LessonNote
Classroom lesson observation
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad
LessonNote is an innovative classroom observation tool for documenting the flow of a lesson and its impact on students. Capture both quantitative and qualitative data:
• Track who is talking to whom, when, and for how long.
• Jot handwritten, time-stamped notes about what is being said and what students are doing.
• Take photos of student work.
• Capture time spent in different modalities: whole-class, individual work, group work.
Begin by creating a seating chart with icons representing the teacher, students, groups, and display areas such as blackboards or projection screens.
Record observations by selecting an icon, or linking two icons for a note about an interaction. Take photos of student work.
After a lesson, efficiently review your data for a student-focused conversation that improves teaching and learning. A small seating chart shows exactly who or what a note is about, so you don't need to know the names of the students. A timeline shows how much time was spent in whole-class lecture or discussion, individual work time, and group work time.
LessonNote helps you create a fact-based and non-judgemental record of the lesson and its impact on students. LessonNote is ideal for peer observation, coaching, instructional rounds, and of course for Lesson Study. For administrators, LessonNote improves on simple checklists or rating scales by helping document how lessons affect students—which is, ultimately, what teaching is all about.
Work with your colleagues and use LessonNote to improve teaching and learning!
Read the Terms of Service at: https://LSAlliance.org/LessonNote/terms-of-service.html.
more I have seen nothing else like this for classroom observation. Instead of a bunch of checkboxes, sliders, and the like, this app invites you to focus on what is most important: the students and how the lesson is impacting them. Based on a seating chart (which you can set up really fast), you take handwritten notes about what students (and the teacher) are saying and doing. You can insert photos of student work. You notate changes in modality (e.g. whole-group vs small-group or individual work). After the lesson, the app makes it easy to talk about what happened and when – every note is time-stamped and linked to the seating chart so you know whom it is about. And yes, there are some statistics if you want those: how long each segment of the lesson was, how many notes you have for each person, and the total duration of those notes. Some things could make it better: "undo" is so slow as to be unusable, and there is no eraser. But this app has really improved the quality of my post-lesson conversations with teachers. This free (FREE!) app blows everything else away. Thank you!
I have seen nothing else like this for classroom observation. Instead of a bunch of checkboxes, sliders, and the like, this app invites you to focus on what is most important: the students and how the lesson is impacting them. Based on a seating chart (which you can set up really fast), you take handwritten notes about what students (and the teacher) are saying and doing. You can insert photos of student work. You notate changes in modality (e.g. whole-group vs small-group or individual work). After the lesson, the app makes it easy to talk about what happened and when – every note is time-stamped and linked to the seating chart so you know whom it is about. And yes, there are some statistics if you want those: how long each segment of the lesson was, how many notes you have for each person, and the total duration of those notes. Some things could make it better: "undo" is so slow as to be unusable, and there is no eraser. But this app has really improved the quality of my post-lesson conversations with teachers. This free (FREE!) app blows everything else away. Thank you!
I am an education consultant and author that works with schools on personalized learning through learning labs. This app is invaluable for observation and feedback in learning labs. It is absolutely worth the investment, even if you’re not doing Lesson Study or Learning Labs. You can keep track of lesson observations and link student work with them directly. Do not hesitate—try it out and you will be hooked.
I am an education consultant and author that works with schools on personalized learning through learning labs. This app is invaluable for observation and feedback in learning labs. It is absolutely worth the investment, even if you’re not doing Lesson Study or Learning Labs. You can keep track of lesson observations and link student work with them directly. Do not hesitate—try it out and you will be hooked.
I love this app and I use it to help my student teachers on a daily basis. I would highly recommend this app for any teacher with a student teacher to take notes in a proficient manner. I would make 2 recommendations for it, though. First, when taking notes, have the option of typing the notes as well as writing by hand. Secondly, have an option to import items of different importance and export the notes through lesson note to Dropbox, or pages, etc. Otherwise this is an awesome app.
I love this app and I use it to help my student teachers on a daily basis. I would highly recommend this app for any teacher with a student teacher to take notes in a proficient manner. I would make 2 recommendations for it, though. First, when taking notes, have the option of typing the notes as well as writing by hand. Secondly, have an option to import items of different importance and export the notes through lesson note to Dropbox, or pages, etc. Otherwise this is an awesome app.
