App Review: UPad

I love UPad. I really do. It was when I first started playing around with it that I said to myself that these IPads and learning will work. Now, whether you use UPad, Notability, Penultimate or other similar programs is up to you and your school. This post isn't about comparing and contrasting these "note-taking" apps and making any recommendations. But you absolutely must use one of them. These are the apps that are tossing the paper and pens and pencils out the door.

In fact, I had presumed I would be using Notability, as it was the first one I was introduced to. I thought it was perfect. However, last year some of the first teachers using IPads used UPad, not Notability, and we feel it's essential to be consistent with App use, so UPad it is. Ah well.

Ah well, indeed. UPad is also great. So, what do these apps do? Well, think of it as notebooks combined with handouts, complete with erasable pens of any color/thickness, plus highlighter, and the function of adding photos, text, and shapes. It's also very easy to use, easy to share, and easy to organize.

Did I say I love this app?

So far, I use the app in one of three ways:

1. To read our textbook and highlight and annotate main ideas.
2. To complete handouts and summary frames/study guides
3. To create original material.

I don't think I've had a lesson I haven't used this app. Some examples:

This lesson was early in the school year. In one respect, this lesson was to learn about latitude and longitude, but at that early point in the school year I was more interested in the students learning how to use UPad and Google Earth.  Notice the different colors for text. It's easy to move both text and pictures around. You can also rotate pictures.The students grabbed screenshots, but when you add photos you can take one then and there, add from your own library, or copy & paste from online.

An example of a study guide, which is downloaded as a PDF into UPad. Students then upload it, either as a PNG or PDF file. Now, this is very old-school teaching just being done in a different way. Students are still reading their text, summarizing and making notes. The difference is they're doing it in a cooler way. Also, a positive change from the past is that students are summarizing more in their own words as it is more difficult to copy the textbook verbatim, as they need to switch back and forth between their textbook and study guide.

UPad is flawless, IMO. It costs 5 bucks American, 150 Taiwanese dollars. Considering that it becomes a notebook, binder, set of pens and highlighters, plus more and is so easy to use, that 5 bucks is a steal. And as I said, this isn't a comparison with their rivals, nor an endorsement of UPad over the other similar apps. But if you're a teacher soon to be using tablets in your classroom and you're concerned about the transition, then relax a little. Not only will you not have to re-invent the wheel, but you're going to have so many more options of how to do your lessons.