Editable PDFs

Do you have pdf documents that just won't transfer to Google easily? Well, consider learning about Kami an online tool that allows students to highlight and annotate with additional capacity for individuals to give comments ON A PDF. Kami also works seamlessly with Google Classroom. Mollie Pitrone a member of the Learning Support Team at Littleton High School shares her experiences working with students and Kami. Students indicated that the benefits were: no lost papers, saves as you go, it makes you pay more attention to your thoughts because you can draw on the document, using it to annotate which makes it easier to follow the teacher instructions, and it is available for students in Google Classroom who have missed a class. 

Students indicated that their biggest request was making sure there was time in place to learn how to use Kami for the first time. Some teachers have linked to videos while others give 10minutes in class to make sure students are clear on the purpose of the tool and how to use it so it can complement instruction. Ms. Pitrone: "I saw many of the same benefits. 

For the class I use it with the most, I see the responsibility of work change a great deal. Now their responsibility goes from me giving them something to them taking advantage of their learning.  The excuses seem to disappear in terms of... I wasn't here, I lost it, I never got one, I forgot, I thought it was in my backpack (the black hole of lost papers). I use Kami along with Google Classroom so there is one place they go to open and work on it.  As long as they sync and save it will stay updated and has the same functionality as any assignment they turn in." 

My biggest concerns were the learning curve of functions, I watched a video and that was a ton easier to learn from than the tutorials that kami provided online. The other part, which may just be more programming than anything, is that now everything opens in Kami that is a PDF document. Although once I was able to see all of the things that it can do it was better because now I can use it for more than just classwork like documents for case managing students in other grades, classes, and campuses.