Productivity and Organizing - Resources, Tips and ideas for being more productive and organized

Productivity and Organizing -
Resources, Tips and ideas for being more productive and organized.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People-Outline, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People-Wikipedia


Great for every aspect of your life

Getting Things Done 5 Steps
I use this daily, especially with emails

Ben Franklin’s Daily Schedule
I love his philosophy and organization

Organizing Resources from this blog and some more
Get Organized - tips and resources for students, teachers, admin and more
My Workflow as CIO - includes heavy use of Evernote

Apps, Articles and Resources
Evernote
Evernote Tips and Tricks Series (updated often)
Yes, I still use Evernote. Because it’s still the best way to get s**t done.
Introducing Templates, A Better Way to Make Notes

Google Keep and more tips

Outlook Tips from Microsoft, 13 Outlook Productivity & Organization Tips

OneNote
10 Tips and Tricks That Will Make You a OneNote Ninja
11 Tips for Improving Productivity using OneNote
How to Master Microsoft Office OneNote

7-Step Prep: Make a Weekly Plan for YOU! Planning sheet under #3 is great

Project Management Guide for Beginners

Take a Moment and Assess Your Workspace for Productivity

My First Month Using A Paper Planner After A Decade Drowning In Apps
Full Focus Paper Planner
Weekly Momentum Planner (free printable download)
The Basics Notebook
Franklin Planner (I used these for years before moving to digital)

15 Habits That Will Totally Transform Your Productivity

How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box”


Find a system that works for you - paper based, digital, combination, etc.

Set reminders in digital apps - Calendar, Keep, Evernote, etc. to make sure you don't forget things.

Focus on your priorities.

Read and learn.



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Free Back to School Guide for students - scheduling, budget, study habits and more

This Back to School Guide, is a free resource for helping students achieve greater success in school. The new guide offers tips for efficient scheduling, how to maintain a budget, creating good study habits and more using office productivity software.

The guide is available here for download: http://blog.wps.com/2016/09/26/pdf-back-to-school-guide/.


The guide includes these topics:
• Back-to-School Basics: Tracking Tools Can Help You Prepare for Fall
• Getting Back in the School Mindset
• Templates, Style Trends, and More
• Good Study Habits and Why They Help Students
• The Importance of Scheduling for Students
• Additional Resources for Students
• Helping Students Start Thinking Ahead to College
• Summer Assignments to Prepare for the Next Year Ahead


To download the full Back to School Guide, visit https://goo.gl/UO4rBr.


Other resources for students:

10 Great, Free Apps for Students for Notetaking and Class Planning

Successful Studying Tips and Resources for Students

Study Tips and Notetaking Resources

Resources on How to Study

Study Aids

Important Skills Students Need for the Future that we need to help them learn

10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

10 Technology Skills Every Student Needs for the Future

Evernote - notetaking, web clipping, and more, on any device

Comparison of some popular note taking apps

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources - includes links and resources for electronic and paper planning






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5 Great Digital Tools for Teachers

Planning for the first month of school can take on average 16 hours of prep, research, practice and refinement for every one hour of actual teaching time.

In the hopes of giving teachers some hours back this month, here are 5 digital tools that teachers can use to lifehack their course planning.



#1 BRAINSTORM IN THE CLOUD:
Always forgetting great coursework planning ideas you have outside of class? Jot your brainstorms on your phone’s Evernote app. Your ideas will be synced to a central location automatically, so you can have all your great ideas in one place.

#2 HAVE A DIGITAL PROJECT HUB
Are you a visual brainstormer? Trello mimics your wall of Post-Its so you can drag and drop course ideas and to-do’s, big questions or due dates for projects. Teachers can also create projects for students, and ask them to add writing tasks, encouraging classroom collaboration.

#3 TEACH VISUALLY
Course Hero has just launched an Infographic Study Series (coursehero.com/lit/): a collection of over 90 classic literature titles in visual form to help students learn efficiently. These easy to read infographics are the perfect bite-sized summaries to incorporate into your English 101 planning. See more information below.



#4 AMP UP YOUR PRESENTATION
Sick of conventional classroom presentations? Prezi’s zooming canvas opens up the classroom to active learning and interactivity, making lessons understandable, memorable and fun. Prezi also offers a free Edu Pro account.

#5 BE A DIGITAL TASK-MASTER
Wunderlist is a to-do list app that allows you to add tasks, set due dates and reminders, and link out to relevant resources.


