There are several iPad applications which I have found productive
to use. One is called iAnnotate which allows the user to annotate on pdf’s. I
have used this program to make comments on exams and papers, and then emailed
the marked up pdf back to the students. What is nice about this
program on the iPad is not that it does anything that could not be done before
(Adobe Acrobat allowed annotations and comments), but the iPad works like a very
portable tablet PC, and this application lends itself to the iPad interface.
You can use a stylus or the keyboard to make notes and comments. The iPad is combining
the concept of the tablet PC with the desktop or laptop computer and putting it
into a small, very personal package. iAnnotate takes advantage of that
interface. The touch screen interface of the iPad is also a key feature for
this application – you can zoom into an area of the document, write your notes,
and then zoom out and the comments can be the same size as the text. You can even
write between the lines if the students haven’t double spaced the document.
