Evernote for Educators wins Top 10 Livebinders!

During this year's Livebinders Top 10 contest, Evernote for Educators was voted as one of the Top 10 winners!

Evernote for Educators

I wanted to thank everyone so much for voting for this Livebinder.  I truly hope you have been able to use this Livebinder for any resource you might need for Evernote.  Rest assured, I will continue to update this Livebinder as much as possible.

Also, congrats to all the other winners and nominees for this year's contest!  Here's the Livebinder of all the Livebinders that won and were nominated this year:

LiveBinder Top 10 2013 Nominees and Winners!

Evernote for the Social Studies: Part 7 - Evernote Food

In this seventh installment of my Evernote for the Social Studies blog posts, we will take a look at Evernote Food - a fun and interesting app to capture, cataloged, and learn about recipes and all types of food.

What is Evernote Food?

Evernote Food (available for IOS and Android) allows you to build your own collection of recipes, take snap-shots and notes of meals, and search for restaurants in your area.  While some schools have restrictions on bringing food into the classroom, it may not be possible to have a "food day" to learn about what foods come from different continents and cultures.  From the teacher's perspective, it would be just as simple to get some pictures of different meals that are enjoyed across the globe and present a Powerpoint presentation over it.  This, however, leads to little or no engagement.

Learning and Engaging with Evernote Food

When I was student teaching, I had a wide variety of students from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds.  Some came dressed every day to class with traditional clothing and was pleased to share some activities they do in their culture.  Even though we may not realize it sometimes, the best source of information is not always the internet - it is our own students in our classrooms!  With Evernote Food, students can now share what meals they have that are specific with their culture.

Evernote Food Home Page

Accessing the Evernote Food app from their IOS or Android device, students can explore recipes, create their own cookbook of their own recipes or recipes that they have clipped, explore restaurants, and access their "my meals" section where they have saved images and information on meals they have previously eaten.

With Evernote Food, students engage in the learning process by doing their own research and sharing what they have found.  Going back to the idea of having students capture their own meals that may offer a look into different cultures, Evernote Food makes that process quick and simple.

When you create a "new meal" in Evernote Food, it provides this easy to use template.  You can choose to create a meal title, select the place which it was taken, type of cuisine, and create a tag for better organization in your Evernote account.  You can also input notes and snap shots regarding the meal into the same template.  This would work extremely well if it is shared in class or if the student shares it on the class website or blog - the explanation is already done in the template itself so students can begin reading about it as soon as they see it.

The great part about this is that you can also choose to share this meal information by coping the URL to it and sharing it that way, or you can share by posting to Facebook, Twitter, or Google +.  The unique URL would work especially nice because you could have your students copy the URL to their meal and submitting it to a designed Google Form or blog post.  And of course, once the student shares the meal either on a social media network or by simple URL, other students and teachers can save that information into their own Evernote account.

As a side note, once you have created the new meal, it automatically saves it into your default folder in your Evernote account.

Here's an example of what a finished meal template looks like:

Conclusion

Evernote Food provides many ways students can interact and engage in learning that they may not have given much thought to before.  The main reason to use any technology like this is for the students to engage with what they are learning and with each other.  Students must be able to share what they have learned with their fellow classmates and teachers.  With Evernote Food, if you ever decide to have your students do projects over certain cultures or countries, let them go out and experience it and capture whatever it is that they are doing.  Whether it be traditional meals, dances or songs, students need to capture that moment and share among their peers.

