Azu Ike

Whitelines Link Page If you haven't noticed there has been an increased interest in teaching students the art of note taking using standard paper and pens. In fact, just last week, I attended an educational computer conference and sat in on a workshop presented by Chrissy Romano   on a Sketch-noting- that showed how her students are using this technique for recording classroom notes. There is a great deal of research that points to the fact that when we write down things using pen and paper that we are more likely to remember the information as compared to when we use a keyboard. In a previous post I highlighted some of the ways we can use paper notebooks that are designed with specific apps to share and save our notes in the cloud. While searching the web one day, I came across a relatively new solution that bridges the analog to digital world for note taking called Whitelines Link . I would like to thank Olof for provid...

One of the really important skills that students need to develop is their ability to take notes in class. While many students have access to digital devices many still rely on traditional pen and paper for note taking.   While the research would support ( The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking , Psychological Science ,    Pam A. Mueller &    Daniel M. Oppenheimer   first published on April 23, 2014)  the use of pen and paper- wouldn’t it be great to be able to marry both the ink with digital technology to take advantage of the best of both worlds. In this post I'll share with you a couple of different strategies that students might find helpful to marry ink with their digital world. One of my favorite note taking tools is Evernote which I have been using for some time now. Evernote is a great way to capture ideas, notes, images, audio and store it on the web for easy access. Not to...

Over the past couple of years I have done a number of technology sessions at my local public library which have pretty well attended. This year I decided to do a presentation on Evernote, which I thought would be of interest to the community  I have been an Evernote user for over 5 years and use it more and more for my own personal and professional needs. During the presentation I demonstrated how to use the Evernote application on a computer, iPhone & iPad. Using my trusty Epson PowerLite 915W projector , I am able to connect my laptop via a standard USB cable to the projector and connect my iPad via the VGA cable. Using the Epson Remote that is included with the projector, I can quickly switch between the two devices which makes it really handy and easy to switch between the computer and the iPad when doing presentations. I should note that the USB connection sends both the video out and audio to the projector which makes it a re...

It is exciting to watch as software publishers are rolling out software that take advantage of each of the respective platforms and in the process creating some powerful workflows. Such is the case for Inspiration 9.1 on the desktop and Inspiration Maps on the iPad. If you have Inspiration 9 installed on your computer and are using Inspiration Maps on your iPad, I would strongly suggest updating your desktop application to version 9.1. I recently did a presentation to administrators on how they can use Evernote to organize their workflow in the cloud and used an Inspiration Map to visually demonstrate the uses. I was able to quickly accomplish this task by opening Inspiration 9.1 on my laptop and creating the map. Since I used web based graphics in my map it was a lot easier to create the map using my computer. When I was done using Inspiration on my laptop, I simply went to the File Menu and selected Export to iPad Inspiration Maps... This automatically...

As the iPad begins to transform the face of education- we will shortly begin to see it take hold of another facet of learning in the classroom - notably the interactive whiteboard. I can remember like it was just yesterday the excitement of working on a SMART Board for the very first time. It transformed the classroom and gave both teachers a portal to the internet that they could share with their students with such ease. While interactive whiteboards of all varieties are much more common in today's classrooms across America they never really changed the dynamic of the classroom with the teacher standing in the front of the classroom directing the lesson. Yes- I know that students do come up to the interactive whiteboard on occasion to interact with the board but for the majority of students, they sit idly at their desks waiting for a turn. This is all about to change as the iPad infiltrates this next arena of the classroom not...

I have been an Evernote user for the past 5 years and find myself using it more and more each day in the work that I do. Having access to my notes, PDF's, emails, Word documents, and whatever else I need to store, is invaluable to me. So here are a couple of tips that I hope will make you more productive using Evernote . Tip 1 Set up Import Folders From your Mac or PC it is easy to set up a folder known as an Import Folder from your computer. Once this folder is set up anything you save into it will automatically be saved in your Evernote account. Wow now that is easy! Tip 2 Forwarding eMail to your Evernote Account Every Evernote user is automatically given and Evernote email address which can come in really handy for forwarding emails. You can go to your Account setting information to find out your Evernote email address and once you do - enter into your Contacts so that you can always pull it up. If you add the @ sign at the end of the subject field with the name of th...

With each passing day, I am finding that Evernote is becoming a bigger part of my workflow and it is exciting to see how developers of other applications are taking advantage of this. Just today CS Odessa released an update to ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7 that seamlessly allows you to upload your mind maps to Evernote with a click of a button. If you have the Evernote application installed on your computer the upload takes place in the background and within seconds your outline and mind map are transferred to Evernote. For those of you who don't have the Evernote application, you can send your mind maps via an email client that you have installed on your computer. Since the Evernote application is free, I would highly recommend that you install it on your computer so that you can have this seamless experience uploading your mind maps to Evernote from within ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7. Watch the video below to see the Evernote options that are built-in to ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7 .