This tool is invaluable for doing lesson study. It makes it very easy to record what is happening in the classroom. It's fast, too, so I can easily keep up with the classroom activity. And it's really nice to be able to take photos, especially of the work that the students are doing.My only quibble is that the "Getting Started" screen comes up all the time. But that's really just a minor annoyance - aside from that it's highly recommended,
This tool is invaluable for doing lesson study. It makes it very easy to record what is happening in the classroom. It's fast, too, so I can easily keep up with the classroom activity. And it's really nice to be able to take photos, especially of the work that the students are doing.My only quibble is that the "Getting Started" screen comes up all the time. But that's really just a minor annoyance - aside from that it's highly recommended,
Fixed: Exporting to PDF lessons with a '/' in its name would sometimes fail.
Fixed: Rare crashes due to a bug in Firebase (not our fault, we swear!).
6.1.3 Oct 3
Small fix: The "User Guide" link on the Settings page was wrong.
6.1.2 Sep 23
Fixes a critical bug in the core data migration that affected some users and blocked the migration.
6.1.1 Sep 10
• Support for multiple seating charts per lesson.
• LessonNote now works on iPhones, with keyboard support.
• If you need to see your data on a bigger screen, choose from two export options: (1) Export the lesson as a web archive and view it in any browser; (2) Export the lesson as a LessonNote archive and view in LessonNote on a Mac.
• Button in the home screen toolbar to go to the new LessonNote forum or to send us email.
• Pro subscribers can now add and edit tags directly from the notepad.
• Modality timer: See when a note was created relative to the start of the current instructional modality. Easily know, for example, how long students were working independently before a certain student completed the task.
6.1 Sep 1
• Modality timer! See when a note was taken relative to the last modality transition – for example, to see how long a student worked independently before completing a task.
• Fixed: Tags work again. Edit them in settings; can be more efficient for common observations (e.g. "disengaged", "misconception", "confused", "good idea").
• Notepad toolbar is more space-efficient.
• From review, tapping on the seating chart is now a third way to open the recorder for taking notes.
• Eraser tool automatically reverts to pen tool after you stroke.
• Lots of user-interface tweaks to make it look better and be more intuitive for new users.
• Opening a lesson is MUCH faster now; expanding notes from review is also much faster.
5.4 Jul 11
• Rotate the seating chart to match your point of view
• Note headers show elapsed time since the last modality transition
* Supports landscape orientation and windowing
• Improved grid view - see more of your notes at once
• Improved PDFs
• FIXED: Notes created in dark mode display properly in light mode and vice-versa
• Importing a lesson from an archive, the progress indicator now shows progress
• FIXED: Seating charts can now be imported from a export file.
• Entity icon sizes are larger. Removed labels from the seating chart thumbnail in session review.
• Workaround for a past bug – which was finally fixed in v 5.0 – that left lessons with no stroke data. When there is no stroke data, the app will use the saved composite raster image.
• Improved help for new users. On-line user guide has been updated.
• Free users are warned when a lesson approaches 15 notes.
• FIXED: Deleting an entity attached to notes – if you cancelled when warned, it *appeared* as though the entity was deleted (even though it was not).
• Lots of under-the-hood code cleanup.
5.2 Jun 10
• French, Thai, and Khmer localizations – machine translated. Please help us improve them!
• Complete (?) Japanese translations
• Timeline buttons to quickly jump to the first note and last note.
• Show an alert if the user applies filters and nothing matches.
• Edit the name of a lesson & its school/event from the home screen.
• Non-pro users get a warning when they get to 14 notes, so casual experimentation doesn't lead them to use up their quota of free lessons. This warning can be temporarily or permanently dismissed.
• FIXED: Support for landscape orientation got broken in the previous release.
• FIXED: The timeline for Japanese users was shifted partly off-screen, so the scroll position indicator wasn't visible.
• FIXED Eliminated the extra refresh sometimes seen when going from the recorder back to review, and the list always scrolls to the "Add more notes" footer at the end.
• More help for new users: An onboarding screen explaining the four colors and additional tips: pointer to the help button on home screen; drag for an interaction; tap on entity to save current note and start a new one; tip when user first places a group icon in the seating chart editor.
• Onboarding video is more visible and plays full screen, much clearer.
• Additional seating chart template, "Sample with names", to demonstrate that entities can have student names. Only visible on fresh installs (new users). Preview images for the templates are now generated at first run rather than retrieved as jpeg images.
• Aesthetic changes to the first page of PDFs.
• A lot of under-the-hood code cleanup.
5.0.4 May 22
5.0.3:
• Support landscape orientation – let us know what you think, and send your ideas for what this should look like!
• Removed labels from the seating chart thumbnail on the review screen, for a cleaner look.
