Scott Self and Bonni Stachowiak share how they each integrate Evernote into their classes and workflows. Even if you aren’t an Evernote user, you’re bound to pick up a few tips.

Podcast notes

Guest:

Scott Self

Director, University Access Programs, Abilene Christian University

Productive Nerd Blog

The landscape of options for notebook-type applications

• Microsoft OneNote
• Writing-specific applications, such as Ulysses or Scrivener
• Circus Ponies Notebook

Guidance on maximizing the value of course assets

• Linking smart post
• LMS – keep the course assets out of it

Creating collaborative learning environments with Evernote

• Use it in a uni-directional way, not necessarily a conversational tool…
• Classroom becomes a kind of conversation around learning
• Scott gives students the unique, Evernote email address to send notes to the class-specific evernote notebook
• He sets permissions up so that he’s the only one who can edit the notes in the notebook – read-only

Getting started with Evernote

Scott’s posts

• Evernote in Higher Ed Introduction
• Evernote in the classroom

We both recommend

• Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials eBook

Big advantages of Evernote

• Easy capture
  • On iOS – text, audio, sticky notes, documents (auto-size), photo
  • Web clipper
  • Drafts – iOS app – start typing
  • Email – lots of tricks to organize when you send
• Search capabilities
• Integration with other apps and services
• Keeps one’s course out of the LMS environment – the instructor should own the material, not the LMS

Our advice

• Grow with it (start with the basics and go from there)
• Keep folder structure simple
  • Bonni uses just reference, work, and personal, along with a shared notebook and a couple required ones that store my LiveScribe pencasts
  • Scott has only a few notebooks. I do have one for each section of a course that I teach so that I can share lecture notes, resources, and “FYIs” with my students.
• As a “Premium” user, we have access to the “Presenter” view. Scott says:

Students see my lecture notes in a clear and uncluttered presentation, and have access to the information in the shared notes. I prefer that students take notes about the lecture – rather than copying down what’s on the screen.

• Use tags when you would have normally used a folder. Scott says:

Yes! The search function is so powerful, it is often faster to search for a note than to navigate through a tree of folders

• Capture whiteboard brainstorms in meetings (will recognize your handwritten text). Scott says:

My students with disabilities have become infamous on campus for snapping pictures of whiteboards. This saves time (and frustration for the students with learning disabilities), and the snaps can be annotated.

• Use the inbox for quick capturing and have an action in your task management system to process it however regularly you need to… Scott says:

This can be done very quickly, since you can select a number of notes and bulk process them (tagging, merging, or sending to a notebook)

When you get really geeky with Evernote

• Automate agendas in Evernote
• Use Drafts app to prepend / append notes on a given topic (our kids’ “firsts” notes, research ideas)
• Use TaskClone to capture and sync to dos with your task manager
• Katie Floyd’s Article on Evernote and Hazel
• Save Kindle highlights into Evernote

Recommendations

Scott recommends

• Taskclone
• Chungwasoft
• Scannable

Bonni recommends

The Checklist Manifesto

Closing credits

Celebrate episode 50 with us!

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