Related:

Evernote for Education - great ideas and resources for using Evernote

Wunderlist - free and easy to use task manager

More Resources for Getting Organized and some more!

More Presentation Resources

Resources on Prezi

Top 5 Apps for Educational Administrators to Use

My most used/favorite Apps and how I use them

My Favorite Resources for Teachers and Students



Course Hero is an online learning platform that empowers millions of students and educators to succeed.

Course Hero Introduces Literature Infographics

The company announces first-of-its-kind visual learning collection to help students master literature

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Course Hero, an online learning platform that empowers millions of students and educators to succeed, has developed “Literature Infographics” to help students better understand great works of literature. This visually stunning learning tool includes the key critical literary works that students will need to prepare for the upcoming fall semester. Course Hero developed these unique learning materials to provide students with a visual tool to help understand the key elements of classic literary work.

The series currently includes the following titles:

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
And many more

The Literature Infographics (coursehero.com/lit/), which currently contain more than 90 titles, are a unique way for students to learn about the characters, themes, authors, and literary devices contained in the works many students will be reading this year.

“As an educator, I see these infographics as a fun, visual way to immediately immerse students in the essential ideas, concepts and literary devices that can facilitate their understanding and appreciation of literature,” said Kathi Duffel who has been a teacher for over 30 years and is an AP English and Journalism Advisor at Bear Creek High School (California). Kathi is also the recipient of the 2015 James Madison Freedom of Information Award by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists.

“We believe our Literature Infographics will help students better understand the complex ideas behind some of these great works of literature by providing a visual, story-driven perspective to the content they are related to ,” said Course Hero Co-founder and CEO Andrew Grauer. “It’s also our hope that educators will find these materials rich, engaging and helpful in addition to the lectures, class notes and other materials that they painstakingly prepare for students in the classroom.”

The Course Hero Literature Infographics are free for students and educators to browse, download, and share with classmates, friends, and colleagues and can be found here.

About Course Hero | Master Your Classes™

Course Hero is an online learning platform that empowers millions of students and educators to succeed. Fueled by a passionate community of students and educators who share their course-specific knowledge and educational resources, Course Hero offers the biggest and best library of study documents, expert tutors, customizable flashcards, and course advice. Course Hero is now used by over 10 million students to supplement their class work with course-specific study materials.

















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Rocketbook - cloud integrated notebook you microwave to erase

Rocketbook is a cool new product. It is similar to Livescribe notebooks in that it has micro-dot paper that uses a special pen and captures what you write to the cloud. The difference is that you can reuse the notebook - put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and the special ink (Pilot FriXion pen) is erased. The company says you can reuse the notebooks about 25 times, which is very nice. One pen is included.

The notebook and app work together and there are 7 icons on the bottom of each page that you assign to the app of your choice, including Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs or even your email.

Paper notebooks appeal to a lot of people and are easier, at least in my opinion, to take math, science, engineering notes (equations) and draw sketches.

Paper notebooks are a great resource and appeal to many users. Having a paper notebook that also works with digital resources is even better.

It is scheduled to release in June 2015 - they have already surpassed their initial funding goal by over 1000% so it is happening. You can go to the site and contribute to it for early access to products too.




Related:

Analog (ie paper) resources that work with digital
Evernote for Education Resources

Livescribe Pens and Notebooks

Tips and Resources for Getting Organized

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - includes some tips for paper based systems





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Slack - free, easy to use, communications/collaboration platform - great for teams and schools

Slack is a free platform for instant team communication and collaboration. It allows you to create “channels” according to specific topics, issues, projects or teams, which gives everyone access to all the conversations and information circling around. You can include messages, files, images and videos in the channels. This can replace email, chat and video conferencing. 

It also integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive and Hangouts, and Trello. It also has a very good search feature. It is web based, with iOS and Android apps. 

It is free to use and there is no limit to the number of users. 

This would be great for classrooms, teacher communication, workgroups, PD, and much more. 

Related:

Asana - free teamwork and productivity app

DropTask - Visual Task Management app

kanban2go - free visual task management and organization

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

Evernote - super organizing, task list, note taking, project management app

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Droptask announces integration with Evernote

DropTask is a free visual task management app that is web based and available on iOS and Android that I reviewed two weeks ago.  They have just announced that DropTask now integrates with Evernote. To celebrate, they are offering two months free of the Pro version of DropTask, which is needed for this integration.