• More tips clearer UI to help new users. To experience this, if you are new, delete & reinstall the app. (You can
• Fixed a bug in naming/renaming a classroom.
• Fixed: statistics didn't distinguish male/female/generic student events.
• More translations for Japanese language users.
Forgot to mention previously:
• Import/export of lesson archives for pro subscribers, much improved.
5.0.1:
• Improved scaling of note thumbnails. PDFs look much better and more compact now.
• Fixed a bug that crept in affecting importing lesson archives.
5.0:
This is a major update with great new features and improvements!
• NEW: eraser tool in the notepad
• NEW: Edit the seating chart from the review screen.
• NEW: Modality durations are shown directly in the timeline.
• NEW: Insert/move start & end markers after the lesson is over.
• FIXED: Lots of bugs.
• FIXED: Page view works properly. Thumbnails are consistently scaled.
• IMPROVED Streamlined process for creating a new lesson.
• IMPROVED More intuitive process for inserting transitions after the lesson is over.
• IMPROVED Help screens and tips for new users.
• IMPROVED New clean look for iOS 17 and iOS 26.
5.0.3 May 11
5.0.1:
• Improved scaling of note thumbnails. PDFs look much better and more compact now.
• Fixed a bug that crept in affecting importing lesson archives.
5.0:
This is a major update with great new features and improvements!
• NEW: eraser tool in the notepad
• NEW: Edit the seating chart from the review screen.
• NEW: Modality durations are shown directly in the timeline.
• NEW: Insert/move start & end markers after the lesson is over.
• FIXED: Lots of bugs.
• FIXED: Page view works properly
• IMPROVED Streamlined process for creating a new lesson.
• IMPROVED More intuitive process for inserting transitions after the lesson is over.
• IMPROVED Help screens and tips for new users.
• IMPROVED New clean look for iOS 17 and iOS 26.
5.0.1 May 5
This is a major update with great new features and improvements!
• NEW: eraser tool in the notepad
• NEW: Edit the seating chart from the review screen.
• NEW: Modality durations are shown directly in the timeline.
• NEW: Insert/move start & end markers after the lesson is over.
• FIXED: Lots of bugs.
• FIXED: Page view works properly
• IMPROVED Streamlined process for creating a new lesson.
• IMPROVED More intuitive process for inserting transitions after the lesson is over.
• IMPROVED Help screens and tips for new users.
• IMPROVED New clean look for iOS 17 and iOS 26.
5.0 May 4
This update fixes the availability of some Pro features for existing subscribers.
4.2.3 Jan 12
This update fixes the availability of some Pro features for existing subscribers.
4.2.2 12/19/2025
This update includes critical bug fixes for Pro subscriptions and accounts.
4.2.1 12/15/2025
Thanks for choosing LessonNote to observe and document your classroom lessons! In this update we've added new features, improved the look and feel of the app, and fixed a lot of bugs.
NEW FEATURES
You'll find new ways to export lessons including by batch exporting all lesson photos*, printing and saving lessons as PDFs*, and exporting lesson archives to your Files (or other file storage) app. Just tap the share button in the lesson review toolbar.
Download lessons from your Pro account after signing in. LessonNote Pro syncing is going away in the near future, so if you have lessons which you have not yet downloaded or exported and that are not backed up elsewhere, we strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to download and backup your lessons.
Set school names for lessons. When you create a new lesson, specify the name of the school so it's easier to organize and search for your lessons at a particular school later. Alternatively, change or add a school name from lesson review by tapping on the name of your lesson.
*Requires a Pro subscription (available as an in-app purchase)
IMPROVED DESIGN
LessonNote is subtly and slightly refreshed to take advantage of newer versions of iPadOS and new iPad models. Your lessons have more room to breathe, stand out more clearly with cleaner colors, and have improved animations. We've also taken time to improve the behavior and reliability of the lesson timeline, filtering, transition management, and more. For those of you already upgraded to iPadOS 26, you'll enjoy a refreshed design that takes advantage of Liquid Glass.
BUG FIXES
This update includes a lot of bug fixes. There are too many to list here, but know that we're working on fixing even more to make LessonNote a smoother, faster, and more reliable tool.
If you enjoy using LessonNote or have found it useful in your research or classroom observations please consider leaving a review on the App Store. It really helps! And, if you really love LessonNote, consider sharing it with your colleagues or reaching out to Lesson Study Alliance to learn how you can get involved.
4.2.0 09/29/2025
Fixed: Notes can now be deleted without a Pro subscription.
