Free Technology for Schools

Evernote is one of those apps that once you use it you wonder how you ever lived without it. I first discovered it in Argentina about 18 months ago on a holiday learning Spanish. On the holiday I had an iPhone and iPad with me and I found it was a simple way to keep track of my notes from my lessons (taken on my iPad) and anything of interest that I wanted to learn when I was out on the town (on my iphone) looking for my next rib eye steak and Malbec fix.
My initial use of this app was quite basic, focusing on simple note taking. Now I use it for everything such as taking pictures of books I want to read so I can download on my Kindle later, remembering things as they pop into my head, keeping a record of websites I want to view and of course planning my next blog post.
Of course as educators, you want to know how you can use it in school. Well this is how I use it. This may sound a little bit low tech but for keeping track of things in work, I actually use a paper note pad. Why? It fits in my pocket and is quick to boot up, just open and click the on button on your pen. At the end of each day I then take a photo of each page and upload to Evernote so it syncs to all my devices (now android) and my Mac at home. I also use it to photograph and sync documents in meetings.

I am currently trying it out with students. One of my students who is undertaking a research project is keeping a record of all his research using Evernote, so I can check the range of sources he has consulted and if I think he is following the wrong path, put him on the right one before our next meeting.

The great thing with Evernote is the range of apps that also work with it like Skitch for quick sketches. It also works well with Google Chrome if you download the web-clipper extension for keeping track of research. Evernote is one of the best productivity apps around and I am sure I am only scratching the surface on its potential uses in education. If you are using it creatively, please add a comment below. I would love to hear your ideas.