If you would like more information about Evernote or Skitch, please visit my Livebinder, Evernote for Educators:

 

Evernote for Educators

5 Excellent Note Taking Apps

Thanks to technology, notes that are taken during class, on field trips, and during experiments are more interactive and engaging.  No longer do notes contain paragraph after paragraph after paragraph of text that mean only something when it comes time to study for tests.  Notes are now much more interactive and have much more meaning.   Notes contain pictures, video, sound clips and website links - all of which can enhance the learning.  If you are looking to get your students, or yourself, started with taking digital notes, here are 5 excellent note taking apps that are worth a try:

Google Keep (Android, Chrome Web App) 

Google Keep - a note taking app released by Google earlier this year - is a simple and easy to access note taking app.  Students can quickly launch this app from their Android device and begin taking notes on the fly.  They can also attach pictures and audio or insert text or check-lists. From their mobile device, students can also share their notes via email, Facebook, Twitter or on Google +.  One of the features that makes Google Keep unique is the ability to change the color of the note itself.  Students could utilize this feature to organize their notes - i.e. blue notes are history, yellow notes are math, etc.    

Catch Notes (IOS, Android)

Catch Notes - a note taking app with many features - is also a tool that students can use in the classroom.  Catch allows students to take notes on their IOS and Android devices - while being able to attach pictures, video recordings and even set reminders.  The ability to set reminders on notes is a awesome part of Catch - no more forgetting homework prior to running out the door before heading to school or forgetting certain project deadlines.  Whenever you set a reminder on a note, you will get a alert on your mobile device (I tested this by creating a note on my Nook HD + and my standard alert tone came on letting me know of the reminder from the note).  With Catch, you can also create "spaces" (also referred to as "streams") which you can organize your notes into.  With each space you can invite collaborators to comment on notes, update checklists, and create new notes within the "space".  Free accounts are limited to 5 spaces and 250 MB of storage.  

Evernote (IOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows)

Evernote - a note taking app that showcases some of the best features out in the field today - is certainly something worth trying.  One of the aspects that makes Evernote great is the multiple platform that is supported on it.  Whether it be on IOS, Android, Blackberry or Windows, Evernote has you covered.  Students can easily create notes and organize them into different notebooks - i.e. history, economics, science, math, etc. - and have access to them whenever they need.  Students can attach pictures, files, videos and audio files - all from their smartphone, computer, or tablet.  Evernote also allows you to share notes and notebooks with classmates and colleagues via email, Facebook, Twitter and multiple other ways.  

Springpad (IOS, Android, Chrome) 

***Springpad shutdown in June 2014***

Springpad - yet another useful tool for the classroom - allows students to create notes and organize them in notebooks.  Unlike some other utilities, as of the writing of this blog post, there are no limits to notebooks or storage space you need.  What is unique about Springpad is that in each note you can "spring" different information.  You can simply type a quick note, attach photos, include a website link and several other items that Springpad has included as built-in categories such as: movies, tv shows, music, books, products, wine, recipe, scans (barcodes), tasks, checklists, events.  With this, you can easily create reading lists, movie and tv show lists appropriate for the classroom, checklists, etc and share with your students.  When you choose to share a note, it will generate a unique URL so you can post it anywhere you like.  

Fetchnotes (IOS, Android)

Fetchnotes - a quick and simple note taking app - allows you to organize your notes by using hastags.  There's not too many features other than this at this time.  However, if your students are needing something to quickly launch and type a note, they can do so with Fetchnotes and still access their notes via the fetchnotes website. With the ease of organization with the hashtags, students can quickly search through notes they've tagged.  This is a excellent app if you need jot things down really quick or even take notes while on the go.


All of these apps are well worth the time to look into.  Depending on what level of complexity you need the app to be will depend on which one will work best for you.  By the way, the best part of all these apps - they are free!

5 ways to use Evernote in 2013

Happy new year!

As we begin a new year, some people might be looking for ways to "go digital" and have everything organized in a easy and simple program.  With so many tools out there today that allow you to do just that, one of my top picks is Evernote.  I've been using Evernote for a couple of years now and I'm still finding ways to use Evernote to organize everything I need to.  If you are curious about Evernote, here are 5 ways you can use Evernote in 2013:

1.  Organize your Tweets on Twitter

Planning on using Twitter a lot this year?  Twitter is my main social networking site for my professional development in education - and I've run across a multitude of resources shared from people I've followed.  So many resources in fact it would take weeks to go through them all.  If you are looking for ways to organize your tweets from Twitter, Evernote can take care of that.  First, you'll want to follow @myEN on Twitter.  Once you've done that, @myEN will send you a link to sign in to your Evernote account and from there you can connect your Evernote and Twitter account.  From that point, simply put @myEN in any tweet you send and it will automatically be put in your Evernote account.  

