My experience with using OneNote Class Notebook

You can watch the full tutorial below to see how to setup OneNote for use with a class. In brief, it sets up a content library that the teacher can add to and the students can, a private space where teachers and students can work together and a collaboration space where the teacher and all students can work.

I have used the Content Library quite heavily in my instructional process. I will project the OneNote Notebook on the screen and use my pen to write directly on the page. Students prefer hand-written items rather than text (unless there is lots of text) as it helps to link into one of the fundamentals of teaching - the relationship between the teacher and the student. I have sometimes had students who have had the OneNote Notebook open in front of them on their laptop so that they can zoom in/out and go back to previous parts of the canvas. I'm very glad that it updates with 15 seconds to their screens.

One problem that I've encountered are the different versions of OneNote. I use OneNote 2016 (i.e. the standard traditional PC application). Many students who click on the link (especially if they are using a mac) end up using the online version of OneNote, which means that it has not synced offline for them. Sometimes students end up with the new Window 10 OneNote App, which seems to be working better than it used to.

I have used the Collaboration tool a few times, but have learnt the importance of clear and directed messages to students as it quickly becomes an opportunity for students to vandalise (a word used by one of my colleagues). When in a demonstration session with some staff, I could not resist the temptation to myself get off track very quickly 'collaborating' with colleagues. What I have learnt form this is the importance of having students play with the tool before they need to use it educationally. I would give students 2 minutes to 'collaborate' on drawing making a face or a house, so that they can just play and do silly things and get that out of their system. It then makes it easier to transition to the serious use of the notebook. This is exactly the same as my brother's technique when taking photos of children - this is the serious photo and then we'll take a silly one afterwards.

I'm yet to sufficiently use the individual student parts of the notebook, but have learnt with others that it is designed to sync individual worksheets (eg a few pages) rather than 100 page booklets as the syncing doesn't really work that well.

What a great tool personally for my own organisation, but also to engage students and get them collaborating well.