Among the technology upgrades on campus this year, there is a small but significant one that math teacher P.J. Yim’s students are benefiting from.

Yim now uses an iOS app called Equil Note to store lectures and interact with his students. Equil Note allows students to draw on their phone screens rather than walk up in front of their class to draw on a physical whiteboard.

Equil Note also displays real-time annotations of lecture notes on each student’s phone, allowing them to easily see teacher’s notes.

Sophomore Joshua Yoon favors Equil Note over the traditional whiteboard and Expo markers. His favorite feature on the app is the student annotation feature, which allows him to directly edit Yim’s notes even when they are not present in the classroom.

“Equil Note benefits us because you can sit anywhere you want,” Yoon said. “If you’re in the back, you don’t have to stand up to get a good view, so it helps you follow along better.”

Sophomore Connor Oaklander also prefers Equil Note over previous methods of teaching, saying that his favorite part of the app is the fact that he can store annotated notes and access them whenever he wants.

“It helps a lot to be able to review notes after class,” said Oaklander. “In previous classes, I’d walk out feeling confident about the material, but without a refresher I’d quickly forget it all.”

Yim sees potential for the app even when students are not physically in the classroom. Students still have the ability to get annotated notes and listen in on teachers’ lectures, he said.  

“The mobility factor is incredible,” Yim said. “Theoretically, we could have a student in India and still get him the information and lectures in real time.”

Yim also believes that in the future the school will give math teachers training to help them use the app to its full capabilities.

“In the next year or so when we figure out the app inside and out, we will be able to use all of its benefits and hopefully teach students better than ever before,” he said.