With that being said, however, there are apps you can use on your tablet/mobile device to share your tweets to your Evernote account.  Here is a blog post from Evernote.com that suggests some apps that will help you do that, "9 Things to Capture from Your Twitter Stream and Apps to Help You Do It".  

2.  Scan your paper documents into Evernote

Have a ton of paper documents that you wish you could digitize?  With Evernote, you can get make all of those hard copies into digital copies and organize them so you can easily and quickly access them wherever you are at.  I recently introduced Evernote to one of my former students and explained how it could help her with her studies and also catalog and organize her lecture notes (my full guest post about this, Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote in History Class, can be found on Melissa Seidemann's (@mseidemann) blog, notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.com).  Here's a snapshot of one of her lecture notes that she captured with the Evernote app on her Iphone:

You can do this via the Evernote app or another app compatible with Evernote.  One app I recommend is CamScanner (IOS & Andorid), which allows you to share in the cloud and save as a PDF file.  Once you have captured the document on your mobile device, it will be in your Evernote account - which will be with you whether you are on your phone, computer, or tablet.  You can also scan documents into your Evernote account with other devices besides a phone or tablet.  Here is a list of devices that will streamline the process, truck.evernote.com/hardware.

    

3.  Clip articles while browsing the internet

Ever run across a interesting article or recipe on the internet and when you later try to find it you can't?  With the Evernote webclipper, you can clip the article and have it whenever you need it.  Here's an example of a article I clipped using Evernote:

What is also great about Evernote, is that it also provides a way to clip only the article without the clutter of the ads or page features.  Using Evernote Clearly (another browser extension), you can clip the article itself and get rid of any ads that are on the page that it is located on.  Here's an example of how a article looks using the standard webclipper and the same article using Evernote Clearly: Standard vs. Clearly (links open in Evernote).  Either way, you can "clip" the article into your Evernote account and have a copy of it in your account.  

4.  Explain with Skitch

It's one thing to describe what you are talking about, however, if you are trying to explain something to someone it can be a lot more effective to show them what you are describing instead.  With Skitch, you can capture your computer screen or markup a photo and place arrows or dialogue on it to describe in detail what you are explaining.  

Here's an example I provided in another guest post on notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.com, Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote & Skitch.  What is great about Skitch is that you can take the photo and mark it up directly from the Skitch app (available both on IOS and Android), which makes life a lot easier.  As with this photo that I took while at the Palo Duro Canyon, I am able to show what "Red Claystone" looks like.  This works especially well in the classroom in trying to accommodate your lessons to include examples of the topic.  Skitch, now owned by Evernote, also allows you to upload your markups and photos directly into your Evernote account.  This way, if you are on the run and want to snap a photo and mark it up later, you can easily access it from your Evernote account and modify it when you are ready.  You can also do the same thing while on your computer and want to show examples of something or even trying to help someone with tehnical support.    

5.  Share your resources from Evernote with note and notebook links

Now that you have a plethora of resources, how do you share them from your Evernote account?  You have two options at this point, you can either a) share an individual note or b) share an entire notebook.  All of the following images were captured using Skitch for Windows PC: 

   If you choose to share an individual note, you can choose different options, as per the given example below:

If you choose to share an entire notebook (which you can do this by simply "right clicking" the notebook in Evernote you want to share and select "share notebook"), which is really useful if you use it to gather resources which you want people to be able to access at their convenience, you can create a public notebook link that will allow anyone to view or join the notebook:

Conclusion

Hopefully these are some good starting points for you if you are interested in using Evernote this year.  With so many different things you can do with Evernote, you'll find out that it can make life much easier.  You can find out more about Evernote and about other apps that work with Evernote at: www.evernote.com. 

