A couple of weeks ago Evernote released Penultimate as a free iPad app. Since then it has become my favorite app for taking notes and sketching out my thoughts.

Penultimate provides a place for you to hand-write notes on your iPad. The app allows you to create multiple notebooks with multiple pages in each. You can change the color and size of the pen strokes that are created when you write in your notebooks. Each page in your notebook can include pictures that you have stored on your iPad or pictures that you take through the Penultimate app. The app provides the option to change the look of the virtual paper on which you write. You can copy and paste content from one page to another and from one notebook to another. Learn more in the video below.

Applications for Education
I’ve found that using the app is a great way for me to record my ideas quickly without typing. This matters to me because I often find that when I type in a mind map format I lose some of the flow of my thoughts. In talking with students and other teachers over the years I’ve found that I’m not the only one who prefers to hand-write my notes and mind maps. In the screen capture below you can see one of the notes that I took while listening to a keynote from Marc Prensky.