Three Tools for Digital Portfolio Creation on the iPad

I spend significant time finding ways and means to do the everyday things we've always done when the iPad is the only tool, as it is for our grade 6 through 12 students.  Recently, a few teachers have asked questions about digital portfolios, and similar projects for students.  So, I dug in and tried to exhaust the resources of three tools:  Evernote, Google Sites, and Blogger.  While Evernote is, by far, the richest in ease and options on the iPad, I guess that the best tool for the job depends on what the outcome goal is.  Hopefully, my evaluation below will be helpful.

Blogger 

Blogger Pros:  The Blogger app is simple to use.  The layout is attractive and chronological.  Login is simple since it is a Google product and we already have a login (our spsdme.org email).  It is easy to add photos and type directly into a post.  I like that I can post to my Blogger by emailing it.  Attaching a hand drawn sketch or any other attachment to the email will embed that media into my blog.

Blogger Cons:  I cannot post to Blogger from other apps on my iPad.  It is also not possible to paste in the blogger edit mode, so I can't paste a link to an external location or even text for that matter.  The only way I found to do that was to email the blog.  I was not able to change settings for the blog, such as sharing to Google+ or blog email address from within the app.  I had to go out to the web version to do that.  Using the app, it was not easy to add any media other than text and photo.


Google Site

Google Site Pros:  Google sites are accessible to anyone with a spsdme.org gmail account.  Using Google Chrome app to set up my site allowed me to use almost all the functions available in Google Sites.  The layout is very attractive, flexible, and customizable.  There are a lot of options for backgrounds, themes, layouts, and more.  I set up a test site with horizontal navigation tabs and categorized my pages by subject.  Gadgets seemed to work fine on the iPad.

Google Site Cons:  It is not possible to use the FileCabinet feature or upload files, other than photos.  I could create links, but I had to use the link button first, as opposed to selecting the text I wanted to link and then choosing the link button.  I was happy to find a work around.   No apps on the iPad will open in Google Sites (ie. from Pages or other, select "open in..."), so getting content from another app would involve posting to the web to obtain a URL or a copy/paste.


Evernote

Evernote Pros:  Evernote was an extremely flexible app.  I was able to quickly add text, photo, audio, a checklist, or photo from my camera.  Many other apps on the iPad allow for opening in Evernote, including Explain Everything, eBackpack, and Pages.   Evernote is organized by creating notebooks.  Additionally tags can be added to posts for easy searching.  Notebooks can be quickly shared with others.  The email feature is awesome!  I can email my Evernote account and by using the @ and # symbols in the subject of my email, my post automatically lands in the folder I want with the tags I want associated with it.    Cut/paste works in Evernote edit mode, so adding links is also quite easy.

Evernote Cons:  Layout is not particularly visually appealing, like Google Sites or Blogger.