Using an iPad and Apple Pencil to offer more personalized, detailed feedback on student journals submitted through Canvas

Using an iPad and Apple Pencil to offer more personalized, detailed feedback on student journals submitted through Canvas

Grant:
Instructional Development Fund (IDF)
Academic Year:
2021 - 2022 (June 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022)
Funding Requested:
$453.99
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
forrestk
Overview of the Project:
I am a lecturer in the Department of Romance Language and Literatures. I teach approximately 54 students each semester. My students submit a weekly hand-written journal entry in PDF or JPG format on Canvas. I am seeking a CRLT grant to purchase an Ipad Pro and Apple pencil so that I can write my comments/corrections directly into their on-line submissions. This will make giving feedback so much more efficient. Students are always asking for more feedback, and this would allow them to see exactly on which part of their writing I am annotating or commenting.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

The objectives of this project were to acquire an iPad and Apple Pencil in order to give more specific feedback directly onto my students' handwritten journals (submitted as PDFs on Canvas). My students write a total of 14 journal entries throughout the semester, and giving more personalized feedback helps them to improve in their Spanish written production from week to week.

Project Achievements:

I have been practicing with the Apple Pencil and am still learning how to give more detailed feedback efficiently on my students' hand-written journals on Canvas. Even though I have reminded them, I don't know how many of them have opened their PDFs to see my comments, considering that I started doing this midway through the semester. I plan to continue providing feedback in this way next semester, and will be able to do so from the beginning. To encourage students to get in the habit of opening up the PDFs to look for my comments, I plan to ask them to review and initial in the comments section. When students come to review their journals in office hours, it is very helpful to review the feedback together.

Continuation:
Yes, grading journals is an ongoing project and so I plan to continue next semester.
Dissemination:
I have emailed all of my Spanish 232 colleagues to share with them information about this project, and have offered to answer any questions they may have.
Advice to your Colleagues:
I met with someone from LSA Technology services prior to seeking this grant and learned how to use the iPad and pencil for annotating directly onto PDFs, and that was very helpful. I also learned that LSA Loan Center has iPads and Apple Pencils that one can check out to practice. Other considerations should include purchasing a cover (to protect the device and store the Pencil) for sure and, possibly, AppleCare. I didn't budget for any extended warranty. Since this was my first experience with an iPad and Apple Pencil, it took some getting used to, so patience is in order.
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