Thing 22 Productivity Tools

Hi! This is my first blog for Cool Tools for 2015/2016! Yes, I am a bit late in starting.  I am most likely going to skip around and pick tools.  I would also like to spend some time on some of the Tools that I previously tried only so I can explore some new things.  I have decided to start with Thing 22: Productivity Tools.  So here goes!

I have downloaded Evernote and am attempting to see how this tool can be useful to me.  So far, I am a bit confused.  I do see how a tool that is available on all devices can be useful, especially when I get to the grocery store and realize I have forgotten my list.  I also installed it on my phone and registered for an account.

I started a notebook of favorite recipes just for practice.  I have used libguides to link lessons and resources on specific topics to access all in one place.  The problem with libguides is that if I do not work for my district at any time in the future, I will not have access to libguides.  Also, if my district decides not to keep paying for access for libguides, I will not be able to get to the guides I have created.  Therefore, Evernote seems like it will be a good place to do this, if it can be used in the way that I think it can.

I'm finding it a bit cumbersome to use. I have created two notebooks and figured out how to change the name of the notebooks when I want to but I cannot figure out how to "title" the notes in each notebook.  They default to "untitled" and I haven't been able to give them a title.  I use Google Drive for my work files and have gotten pretty used to using it.  I have a separate Google account for home and try to remember to keep my work files in my home drive also, just in case I ever leave the district I work for and don't have access to the drive I created specifically for work.  I am going to try and remain open minded to Evernote, especially the mobile feature of it but I am pretty happy with Google drive and don't see myself replacing it with Evernote.  I have to do some more exploration and experimenting with Evernote.

I decided to try Delicious next.  I heard of this a very long time ago, back when I was beginning my master's in Library Science, I think.  That would be 2007.  If I am correct, they used to spell their name with some confusing combination of capital and lower case letters.  From what I remember, and what I have learned, Delicious is a way of accessing your bookmarks from anywhere that you can sign onto the internet.  A good idea that I can see a use for.  Now that I created an account, it seems that it can be used for following other users also.  I can't imagine wanting to follow other users but ok.

I noticed a "Trending" link and decided to check that out.  It is a catagorized section of links to popular articles.  It has the categories of "Canada, career, Facebook, psych, relationships,  Scence, tech, travel, and videos".  I clicked on "psych" and saw that it had several articles in the psych category.  Facebook was a link to articles on how to use Facebook, how to use Facebook for marketing, and other articles on how to use Facebook for various purposes.

"Discover" brings you to a page where you can enter words that may be popular tags for topics you want to subscribe to.  I entered "reading" and found a few interesting things.  An article called

19 Quirky Conundrums Only Book Lovers Understand

It turns out that these conundrums truly belong to book lovers.  

Next I subscribed to "books" and read the following artile.  Usually when I read these types of lists, I have read most of the books on them.  This list was different.  Most of the books I haven't heard of. Many of them are non-fiction.  There is one on the list that I read but did not recall the name of, so it was nice to see it.  The ones that I have read are Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Omnivore's Dilema by Michael Pollen, The Harry Potter Series by J.K.Rowling, Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  Random Family was the one whose title I could not recall.  

26 Books That Will Change The Way You See The World

Reading: It does a mind good.

posted on Nov. 12, 2013, at 12:09 p.m.

Erin La Rosa

BuzzFeed Staff

I also read "Life-Changing Books" and saw A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson which was on the other list too.  I think I'm going to have to find this book.  

I am now spending more time writing in this blog about the links that I am exploring via Delicious so I guess that is my nudge to move on.  

Clearly sounded very useful and interesting however, clicking on the link brought me to a message that said, "On December 17, 2015, Evernote will not make further updates to the Clearly extension. Customers who currently use the Clearly browser extension can continue to do so. As of January 22, 2016, Clearly will no longer be available for download."

So! I am confused as to why this is so, but I guess that is the end of that!

I decided to try "Readability" since "Clearly" wasn't available.  Again the tool wants me to "follow" other people and see the articles they have saved. Do I spent some time looking at what other people have saved.  I don't really understand the purpose of this tool since I clicked on one of the recommended articles and it still had ads in it.  I thought the purpose was to make articles readable without ads?  There were even pop up ads!

Scrible is pretty cool.  I like the thought of using this to highlight and add notes for students.

Going backwards on the Cool Tools page for Thing 22, I looked at Student Portfolios in Evernote and got very overwhelmed by the author's use of other tools (Moodle, Kustomnote) in her description of how she uses Evernote for portfolios and student work.  Although it sounds like it has made her life a lot easier, I was confused by all the other "things" she mentions using to accomplish her goal.  I need more information about Evernote....so I'm going to keep reading.  

I found the link on the Thing 22 page to How My Students started using Evernote....to be very helpful.  The author (a librarian, of course!) created a 70 slide introduction to Evernote which was very informative.  I learned that you can only attach files if you have Evernote Premium.  I am starting to see more ways this tool could be useful to me but still need my Google Drive for my files. I can especially picture using Evernote to save sources for research all in one place.  I don't like that I have to download the "Web Clipper" separately.  

The slideshare was very informative.  I learned a lot about Evernote and am better able to see how it could be very useful.  I can see using it with my 7th and 8th grade students as a way to save pictures, articles, notes, and videos about a research topic.  I can also see how they might want to use it to save class notes.  I like how you can take a picture of handwritten notes and upload them into the tool.  I have to try this and see how it recognizes print so that the content can be part of the searchable content.  So although I started this blog thinking that Evernote was not going to be useful to me, reading and testing it out has changed my mind.  I can see how I will use it in my personal and my professional life and how I will use it with students.  

I discovered Sortd and installed it to use to organize and manage my email at home.  I wish I could install it to use for my work email but that account is on Outlook.