One of the frustrating things I found in teaching online last semester was the lack of direct contact with students. The class felt impersonal, despite my efforts to give it life.

I overcame this in part by using my iPad to add audio comments to grading. This was a revelation to me. Using an app called iAnnotate, I could write comments on PDFs but also add voice comments, allowing me to make grading more personal but also add details that I otherwise wouldn’t have included.

mments to PDFs, though, and I initially overlooked the option of voice recording on iAnnotate. I considered i