School Administrator Uses of Evernote & Must-Have Evernote Extensions

Evernote is a must-have application for the school administrator. This week, I conducted a concurrent session on it and other web tools at the North Carolina Technology in Education Society’s annual conference. From that conference, here’s 7 Ways Administrators Can Use Evernote:

• Note Taking: This is the most obvious use of Evernote since that is the application’s purpose. Evernote has some capabilities that make note taking even more powerful. Users have anywhere-any-device access to those notes. They can also tag their notes to make them fully searchable, and sharing notes through email or social media is as easy as clicking on a button. This means the next time you attend a meeting and someone asks about what was discussed, just tell them you will send them your notes from Evernote.
• Administrators Log: I’ve kept an administrator’s log since I was an assistant principal. It has evolved over the years from a spiral notebook to a Microsoft Word document to an Evernote note page. In Evernote, I have a notebook entitled Administrator Logs, and each day I open a new page and entitled it “Administrators Log (and date).” Throughout the day, I document the significant events I deal with, especially those that I feel might need the extra documentation. I use this log for investigation notes about school incidents, notes about important conversations with stakeholders, or notes about other significant events. With the Evernote app on my Droid phone, iPad, desktops, and my Kindle Fire, like my notes, my administrator log follows me everywhere I go.
• Collection Tool for Sharing:  As I go through the day, I am always stumbling across web items to share. Evernote allows me to capture those pages into a notebook so that I can later share the information with others.
• Online Inbasket: I no longer use a physical “Inbasket” on my desk, I have a notebook in Evernote entitled “Inbasket.” In this notebook I put items that require action or attention in the near future. This means my “Inbasket” does not stay on my desk, but it follows me wherever I go too.
• Weekly-To-Do List: Evernote allows me to easily create a To-Do list that follows me everywhere too. That means I can add more things to that list any where I happen to be, and check off the things I’ve accomplished. Like my Notes, Administrators Log, and Inbasket, using Evernote means my To Do List is always with me.
• Sticky Notes:  This is a new Evernote Trunk Item that allows users to create a Sticky Note on your desktop that automatically syncs with your Evernote account. This means that any sticky notes I create on my computer will also be on my work computer.
• Web Clipping: With a simple extension, it is simple to clip a page into Evernote for later reading, reference, or sharing. Evernote Web Clipping allows me to easily capture things I might want to use later.

In addition to these specific uses of Evernote, I would recommend the following extensions.

• Evernote Clearly: This is a Chrome Extension that allows users to easily capture a web page without all the ads and other distractions and either print it or upload it to Evernote for later reading.
• Evernote Web Clipper: Allows users to clip web pages and resources and send them to specific notebooks in their Evernote account.