Evernote and Educators

Evernote is an incredible tool that every single educator needs to begin using. One of the most important skills for an educator to have is to be organized. Organization is important in every aspect of instruction in school. Without organization, it will be incredibly stressful to be a teacher. Between lesson planning, homework and classwork assignments, grading tests and papers, meetings, and any other of the various things that teachers do, life can become fairly hectic. Evernote assists in keeping school and your life organized.

What Is Evernote?

Essentially, Evernote is an online filing cabinet for your life. You can create folders, notes to assign to those folders, and even save websites and files from your computer with it. Evernote is "one workspace that lives across your phone, tablet, and computer, Evernote is the place you write free from distraction, collect information, find what you need, and present your ideas to the world" (Evernote, 2015). The tools of Evernote allow one to take notes, save webpages or bookmarks, mark up notes on PDF files (Duffy, 2014) or other documents, and to snap a photo of whatever is on the screen.

How Is This Useful In The Classroom?

Students

Evernote can change the way our students take notes and learn in class. By keeping all of one's notes in a single "binder," it makes the thought of having a paper-free classroom more achievable. A student easily could carry one laptop computer into class instead of a backpack full of notebooks and textbooks because all of his notes would be organized into one space which could be organized into separate folders for each class (something the students already do). Evernote is also cost effective compared to notebooks because the application is free! Instead of spending hundreds of dollars to buy new notebooks each school year, one just needs to spend the few minutes it takes to download and setup an Evernote account.

Teachers

For educators, Evernote is essential! Michael Cruz suggests the use of Evernote in the classroom can be broken down into three categories, prior to class, during class, and after class. Prior to class, teachers can use Evernote to organize lessons, keep track of potential activities or sources to use in class, and create notes to share with students. During class, teachers can use Evernote to share notes with students, save pictures of the whiteboard, and access all the worksheets, classwork, and homework that is easily found in the convenient folders. After class, teachers can use Evernote to scan in copies of tests, quizzes, papers, etc and grade/mark them up. Teachers can also use Evernote for any other non-classroom activities they are involved in such as professional development communities, clubs, or sports.

Web Clipper

One of the most useful, and my personal favorite, features of Evernote is the Web Clipper. The Web Clipper is such a fantastic tool because it allows you to capture a webpage, take notes on that page, and share that page (with those notes) with people through social media or email. This works great for educators because they can use the Web Clipper to share a valuable resource with their students in class, or post it to a class social media page to view later. If the webpage is something that a teacher feels will be useful in class every year, using the Web Clipper allows the teacher to save the page and file it away instead of having to find it each year. Web Clipper is an extraordinary tool to have when doing online research or surfing the web for students as well for those same reasons. Being able to save a webpage for later that you have already marked up and taken notes on is invaluable. 

My Experience With Evernote

Over the past few months, I have used Evernote to keep my life organized. Any useful websites that I have found in class, I have saved using the Web Clipper tool. I have used Evernote to make To-Do lists, something I recommend doing because it keeps you focused and it is so satisfying crossing something off a To-Do list. I have also created a folder for each of the six courses I am currently enrolled in this semester. Inside the folders I keep my notes for all of my projects, papers, and anything else that I may need or find worth saving. My experience with Evernote has been an extremely pleasant one, and I would definitely recommend downloading it to anyone who is serious about being or becoming an educator. Once I become a teacher, I will be sure to involve Evernote in my classroom. If my school allows for students to use computers in class, and if all of my students have access to a laptop for class, I will definitely make sure to utilize as many of Evernote's features to further my students' learning.

Conclusion

With this wonderful program, I was able to keep all of my notes class notes organized in folders, keep my schedule together with To-Do lists, and save web pages with the Web Clipper function. Any educator can do all of this and more with Evernote. It takes your work efficiency to a whole new level. Teachers can even grade tests, or papers with the program, which is something everyone in the profession is familiar with. In order to stay organized and keep all of your files for work in one central location, I highly recommend beginning to use Evernote. 

References

Cruz, M. (2011, January 13). 10 Tips for Teachers Using Evernote – Education Series. Retrieved March 18, 2015, from https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2011/01/13/10-tips-for-teachers-using-evernote-education-series/

Duffy, J. (2014, December 30). Evernote (Web). Retrieved March 21, 2015, from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383054,00.asp

[Evernote logo]. Retrieved March 18, 2015 from http://pixgood.com/evernote-logo-png.html

The Evernote Web Clipper. (2014, July 17). Retrieved March 18, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyuAn1Z_7uM

[Untitled illustration of evernote images]. Retrieved March 18, 2015 from https://evernote.com/intl/pt-br/evernote/guide/web/#4

[Untitled illustration of web clipper]. Retrieved March 18, 2015 from http://min-blog.tistory.com/941