If you are a educator and would like more resources for Evernote, please feel free to visit my Evernote Livebinder, Evernote for Educators:

Evernote for Educators

Lesson Planning with Evernote

Lesson planning is a huge component of any educator's classroom.  We have to breakdown the instruction into several considerations to give our students the best means of learning the objective--i.e. what is the objective of this lesson, what resources will I/students use, what activities will be incorporated, etc.  Once it is all said and done, a lesson plan can be bursting with content and resources--which can be quite overwhelming for the teacher.  Wouldn't it be nice if we had a "central hub" to gather all of our resources for quick and easy access?  Enter Evernote.  

The more I get hands on with Evernote, the more I'm finding out about the extensive ways in which Evernote can be used in education.  One way that Evernote is making a teacher's life easier is by making lesson planning much easier and streamlined.  Two educators that are apart of my PLN on Twitter, Melissa Seideman and David Andrade, are also huge fans of Evernote.  I recently asked if I could share their experiences with using Evernote and they agreed.  Here's their testimonies:

Melissa Seideman:

Lesson Plans

The first set are screen shots are of my lesson plans. I got the idea of lesson plans using Evernote from twitter and I will never go back to any other type. I organized each class into a separate notebook and I created notes for each unit. The hardest part was setting up the lesson plans but once it was set up it's so easy to just enter information. 

Here are Melissa's screen shots for lesson planning:

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

Example 4:

I find Evernote for lesson plans to be one of the most time saving technologies I have implemented into my classroom. I have my lesson plans on every device thanks to Evernote. I can make a change with a simple click on my phone, ipad, or computer. Every change syncs and keeps me organized. I am also making notes in each lesson to change if I teach the same course next year.  I have also shared my lesson plans with members of my department as well as my principal. I highly recommend using Evernote for lesson plans. 

Using Evernote for Student Portfolios

My seniors are doing a final portfolio project using Evernote. The project is very detailed with each step of the project. It took a few days of getting students adjusted to working in Evernote rather than opening word, but the progress is beautiful. They shared their project notebook with me and I can see every change as well as the progress each student makes.   I attached a few student projects. I also created a shared notebook that I shared with them such as my how to guide, what if I am absent, and a sample portfolio layout. This project is truly digital in every sense including the directions for each project work day. 

Here's Melissa's screen shots for student portfolios:

Example 1

Example 2:

Example 3:

 Example 4:

Example 5:

Evernote is a great way to teach our students to be digitally responsible, organized, and literate. My hope using Evernote they will find other uses for cloud computing as well as ways to successfully use technology outside of school in the real world. 

You can connect with Melissa on Twitter or on her blog (Twitter: @mseideman, Blog: Notanotherhistoryteacher)

David Andrade

Evernote is my main lesson and resource organizational tool. I have notebooks setup for lesson plans and lesson resources, along with notebooks for things to do, things to research, and things to share. My lesson plan notes are set up by unit and have the objectives, links, resources, and attached files (like handouts and lab packets). I also have notes setup by week that I use to keep track of where each class is and to schedule my plans out. I can easily share resources and information with my students or colleagues. I have notebooks for faculty meeting notes, ideas for future lessons, Android tips and resources, technology support, and personal notebooks for financial notes and account information, recipes, travel plans, and much more.

In the image below, you can see my lesson plan notebook. It has my schedule for each week with what I am going to do in each class, each day. I also have notes with my unit and lesson plans, links to other resources, notes, and I have attached the files I use with each class.

Lesson Plan objectives:

David's post on winning Evernote premium for himself and his classes for a entire year:

I just won a very cool contest Evernote hosted for educators. Along with 9 other teachers, I won a year of Evernote premium for me and all of my students, along with training and support to implement it with my class.