Integration with Evernote allows you to send your notes from Evernote into DropTask where you can organize and manage your to-dos. Alternatively, if you have a task already in DropTask, you can send it to Evernote and create a new note where you will have the space to write down all your ideas and information related to that task.


Read more about it below:

Create, plan, and do
Whether you’re writing the week’s agenda, taking minutes from a meeting or just jotting down flashes of inspiration, syncing Evernote with DropTask will let you transform life’s all-important notes into finished projects.

Simply add the ‘droptask’ tag to your notes to seamlessly sync them to your DropTask PRO inbox - where they will wait for you until you’re ready to get to action!
FEATURE FACT: The name of your notes will become the task title and the body of the notes will become the task description.

Take Note
You know what tasks you need to do, now it’s time to get them done! Whether it’s a small note you need to make or some lengthy research you want to carry out; utilize the two-way sync and view existing tasks from DropTask in Evernote to really make use of the extended workspace.

On the Go
Enhance your productivity and use DropTask with Evernote across multiple devices. Syncing between both tools on the go means you can plan, organize and complete your tasks wherever you are, whenever you like!

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MyStudyLife - excellent cross-platform student planner

MyStudyLife is an excellent, free, cross-platform student planner with a great set of features to help students stay organized. With it, students can organize their assignments and tasks based on their course schedules. The tasks are all shown on the homepage to remind them and the app even supports rotating and block schedules. It is available on iPhone, Android, Windows 8, Windows Phone and the web.

It allows you to create a calendar with your class schedule, a task list, and reminders.

Related:

yasp! Easy to use Student Planner for Android
WhatsDueApp - free app for teachers to help keep parents and students up-to-date

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources - includes links and resources for electronic and paper planning
10 Great, Free Apps for Students for Notetaking and Class Planning

My Favorite Resources for Teachers and Students

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Centrallo productivity app announces some great updates

Centrallo is a productivity app with some really nice features that I wrote about last year. You can create lists within lists and inside store links, photos, video,voice notes, important dates, contacts, Dropbox links and more.Priorities are brought front and center so you don't loose track of them and it now has location based reminders, similar to Google Now.

They just announced some great updates to their app:

1. Shared Checklists - multiple people can add and edit real time.
2. Updated their web version.
3. Improved their iPhone, iPad and Android versions, including the ability to publish lists containing rich media.

Centrallo is a great app with some great features to get you organized.

Related:

Evernote - super productivity, organization and note taking app

Asana - free teamwork and productivity app

kanban2go - free visual task management and organization

Taking organizing and planning lessons from Ben Franklin - great tips for educators too

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources
Great tips, ideas, resources, links (including to paper and electronic planners)

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WhatsDueApp - free app for teachers to help keep parents and students up-to-date

WhatsDue is a free mobile app, available on Android and iOS, that gives teachers and easy way to keep parents and students up-to-date. Students simply subscribe to the course, which the teacher created, and then all assignments automatically appear in the to-do list. When the student completes the assignment, they simply swipe it off of the list. They an even set reminders with push notifications.

This is a great way for students to keep up with their assignments. Parents can also sign up. This can be very useful for students who have a hard time staying organized.



Related:

My Favorite Resources for Students and Teachers






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DropTask - Visual Task Management app

DropTask is a free visual task management app that is web based and available on iOS and Android. It is easy to use and lets you create a visual to do list that is color coded and with lots of features. You can take notes, chat with others, attach files, set reminders, work with others, and more. It is a very beautiful interface with drag and drop functionality.

It also works with other apps, like Google Apps and Dropbox, with Evernote and Outlook integration in Beta versions now.

The Evernote integration is slated to go public very soon and looks pretty cool. Integration with Evernote allows you to send your notes from Evernote into DropTask where you can organize and manage your to-dos. Alternatively, if you have a task already in DropTask, you can send it to Evernote and create a new note where you will have the space to write down all your ideas and information related to that task.

The free version has tons of features with the Pro version, at $6.50/month, adding more features, including more syncing with other apps and more collaboration tools. You can compare features between the two here.

Try it out and see if it can help you get organized. https://www.droptask.com/ 

Here is a video about it:

Related:

Evernote for Education Resources

Get Organized - tips and resources for students, teachers, admin and more

kanban2go - free visual task management and organization

Lots more Resources for Getting Organized

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Asana - free teamwork and productivity app

Asana is a teamwork and productivity app with free and premium accounts, that lets you work collaboratively on projects. They have also just announced a native Android app. Originally, it was just an HTML5 web app.

