Simplenote

Related to my previous post, I went to look at some good note taking apps.
I especially searched for one which had good sync and sharing features.
Simplenote seems one of the best apps that provides both.

First, file (or 'note') synchronization is done. The app keeps an online version of your notes.
These notes are accessible with any browser so you can make changes on the notes at home on your desktop, laptop, etc... All versions will stay synchronized.

Notice the 'Web Syncing' option

Second, the app supports sharing. Notes can be easily be shared by e-mail, by publishing them as web pages, and you can even invite other Simplenote users for collaboration.
This would be very handy for students that have missed some classes for various reasons, or just to collaborate with your colleagues.

Example of a shared note (the wi-fi icon)

Off course, this app would have to be adjusted so that also the slides (see previuos post) are viewable.

Some reviews of the Simplenote app:
http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=89982
http://www.macworld.com/article/153627/2010/08/simplenote_sharing.html

Taking notes on slides on a smartphone

I was browsing some simple apps that could help students in class,
when I came up with the following idea.

Suppose the teacher is using slides (e.g. PowerPoint) in his lecture.
These slides are mostly availabl on the teacher's homepage, blackboard or somewhere on the net.
Now as a student you feel these slides are not 'complete', maybe because there is not enough information on them, or the teacher is adding some extra info to his lecture, that is nor on the slide nor in the course book.
So you want to take some extra notes on one or more slides.

I have found some note taking apps (Notes is standard on iPhone, Simplenote, Evernote, WriteRoom, etc...)
Which one of  these is the best note taking apps I cannot conclude, since I am not able to test them.
But I think it depends on your personal preferences and needs anyway.
However, none of these implement a feature where you can stick notes to some or more slides.
(I read something about sticking a note to some image, but I feel it's not the same, since it's just a single image, probably not containing any text)

So I searched for an app that presents slides in a manner that is suited for smartphones.
Keynote (+ Keynote Remote) is a good app for iPhone for creating and giving presentations:
http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/#flexible
This app is intended for the presenter, however, the creator of the presentation. Not the ones following the presentation.
The app allows the creator to add notes for himself to the slides, and it has lots of other features.
With some simple adjustments I believe that this app could be used by students as well to take notes related to one or more slides of the presentation.

Example of a slide with extra notes

Here is a short video that presents just the features needed for the above idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBzXUWgl9T0

ActiveCampus

I have found an interesting mobile learning application on the internet, ActiveCampus.
Main site: http://activecampus.ucsd.edu/

ActiveCampus consists of two 'seperate' applications: ActiveClass and ActiveCampus Explorer.
ActiveClass is an application that enables students to anonymously ask text questions, answer polls, and give the professor feedback on the class, all of this while being in the classroom.

Example of a question list in ActiveClass

ActiveCampus Explorer is an application that, as its main purpose, shows a map of the school campus.
On this map the user can see nearby friends, potential colleagues, departments, labs and interesting events.

Left: nearby graffiti tags
Right: ActiveCampus Explorer map

ActiveCampus was developed at the University of California, San Diego in 2003.
At that time smartphones did not exist yet so the application was developed for PDAs.
To see how I can further exploit the new features that smartphones give us, I will do some more research and try to find some extra functions I could add to the above application.

Read the following papers about ActiveCampus design, implementation and test results: 

ActiveCampus - Sustaining Educational Communities through Mobile Technology? - William G. Griswold, Robert Boyer, Steven W. Brown, Tan Minh Truong, Ezekiel Bhasker, Gregory R. Jay, R. Benjamin Shapiro. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0114

ActiveCampus - Experiments in Community-Oriented Ubiquitous Computing - William G. Griswold, Patricia Shanahan, Steven W. Brown, Robert T. Boyer. Department of Computer Science & Engineering, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0114