I have been using Evernote myself for years and always share it with my students, but this will be my first year really using it with them. I'm learning more about sharing notebooks and setting up groups and classes with Evernote. The first webinar from Evernote was great and we have a Yammer group for support, as well as more training from Evernote throughout the year.

Students have already been using Evernote to take notes and upload files from me and attach them to their class notes. Many are also taking pictures of notes on the board and uploading them to Evernote. I'm also having them submit assignments to me via Evernote. Each class has a notebook and the students tag anything they send me with their name for easy sorting. This will become their online portfolio. Students can share notes with me or email me files right into Evernote. 

They are getting so used to it already, that when I say "where should you save this?" they automatically answer Evernote. 

You can follow David on Twitter or his blog (Twitter: @Daveandcori, Blog: Educationaltechnologyguy)

I highly recommend you follow Melissa and David, they have shared some great things involving a vast area of education.  

What do you think?  Give Evernote a try.  

5 reasons why you should use Evernote

Evernote is one of my favorite online tools.  I use it on my Iphone, Android tablet and laptop to gather information and jot down thoughts and ideas.  Here are 5 reasons why you should give Evernote a try:

1.  Never forget a thought or idea

Ever had a really awesome idea or something that you thought of and wanted to write it down before you forgot it?  With Evernote, you never have to forget anything.  With my Iphone app (here's the Itunes store link for it) I can quickly launch the application, create a new note or edit an existing one and type in the thought or idea.  Once you're done, that thought is now in your world of Evernote--it will be on my laptop, tablet, and on the web at evernote.com.  

2.  Organize and catalog online content

Since one of my teaching certifications is Composite Social Studies, I love to read and save articles over history, economics, and politics.  Evernote has truly been an awesome tool for me to use this year because we are in a election year for the President of the United States.  With the Evernote webclipper, any time I run across a article that I find interesting and want to refer to later, all I have to do is click the webclipper, select the notebook I want to put it in, and it's done.  Here's an example of the Google Chrome Evernote webclipper I use:

It's also nice that I can assign tags to the article that I've just clipped for even more organization.  This saves me all kinds of time and hassle. 

3.  Sharing made simple

With Evernote, sharing content and notes has never been easier.  As soon as a new note has been created in your Evernote account, you have the option of sharing it several different ways.  You can share via Twitter, Facebook, Email, or even via link directly to the note.  Here's the link to a article over Ben Bernanke that I clipped a few months ago.  You also have the option to share an entire notebook so your users can access all of the notes in that notebook.  With this capability, you can share one link to your students where they can access all class lecture notes.  Thus, with Evernote you have one central "hub" to which you can share your content.  

4.  Simplify other online tools with Evernote

Evernote in itself is completely awesome.  However, once you realize that there are other online websites/tools that also use Evernote with their services, it makes it all complete.  There are a wealth of apps for Iphone and Android that you can combine with Evernote, check out the Evernote "Trunk" to see what you could be using with Evernote:  http://evernote.com/trunk.  

5. It's Free

With Evernote, you can have the option to get a premium account or you can just keep the basic (free) account.  Here's what you'll get with a free account:

• 100,000 Notes; each note can be a maximum of 25 megabytes (mb) for free users and 50mb for Premium users.
• 250 Synchronized Notebooks (including Notebook Stacks). All 250 notebooks can be shared. There is no limit to the number of Local Notebooks (which aren't synced) you can have.
• 10,000 Tags.
• 100 Saved Searches.

  (evernote.com)

Event though I have a premium account, I never maxed out my usage even when I had the free account.  

Hopefully these reasons give you some insight on why to use Evernote.  Of course, these 5 reasons are just a start to the numerous things you can use Evernote for.  I've also created a "Evernote for Educators" livebinder with a lot of articles on how others are using Evernote.  Feel free to browse:

  

Evernote for Educators