and Penultimate (Kazmucha, 2013). To see a comparison of Noteshelf versus Notability, watch the video below from iPadagogy’s YouTube Channel.

Notability Versus Noteshelf media type="custom" key="23970490"

History



<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ginger Labs <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, a software application company in Palo Alto, California, created the Notability app. Software developer Fred Mitchell <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> established the company in 2008 with a mission to use technology to enhance daily life. Ginger Labs launched their first product, soundAMP R, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in June 2009. The success of this audio recording app prompted the release of their second product, Notability, in April 2010.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Read more insight on the company from former developer Justin Brock in this interview. Learn more about the current Ginger Labs team here.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%; vertical-align: baseline;">Impact on Teaching and Learning

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the New Media Consortium Horizon Report, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> tablet computing is directly on the horizon for both K-12 education, as well as higher education institutions (Johnson, 2013). Many settings are implementing 1-to-1 programs, providing each student with a tablet to use within their educational setting. The Apple’s iPad <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">has historically been the frontrunner in this movement, only recently being rivaled by the Kindle Fire, Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, Microsoft Surface, and Lenovo’s ThinkPad and IdeaTab. This burgeoning realm of tablet computing has spurred the creation of many apps to help meet the needs of 21st-century students.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Paperless Classroom Workflow <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With more 1-to-1 programs in place at the K-12 level, educators are looking to the iPad to assist in the workflow of their classrooms. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Notability app has become a popular app to meet this need. It not only provides a place for students to take notes, but also allows them to retrieve, annotate, and submit work (Marcinek, 2013). This process eliminates much of the need to print worksheets, rubrics, and other paper documents, setting the stage for the paperless classroom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cloud Storage Integration <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of Notability's most powerful features is the integration and import/export features with cloud storage systems and other apps present on the iPad. This is especially helpful for educators who are using the paperless classroom workflow. Through cloud storage systems such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, Notability enables the educator to easily set up shared folders to expedite the grading and returning process. While this process is useful for digitally-created documents, students can also take pictures of other content to achieve the same result within the app (Kulowiec, 2012). This is especially powerful when completing collaborative research projects.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Annotation Abilities Many of the traditional teaching tools and methods used by educators are not optimized for the iPad. As more teachers move towards a paperless classroom workflow, many are turning their lecture materials and handouts into digital formats. PowerPoint lecture slides and PDF handouts are often shared digitally with students in preparation for class discussions, upcoming examinations, and in-class activities. The Notability app allows for these seemingly uneditable documents to be personally annotated and saved on any iOS device (McGivney, 2013). In addition, students can simultaneously record audio of class happenings directly in the Notability app.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Here are some examples of how Notability is being utilized by students and educators at different levels:

Using Notability in Medical School media type="custom" key="23944198"

How to Use Notability in the Classroom media type="custom" key="23944200"

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Practical Applications



<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ginger Labs offers suggestions as to how to use Notability in many facets of life. Here are some of their ideas, many of which extend beyond the classroom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Students: **
 * Take notes during classes
 * Organize and annotate handouts
 * Record audio of lectures
 * Review for an exam
 * Import slides and textbook pages to annotate

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Educators**
 * Set up a "paperless classroom" environment
 * Organize your course documents
 * Distribute and collect assignments
 * Record voice comments for students

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Paperless Classroom with Notability <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> media type="custom" key="23893072"

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Using Notability and Schoology to Mark and Return Student Work <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> media type="custom" key="23893090"

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> ** Working Professionals **
 * Brainstorm ideas
 * Take notes during meetings
 * Import and annotate documents
 * Sign documents digitally
 * Complete forms
 * Organize and track project progress

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Families **
 * Store important documents and manuals
 * Organize and categorize recipes
 * Keep and update to-do lists
 * Chronicle important milestones with pictures and text

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** Travelers **
 * Keep and update travel documents
 * Capture sounds and scenery
 * Chronicle the journey through pictures and text
 * Import and mark-up maps
 * Store itineraries and reservation documents

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Examples and Demonstrations

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Here are some tutorials that demonstrate Notability's most powerful features:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Introduction to Notability for iPad

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> media type="custom" key="23893118"

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Notability Tutorial, Part 1

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> media type="custom" key="23893102"

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Notability Tutorial, Part 2

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> media type="custom" key="23893108"

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">References

Calimlim, A. Notability 5.0 Is A Noteworthy Update, Adds iCloud Sync And Universal Support For iPhone -- AppAdvice. //Apps Gone Free//. Retrieved September 25, 2013, from http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/08/notability-5-0-is-a-noteworthy-update-adds-icloud-sync-and-universal-support-for-iphone

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., and Ludgate, H. (2013). NMC Horizon Report: 2013 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Kazmucha, A. (2013, August 21). Best Handwriting Note Apps for iPad: Notability, Penultimate, Noteshelf, and More! //iMore//. Retrieved from http://www.imore.com/best-handwriting-apps-ipad-notability-penultimate-noteshelf-and-more

Kulowiec, G. (2012, September 12). How One Classroom Actually Used iPads to Go Paperless (Part 1: Research). //Edudemic//. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/how-one-classroom- actually-used-ipads-to-go-paperless-part-1-research/

Marcinek, A. (2013, February 26). Top Five iPad Apps for Teaching Across All Content Areas. //Edutopia//. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/ipad-apps-all-content-areas-andrew-marcinek

McGivney, C. (2013). Taking Notes: Notability PaperPort Notes. //The Charleston Advisor//, //14//(4), 26-32.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">External Links

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ginger Labs Home Page <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Notability in the App Store <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Notability Facebook Page <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ginger Labs on Twitter <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ginger Labs on Tumblr

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">About the Author

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Rachel Kaneshiro is currently a Master’s student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the Educational Technology program. She is a proficient iOS user who depends on Notability to organize her busy life as a K-6 computer/technology resource teacher.