The convenience of Notability outweighs any challenges

Hoffman Estates High School has replaced a regular notebook with paper in most classes. The reactions have mostly been positive, and though there have been some small issues with Notability, the Hoffman community has come to embrace this revolutionary, new way of replacing paper.

Teachers and students love the customizability of using a digital medium. Kristy LeVanti, a science teacher, said that she likes being “able to change color quickly, erase without marks, and manipulate objects” to scale.

Students feel the same. Akanksha Patel (‘15) and Nikita Patel (‘17) feels that writing in different colors is definitely a plus, and they also feel that having assignments in one app makes “turning stuff in” easier.

Teachers like LeVanti also felt that notability helps make learning easier. As LeVanti says, Notability is great at “visually emphasizing concepts” whether it is through diagrams, or different colored text. Notability makes it easy to focus on certain concepts during notes and helps improve recall when it comes to taking the test.

However, teachers note some potential problems or concerns with Notability. LeVanti and Jason Stevens, an English teacher, said that they had instances where students reported losing all their notes up to that point. Though this is prevented by backing up properly, it does show one of the technological issues with Notability.

Kerri Largo, the business education chair, said there is definitely a “learning curve with notability”. It does take a lot of practice to transition from writing on paper, and this was an opinion shared by LeVanti and Stevens. Even after transitioning completely to Notability, teachers like Largo still feel that some assignments are still easier on paper than on an electronic surface.

“Organization could definitely be a problem,” said Largo. LeVanti and Stevens agree.

The number of notes increases from the sheer volume of assignments. A student who does not take the time to organize their notes would find themselves in an electronic mess,a problem that seems to be common between Notability and paper.

However, in the long run, Notability still wins the race as far as opinions go. Notability is still a lot more convenient than “carrying around a folder,” said Gunalan Natesan (‘17). This convenience seemed to be the ultimate point in Notability’s favor as both students and teachers feel that Notability is a well designed alternative to traditional paper.