OmniOutliner and Teaching (Part 1)

One of the things I do like about the Mac ecosystem is that there can be some nice synergies between programs and their respective Mac/iPad/iPhone versions. OmniOutliner is one of those programs.

I remember in my days of competing in forensics, I’d take the 30 minutes of preparation time in extemporaneous speaking, write my outline for the question, memorize the outline (and source cites!) and then practice the speech before giving it.

I admire pastors who can take and memorize 25-35 minute sermons. Of course, we know that they take many hours studying, praying, preparing… just as professors take hours studying and preparing (and praying that class goes like we want it to!).

I’ll admit that in my younger days, it was much easier to have my classes as “memorized extemporaneous” type of classes. However, I’ve learned that as I get older, I can’t memorize outlines for some 50 minute classes, let alone the 4 hour 1 night per week classes I used to teach. Thus, OmniOutliner to the rescue.

I do like that I can set it up in whatever way I need to… whether that includes reminders (don’t spend too long on this concept), or adding quotations and other source materials. One thing I do for every class is use a different color background and a different font.  As long as the same font is loaded both on the iPad and on the laptop, I can edit seamlessly, and the outline will work the same in both places. And I’ll instantly know what class I’m working in.

Ever since iOS 11, my go-to is to have the iPad in split screen. This happens in one of two ways:

  • OmniOutliner on one side, and Liquid Text on the other. Liquid Text holds any articles I have students read for the discussion (I’m big on having students read journal articles instead of just regular textbooks, especially in my upper-level courses).
  • OmniOutliner on one side, and a PDF app on the other, in case I need to take a deeper glance at the syllabus. Lately, that’s been PDF Viewer, because it works well with the Files app.

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