What is OneNote Class Notebook?

OneNote Class Notebook is an Office 365 service which is available to all UWM faculty, staff and students who have access to a UW System Office 365 account. Class Notebook is a kind of OneNote notebook with features geared specifically to coursework online. Class Notebooks can contain private note spaces for students, a class resources section which instructors can add course resources to, and group collaboration spaces. Students automatically have access to notebooks when accessed from Canvas.

For more information about OneNote and Class Notebook, see:

• Microsoft Support: Introducing OneNote
• OneNote Class Notebook at Microsoft

Who can use OneNote Class Notebook?

Class Notebook is available at no cost to UWM faculty, staff, and students. To use Class Notebook in Canvas, instructors must request for the tool to be added to their course using UWM Canvas Tools.

Where can students and instructors go for support with Class Notebook?

• Support is provided by Microsoft via their OneNote support portal, and from the OneNote Class Notebook website.
• Training courses for OneNote, including Class Notebook are available in LinkedIn Learning using your UWM digital identity.
• For additional support, students and instructors can contact the UWM Help Desk.
• CETL cannot provide support or troubleshooting for OneNote. Your school/college may provide support for Class Notebook. For more information, contact your school/college teaching and learning support office.

What should I do if I have an accessibility concern?

Class Notebooks are user managed content, much like a personal web page or Word document. Instructors and students can follow instructions from Microsoft to make Class Notebook pages accessible for all people. 

OneNote supports multiple accessible technologies, and OneNote also works with Immersive Reader.

If you discover an accessibility concern with OneNote, report your concern to the UWM Help Desk. As a student, you should also contact UWM's Accessibility Resource Center and your instructor to ensure they are aware of your concern.

What are the alternatives to OneNote Class Notebook?

Class Notebook can perform many distinct functions, but it may not necessarily be the best option based on instructional needs.

• Canvas courses may be configured to enable students to edit pages, in effect turning the course into a wiki.
• Canvas supports annotation in assignment submissions by students. Hypothesis may be used for annotation exercises.
• H5P.org may be used to create free interactive exercises. If you would like to create H5P assignments in Canvas that send student scores to the Canvas gradebook, you will need to contact CETL to discuss acquiring paid H5P licenses for your class.
• Office 365 is integrated with all for-credit Canvas courses, which enables collaborative document development in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

For questions about any of these tools, contact the CETL Support Commons.