This post originally appeared on Physician Assistant Education Association’s blog

A great misconception that exists is that just because an individual — especially a young person — owns a device, they are “tech savvy.” As a result, we often assume students are familiar with best practices for using digital tools when, in fact, what happens is they tend to use in a substitution manner instead of a transformative one. In the recent article “The 4Ss of Note-Taking,” Beth Holland, an instructor with EdTechTeacher, presents a transformative approach to digital note-taking:

“Before making a blanket statement that one device may be better than another (e.g., pen vs. laptop) or calling into question what may be the best note-taking system, what if we approach the concept by identifying what is best for individual students? In other words, does the system…

• Adequately support the students’ learning needs?
• Allow students to save their notes to multiple locations?
• Let students search for salient points?
• Permit students to share with peers and teachers?”

>> Read about using Evernote, iAnnotate, and Paper 53 in the rest of this article.

An Educational Technology Course for Educators

If you would like to learn more about how to integrate technology into the classroom, we invite you to join Digital Literacy: Faculty Edition, our professional learning course available on iTunes U. Here we will explore how you can begin integrating a variety of tools to enhance and develop your curriculum and instruction, providing students with an interactive and engaging learning experience.

Do you have an experience to share or would you like to learn from others with iPads? Come learn with us in Boston!