Asana has some nice features including task lists, reminders, task requests, commenting on tasks and updates, tracking due dates, assignments, notes on tasks and more.



The Android app syncs with your web app account so everything stays organized.


Related:

kanban2go - free visual task management and organization

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources

Evernote - super organizing, task list, note taking, project management app



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Analog (ie paper) resources that work with digital

Not everyone likes to, feel comfortable, or can go completely paperless. Some like the feel of paper. Sometimes it's easier to take notes on paper. Sometimes, digital equipment isn't allowed in an area. Whatever the reason, there are some great paper-based resources that work with digital.

I often share tips and resources for getting organized and have shared some paper-based solutions in the past.

Here are some tips/resources that are paper based or similar:


1. plain old paper - yup, plain old paper is still around. You can easily take notes, sketches and more with any notepad and pen or pencil. Want or need it digital? Just take a photo of it with your smartphone or scan it. You can also use paper based organizers and do the same thing.




2. Moleskin Notebooks - these are specially made to work with Evernote and your smartphone camera. Write in the notebooks and then take a photo of it with the Evernote app and your notes are now in Evernote. You can make them private, share, tag and more with them.




3. Livescribe Pen - write with the special pen on the special paper and capture your notes digitally. The WiFi version automatically syncs over WiFi. I love mine and sync it to my Evernote account. No WiFi where you are? No worries, the data is stored in the pen and can be synced to your computer later. This is a great compromise for using paper while saving the info digitally. You can also record audio with it.


4. Boogie Board - the Boogie Board is an electronic pad that allows you to write on it with a stylus and then erase it. There are also models that let you store what you write and sync it to your computer. I use the basic model for quick notes at home and the Sync model for notes at my desk (instead of using post-its). I can then save the notes if I want by syncing it to my computer (and my Evernote account) or via Bluetooth to my smartphone. Nice for quick notes and meetings.


There are a variety of ways to capture information - use what works for you.



Related:

Tips and Resources for Getting Organized

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - includes some tips for paper based systems

Evernote for Education Resources

What does your desk say about you?

I saw this press release below about a contest about office desks and found the contest to be a fun thing. I'm wondering if any teachers had seen it, as teachers' desks do say a lot about them, their personality and how they work.

Lifehacker does a lot of features like this about people's workspaces and I always find it interesting.

If you want to be more organized, check out the tips HERE.

Take a look at the winners' desks (click on their name below) and look a the Lifehacker features - it's fun.

What's your desk look like? What does it say about you?

Here is my desk.

• Calendar and schedules posted on the cubicle wall.
• Reference books and notebooks (and good ol' Al Einstein) on the left - I still have a couple of books and notebooks that I use in paper form
• Photos of my wife and daughter
• water bottles
• Evernote split cup holder - holds a couple of pens and my smartphone when charging http://goo.gl/WrBy0l
• spot for laptop with power cable, Ethernet cable, and mouse ready to go
• desktop organizer with pens, binder clips, tools and such
• Evernote scanner (scans right into Evernote) http://goo.gl/UIoiwv 
• And the most important item - coffee mug

Simple, clean, efficient. (I'm very organized at work, not as much at home - hard to do with a toddler running around :-) )

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Alison Beckwith, 301-699-0148, abeckwith@ofminc.com

      OFM Announces Winners of ‘My Desk Says’ Contest
Contestants let their desks speak for themselves

HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — OFM, a leading office and school furniture manufacturer, distributor, and wholesaler, announced the winners of the “My Desk Says” social media contest. The contest asked office workers to share photos on Twitter of their desks along with the hashtag #MyDeskSays and a brief description of what their desk said about them and their work.

“The office desk is really just an extension of the human mind,” said Blake Zalcberg, chief executive officer at OFM. “This is the workshop where you do your thinking every day, basically, and it can be revealing, often unintentionally, about what’s going through your head. It was fascinating to see what people thought about their desks in this contest.”

Jan Repman of Etters, Pa., won the “Messiest Desk” award, while Philip Bock of Kohler, Wis., was the winner of the “Most Organized Desk”.Krista Bainbridge of Milwaukee won the “Catch-All Desk” award. The winners will all receive an OFM chair of their choice.

In previous contests, OFM has asked office workers to share creative ways they prevent coworkers from stealing their stapler, what kinds of doodles they draw in long meetings, and why they deserved an “office makeover.”

