Better annotation tools for iPad

We are a 1:1 iPad school, and there are several things about the annotate feature that makes it tedious for our teachers to use:

1) Must click "annotate" on every single student/file, and wait for the box to load. (On other LMS, like Google Classroom, the files auto-load, and you can use previous/next arrows to switch between submissions)

2) No colors. If the student writes their document in black, and the annotations are in black, it is hard to differentiate.

3) VERY small area for the box to load. On a standard size iPad, (~9.7"), the annotate box appears in the lower right hand corner. Most of the screen is taken up by the students names on the left, and the text on the top. So the whole document doesn't even fit on screen or in the box. The teacher has to scroll down in the box to see the entire document. And once you've started annotating, you cannot scroll inside the box, because it will just continue writing your annotation line. Some ways to fix this could be:

a) Open annotation documents in a new window

b) Load the annotation in a pop up overtop the screen (like when you press the expand button on the box view, except you cannot currently annotate this way)

c) Implement some kind of Apple-type scrolling (where you would use two fingers to scroll the document, and one finger to annotate).

d) Ability to scroll at all after making an annotation. After writing anything with annotation on iPad, you can only zoom in, or go to the next page, you can't scroll. It is almost impossible to easily scroll through and annotate. I have attached a video of myself attempting to do so. (After I make my first annotation, I spend the rest of the video trying to use the zoom in/out feature to "scroll" to the middle of the first page, in order to continue my annotations. It does not go well)

  • Janice Bonczek
  • Nov 5 2020
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  • Danielle Mutovic commented
    December 01, 2020 14:07

    I Completely Agree. Not having these features makes it necessary to implement other LMS options.

  • Trey Hoos commented
    November 11, 2020 15:54

    I agree! The worst part is your point in (d). After annotating you cannot scroll! You end up having to reload the entire box app