Topics Answered in this Article
Overview
For credit-bearing courses, OneNote Class Notebooks used through Canvas provides the best balance of structure, privacy, and instructional support.
Canvas: OneNote Class Notebooks can be linked to Canvas courses, allowing students and instructors to access the Class Notebook directly from the course for reading materials, note-taking, and feedback. See our article: Microsoft OneNote: Create a OneNote Class Notebook in your Canvas Course
Notebook Comparison
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Feature
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OneNote Notebook
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OneNote Class Notebook
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Primary purpose
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General note-taking and collaboration
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Teaching, learning, and course management
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Designed for
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Individuals or shared groups
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Instructors and students
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Built-in structure
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Flexible; user-created sections and pages
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Pre-configured instructional sections
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Default sections
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None
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Content Library, Collaboration Space, Student Notebooks, Teacher-Only
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Types of notes you can create
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Typed text, digital ink and drawing, images and screen shots, file attachments (PDF, Word, PowerPoint), links, embedded web content, and audio recordings.
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All standard OneNote note types, plus instructor-distributed pages and private student work such as assignments, practice activities, reflections, and instructor feedback.
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Best way to access
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OneNote desktop app, OneNote on the web, or directly from OneDrive.
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Canvas is the recommended option; the OneNote/Class Notebook integration is enabled in Canvas
Also accessible through Microsoft Teams (Class Teams) or the OneNote Class Notebook tool
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Where content is stored
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OneDrive for Business for personal notebooks, or SharePoint Online for shared notebooks.
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SharePoint is connected to the class team or LMS course, with each student's notebook stored securely within the class site.
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Student privacy
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Manual permissions required
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Automatic private notebooks for each student
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Instructor controls
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No teaching-specific controls
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Page distribution, section management, and collaboration controls
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Best use cases
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Meetings, planning, research, shared reference notes
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Courses, assignments, formative feedback, and instructional organization
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