“Contests like this allow OFM to see office furniture in its natural habitat,” added Zalcberg. “We always learn something new about how people use our products when we ask them to share photos or even just stories about what they do at work. And I think that people get a kick out of sharing them too. The modern office can be an interesting place.”

 
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About OFM

Founded in 1995, OFM is a leading office and school furniture manufacturer, distributor, and wholesaler with headquarters in Holly Springs, N.C. and operations in Phoenix, Ariz., and Taiwan. OFM contracts with manufacturers in Mexico, Taiwan and China to design furniture and products that meet the highest industry standards. It specializes in providing affordable, quality furniture through a dealer network to businesses, government offices, health care and educational facilities. OFM products are sold through a variety of retailers, mail-order catalogs and online dealers including Office Depot, Wayfair, Overstock, and National Business Furniture. 

To learn more about OFM, visit: http://www.ofminc.com.

Related:

Get Organized - tips and resources for students, teachers, admin and more

Tools to go Paperless (in school and at home)

Get Organized - tips and resources for students, teachers, admin and more

I am a type A personality in many ways and I've always been organized at work (not so much at home). As an engineer, it was vital to be organized. As a teacher, I was too, but harder to do. I learned some great things from United Technologies when I worked at Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft. They use a system called ACE, Achieving Competitive Excellence, and parts of it are related to having an organized work space so that you can be more efficient.

Technology is also a great resource for getting organized. I'm about 99% paperless - everything is either done electronically or scanned. I use Evernote extensively for staying organized.

Below are links, with descriptions, to help you get organized.


Evernote Resources
Evernote is the i-ching for organization. Save everything here, organized by notebooks, notes, stacks, and tags and searchable. Text notes, files, documents, web clippings, etc. It is my main tool for everything from lesson plans, to meeting notes, to personal information to photos and more.

Google Apps Resources
Google apps, like email and calendar, can help you get and stay organized with the features they have. Google Keep is a great, simple note taking app that also allows you to set reminders. I use this for quick to-do's and checklists.

Getting Organized Tips and Resources
I wrote this last January and it has some great tips and ideas for getting organized, along with resources. I even discuss paper planning here.

Taking Organizing and Planning Tips from Ben Franklin
Ben Franklin was great at being organized and had some great ideas that are used today.

Great Uses for Binder Clips
Binder clips can help you get organized, and not just by clipping papers together.

Tips, Resources, and Ideas for Going Paperless
Going paperless can help you get more organized - less clutter, less space needed for paper, and the digital versions are easily searchable.

All Articles Tagged as "Get Organized"
This will pull up a list of any blog post that I tagged as "get organized"

Getting Organized with Google Calendar
Tips on using calendar to get organized.

Getting your Lesson Plans and Room Organized for a Substitute Teacher
Life is much better for the sub, your students, and you when you return, when your lessons and classroom are organized.

Using Technology to Organize your Lessons and Resources
I was a much happier, more efficient teacher when I got myself and my lessons organized.

Getting Students and Teachers Organized
Some tips for students and teachers.

Centrallo launches Productivity App - has some great features

Centrallo recently launched the new version of their Productivity App, a free web, iOS and Android app that helps you stay organized and productive.

The update includes iOS and Android widgets, list sharing, location based reminders and Google drive, One Drive and Dropbox integration.

Centrallo has some different features than other productivity apps. You can create lists within lists and inside store links, photos, video,voice notes, important dates, contacts, Dropbox links and more.
Priorities are brought front and center so you don't loose track of them and it now has location based reminders, similar to Google Now.

Features include:

• Simple note creation
• Drag and drop list creation
• Unlimited hierarchical lists (lists within lists)
• List sharing at any hierarchical level
• Photo, video, voice, calendar, PDF and Office attachments
• Prioritization of notes and lists
• Password protection
• Location-based reminders
• iOS and Android widgets for quickly adding from external sources
• Twitter, Facebook, email and SMS list push
• Fast search for active, archived and deleted content
• Email and link forwarding to private Inbox
• Self-publishing to private web link, Twitter, Facebook, Email and SMS
• Cross platform instant synchronization

Take a look and see if it is something you could use - teachers and students can always use something to stay organized and productive. It's free. http://centrallo.com/


Related:

Evernote - super productivity, organization and note taking app

Taking organizing and planning lessons from Ben Franklin - great tips for educators too

Getting Students and Teachers Organized - tips and resources
Great tips, ideas, resources, links (including to paper and electronic planners)