Evernote @ CSA Conference 2014

Towards the end of last year the Assistant Principal nominated me to present at the Christian Schools Australia Conference in July this year. I was excited and nervous at the same time about the prospect of speaking to a group of educators in an hour long workshop at a big Conference. My topic would be 'Blended Learning: Using Evernote as a LMS to raise the academic bar'.

I had many ideas and resources collected over the years that I could select from, and I had just done a completely paperless class experiment in year 10. I followed this up by getting rid of all my paper folders and scanning everything into the cloud. I use Google Drive as my storage space, but my documents are backed up in other places too. Now I am trying to get rid of more paper as I move through this year.

I constructed a detailed presentation that expanded a lot on my EduTECH Teachmeet talk from June, as this one had to be 60 minutes rather than 7 minutes. I used some fantastic resources that can be found on Australian Evernote Education Ambassador Bec Spink's Website - http://becspink.com/evernote/.
Also various resources from Evernote.com page and my own examples created from my classes. I covered the basics of Evernote, what I have done and what are the possibilities for teachers in using Evernote in schools and in their personal lives. The workshop went very well, and there were a number of 'wow' moments from the attendees. That was a sure indication of success in conveying the message. Many of the attendees stayed around afterwards, asking questions, getting further advice and I have had some make contact with me already asking further guidance.

I have estimated over the past 2 years I have introduced Evernote to about 100 students and teachers at my school and now at other schools. I love sharing my passion for Evernote, its possibilities and its usefulness.

Using Evernote

A couple of weeks back I posted about my Paperless class using Evernote.  Here are links to the posts:
My Paperless class & My paperless class part 2, I thought i would share a bit about how I use Evernote.

I have loved Evernote from the first time I had used it and over the course of the last 18 months I have embraced everything Evernote. I signed up for Premium in within 4 months and over time I have used Evernote in all aspects of my teaching. There is still so much more to do to fully integrate it in more areas. Here are some of the ways I have used it and my plans for the future.

At school:
I have been able to record ideas for classes, prepare unit overviews and plan term outlines on Evernote. I have also set up individual notebooks within stack for each unit I teach. Here is just an example of my Senior Modern (World) History

I have Notebook Stacks for all my subject areas, and in each Stack there are Notebooks with notes inside them. It has allowed me to organise all my work in different notebooks. I have certain notebooks that I share with students as the year progresses. My senior students have enjoyed using evernote for the ease of communicating information. They have also utilized it in all of their subject areas. 

I use Evernote constantly to save information and web pages that i come across. I take photos, record audio clips, emails, written notes and so much more.

The current project with my year 10 paperless class has involved using Evernote exclusively for their notes. The students all shared their notes with me and allowed me to see how they are progressing. This has been invaluable in tracking progress and understanding. 

I also have a number of other Stacks that are focused on managing my Humanities department, School Admin related notes and a Personal notebook. All of these are handy in keeping track of my life. I have enjoyed reading how some people have gone completely paperless, and the great ideas they have.

One of them is Jamie Tod Rubin who is a writer and the Evernote Paperless Living Ambassador . Some great blog posts and ideas to use there. Then there are also two Education Ambassadors that I follow - Nicholas Provenzano and Bec Spink.

My future plans with Evernote are quite ambitious, but achievable. I plan on following the lead of these people above and others, and transforming more areas of my life into the paperless realm. My first big project before the end of the year is take all my Business and Ancient History resources completely paperless. This will mean creating digital records of all my handouts, notes, worksheets, etc, and transferring it into Evernote. I want my shelves to be clear, empty of the big bulky folders with tonnes of paper inside them. I want to do this with all my folders and subject areas. 

Then the next step is to make sure all my subjects, with their individual units are all in Evernote in notebooks. I also want to create individual lesson plans with links inside Evernote. This will all take time and I hope to have this ready for the start of the next school year in January.

Evernote is a brilliant tool, and I love sharing it with people. There is still much to learn and explore, and I look forward to the future developments with Evernote.