CS Odessa has really been on a roll lately releasing new and innovative solutions to ConceptDraw MINDMap V 7. Two weeks ago they released a solution that allows anyone who has an Evernote account to quickly upload  ConceptDraw MINDMap V 7 maps to the cloud. Evernote is unique service and one that I have been using for years. A basic Evernote account is free and is accessible from just about any device that is connected to the web. Students who need a digital hub will find Evernote to be invaluable. Now with the capability to add your  ConceptDraw MINDMap maps to Evernote, all the more reason to use the tool for note-taking, brainstorming and for  studying. As if this wasn't enough CS Odessa just today launched the Remote Presentation for Skype Solution that enables teams to present their information with  ConceptDraw MINDMap V 7 over the web utilizing Skype. I had a chance to try it out today with Olin Reams, Sales & Marketing Director...

Over the last couple of years I had the opportunity to demonstrate the Livescribe Pulse and Echo Smartpens to lots of educators who are interested in learning about new technological for the classroom. Today I had the opportunity to demo the Livescribe Sky WiFi pen for the first time to students who are majoring in education. It was really exciting to be able to demonstrate the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen and watch how it magically synced to my Evernote account. The students were really amazed how easy it was to use and the pen's ability to record a lecture. They were also amazed that you could and listen to the recording via the paper replay or on the web in Evernote. If you haven't taken a look at the Livescribe Sky WiFi pen, I suggest you do and find out how liberating it is to sync and archive your notes over WiFi. You will be glad you did!

I have been using  Evernote for some time now and really enjoy being able to have access to all my important stuff on any device that I may be using. As I use more and more devices that are linked to Evernote ( ie. Boogie Board RIP and the Livescribe SKY WiFi pen) it is great to see that the company continues to develop their apps to make the process that much easier to use on iOsS devices. Just yesterday, Evernote released a new version of their software for iOS devices which really streamlines the process of accessing your notes on the iPhone and iPad. The user interface is much improved in this version and makes great use of the limited real estate on the iPhone. Evernote now uses 5 dividers that run across the screen that give you access to: Premium Features, Places, Tags, Notebooks, and All Notes. By simply clicking on a divider the screen springs open to reveal the contents. By far this is the cleanest and most refreshing interface so far that we have se...

It has been a long and tough week since our power went out last week due to Hurricane Sandy. My wife and I have been staying with family members who have had their power restored which can be a little disorienting- especially when your routine has been drastically altered. The college where I teach will be closed through Tuesday and hopefully I will get back the power before that- but who knows. Sandy has been devastating to our New Jersey towns! Trees are down all of the place and power lines are mangled and  strewn about. Being displayed in the season of the general elections is a real problem for many people and recently our Governor announced that we would be able to vote via email or fax as long as we can get the Vote by Mail Ballot to the County Clerk's Office. With this in mind I set off to download the Vote by Mail Ballot from the website which I was able to save as a PDF file. Now how would I get a good looking signature on the ballot? Actually it was quite ...

In my last post I share with you how the  Boogie Board RIP  integrates with  Evernote  the online note taking service. Today I would like to share with you a screencast that shows you how you can take your hand written notes and covert them to editable text that can be exported to Microsoft Word. The Boogie Board RIP now supports hand writing recognition using  MyScript Studio Notes Edition  software which adds another facet to this handy note taking device. Watch my screencast as I demo just how easy it is to convert your notes with  MyScript Studio Notes Edition . Download a rial version of . Download a trial version of   MyScript Studio Notes Edition  and see just how easy it is to convert your handwritten notes! This screencast was created using Camtasia Studio 8

Since the ISTE 2012 Conference, I have be experimenting with the Boogie Board RIP and how it could be used by students in the classroom for taking notes. I was excited to learn that last week Improv Electronics released the Virtual Desktop Companion 2 software that now includes Evernote integration and handwriting recognition support using MyScript Studio Notes Edition software. Now it is possible for students who are using the Boogie Board RIP to take notes and save them to their Evernote account. I have put together a short screencast demonstrating just how easy it is to send your notes to your Evernote account. The Boogie Board RIP can store 200 pages of notes which at any time can be moved to your Evernote account giving you complete freedom to store and file them. Look for another screencast coming soon, demonstrating the handwriting recognition software that will allow you to go from a handwritten note directly into Microsoft Word. Screencast created using ...