Teachers and students can use this amped-up notebook for a range of tasks. Students can collect research for an upcoming project or paper, and teachers can share assignments, resources, or reading materials. Since Evernote is basically a blank notebook, kids can fill it up almost any way they choose. Get kids to snap a picture of a flower and use Skitch to label the different parts. Let students choose or customize a template to show the differences among rock formations, complete with annotated images of each one. Kids who struggle with writing can record their ideas first as voice memos, or record your own voice memos to email home to students or parents.
Planning a group project? Let students collaborate by sharing typed or handwritten notes, annotated images, or files. This is especially helpful when kids are absent: They'll have an easier time catching up if they have access to the day's notes. Finally, teach kids who tend to forget things how to create checklists and set reminders for assignments, tasks, or due dates. Strategies like these teach kids organizational and self-help skills that will transfer far beyond the classroom.
Continue readingEvernote is a note-taking and productivity tool that offers companion apps for web clipping, drawing, and scanning. Students can create notes, snap images, hand-write notes, make checklists, or record audio on their mobile device and make the information available on other mobile devices or computers. Depending on the plan, content will sync across two or more devices, but the versions sometimes get mixed up. Students can search notes by keyword or by customizable tags for easy retrieval. Multiple notebooks -- basically folders -- appear as Stacks, making it easy to drag and drop content between them. Users can also download companion apps like Scannable and Skitch, which allow them to import documents or annotated images. Premium accounts can be linked automatically, but even in the free version, kids can share links to their notes or information.
The app itself is easy to use, with a simple yet attractive user interface. The help features are plentiful, but there seems to be a lot of dependence on community forums and feature requests from other users -- there's an email option to contact Evernote but no chat support. Additional features, such as offline access and syncing across unlimited devices, are available with the Premium plan.
Like any notebook, kids will get out of Evernote what they put into it. The difference here is the potential for its impact on learning. The interactive features and relative ease with which students can record and organize content promotes a shift in the way kids manage information in school and the way teachers share it.
Beyond simply allowing students to organize notes into sections, Evernote promotes writing skills through note-taking, graphic organizers, visual or audio content, and more, supporting many different learning needs. And kids can easily search for notes via keyword. This means that even students who struggle with organization will be able to locate their text-based notes and shared documents while they work on developing better habits. The note-sharing feature can help kids learn skills like collaboration and interdependence without having to borrow someone else's paper-based notebook or device to get caught up. Finally, the ability to sync notes across two or more devices means that kids and teachers can easily switch between mobile devices, tablets, laptops, or desktops without losing ground.