By Texthelp
A Complete PDF Tool Designed for the Classroom
Teachers are using digital documents with their students now more than ever. However, classrooms have been missing a PDF solution specifically designed with inclusivity, literacy support and collaboration in mind. That’s why Texthelp created OrbitNote.
OrbitNote is the latest addition to the Texthelp toolbox. It allows you to transform and interact with digital documents in a completely different way, with a robust suite of tools for reading, editing, collaborating, and making PDFs more accessible. OrbitNote makes sure that students have access to the tools they need to succeed, such as text to speech, highlighting, vocabulary support and more, across all class content.
Make PDFs more accessible
One of the biggest challenges when using PDFs in the classroom is that often they aren’t very accessible. This is especially true if you are using scanned pages from textbooks or physical papers, as they are usually scanned as ‘image-only” documents. This means that you can’t highlight or copy text, and literacy supports such as text-to-speech won’t work inside these documents.
If a PDF is image-only or unreadable, OrbitNote has a built-in scanner that will find the text without having to leave the PDF. It does this by using OCR, or Optical Character Recognition. And the best part – OrbitNote does all the heavy lifting for you. It prompts you to OCR if the PDF is unreadable and converts it in a matter of seconds. All you need to do is click “Let’s scan”.
Give your students multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge
Understanding and being understood is vital for all of us. But everyone’s brain works differently. We don’t all read, write and think in the same way. With OrbitNote, you’re giving your students multiple ways to interact with digital documents, so they can express their understanding in various ways. They can type or draw their thoughts on the page, which can aid planning. Students can highlight the key points in a comprehension piece or while they’re studying. Plus, students can add shapes and images to their work.
Boosts productivity, connections and collaboration
Using OrbitNote allows for seamless collaboration and shortens the teacher to student feedback loop. With OrbitNote’s voice note feature, teachers can leave immediate feedback within a PDF, rather than waiting for students to turn in the finished article. Students can then access the voice note and make changes to their work. Students can also use a range of tools to ask teachers for help, identifying areas that need more support – before it becomes a problem. With OrbitNote, pen and paper projects can become digital spaces for working together.
Where does it work?
One of the primary benefits of OrbitNote is that anyone can view your document regardless of which operating system or device they’re using—and in today’s virtually connected environment, that’s key. OrbitNote is a web app that “just works”. Only a lightweight extension is required for certain features. It’s also supported across multiple browsers and iPad.
Currently OrbitNote works with Google Classroom, Schoology, and with the Google Assignments LTI in Canvas. In the coming months, additional support for more LMS’s like Canvas and Brightspace are expected.
Support across all subject areas
OrbitNote can also be used seamlessly with Texthelp’s literacy tool, Read&Write, and their STEM tool, EquatIO, to help make all subjects accessible to learners. Their tools help to make school and university more inclusive and set all students up for the best possible start in life.
Get started today
If you’d like to start exploring OrbitNote today, you can begin your free 30 day trial here.