Fixed: "Contact us" in settings creates a correctly-addressed email message.
Previously fixed: A bug in the creation of a LessonNote Pro account.
4.0.2 02/28/2022
This update fixes an intermittent crash and may resolve issues that some customers were having when trying to subscribe to LessonNote Pro.
And, in case you missed it, LessonNote 4 is a big update. Here's all that's new:
This is a major rewrite, 2 years in the making, with many performance and user-interface improvements! It is, however, no longer completely free. To help us afford to continue developing LessonNote, a subscription is required for recording more than 5 lessons per 12-month period (lessons with fewer than 15 notes don't count). The 5-lesson limit should be adequate for most teachers involved in Lesson Study, but a subscription allows unlimited use and includes a LessonNote Pro account, which in turn allows you to back up lessons, share seating charts, export lessons as PDFs, export photos, and search for notes across multiple lessons. Read more at https://LSAlliance.org/LNPro .
What's new:
• The handwriting engine has been completely redone; handwriting capture is beautiful and undo is instantaneous.
• Move directly between note-taking and notes review, permitting quick editing of recent notes.
• Enhanced filtering of your notes: show notes that are flagged, that have a seating chart, a photo, a typed annotation, or that relate to selected entities from the seating chart.
• Includes a new photo manipulation tool for moving/resizing photos.
• Support for Apple Pencil® when drawing, using undo / redo, switching note-taking tools and colors.
• Other UI tweaks and refinements.
4.0.1 01/10/2022
PLEASE READ BEFORE UPGRADING
This is a major rewrite, 2 years in the making, with many performance and user-interface improvements! It is, however, no longer completely free. To help us afford to continue developing LessonNote, a subscription is required for recording more than 5 lessons per 12-month period (lessons with fewer than 15 notes don't count). The 5-lesson limit should be adequate for most teachers involved in Lesson Study, but a subscription allows unlimited use and includes a LessonNote Pro account, which in turn allows you to back up lessons, share seating charts, export lessons as PDFs, export photos, and search for notes across multiple lessons. Read more at https://LSAlliance.org/LNPro .
What's new:
• The handwriting engine has been completely redone; handwriting capture is beautiful and undo is instantaneous.
• Move directly between note-taking and notes review, permitting quick editing of recent notes.
• Enhanced filtering of your notes: show notes that are flagged, that have a seating chart, a photo, a typed annotation, or that relate to selected entities from the seating chart.
• Includes a new photo manipulation tool for moving/resizing photos.
• Support for Apple Pencil® when drawing, using undo / redo, switching note-taking tools and colors.
• Other UI tweaks and refinements.
4.0 12/14/2021
- Additional fixes to prevent reported crashes
3.8.1 01/12/2018
- Improved image deletion - selecting an image (two-finger tap) now enables the trash can button; tap trash can button to delete the selected image
- Fixed issues with creating a new lesson, creating a new seating chart, creating a lesson from a seating chart
- Preserve active filters if user taps timeline in review mode
- Show a spinner and dim the background when user deletes a lesson
- Additional fixes to prevent reported crashes
3.8 12/05/2017
- Bug fixes
3.7.3 08/24/2017
- More bug fixes and performance improvements
3.7.2 06/28/2017
- Subscribe to LessonNote Pro via in-app purchase - backup, export, share lessons and seating charts with others, and more! (A free trial is available.)
- Handwriting improvements
- Other bug fixes and performance improvements
3.7.1 06/27/2017
- Subscribe to LessonNote Pro via in-app purchase - backup, export, share lessons and seating charts with others, and more! (A free trial is available.)
- More bug fixes and performance improvements
3.7 06/12/2017
Bug fixes and performance improvements,
French language support (thanks to Stéphane Clivaz & team at HEPL!)
New in 3.6:
• Tags!
3.6.2 12/20/2016
• Fixed: a spurious line would sometimes get drawn in a note.
New in version 3.6:
• edit notes from review mode by tapping the expand note icon;
• TAGS! tag notes, then filter notes by tags in review mode
• bug fixes.
This version comes preloaded with a set of tags based on the “Teaching for Robust Understanding” framework developed by Alan Schoenfeld (see http://map.mathshell.org/trumath.php). If you prefer, you can turn those off and create your own custom tags.
3.6.1 11/16/2016
Fixed: Exporting to PDF lessons with a '/' in its name would sometimes fail.
Fixed: Rare crashes due to a bug in Firebase (not our fault, we swear!).
more Version 6.1.3 Oct 3
Data Linked to You The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Data Not Linked to You The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
