Technologies That Make My Life Easier
OneNote
OneNote is a program provided by Microsoft that allows you to take, upload and share notes, and even record lectures within the notes. I used to take notes by hand, but as I advanced in academia, I realized this was extremely time consuming and many lectures provide PDFs or power points in advance that can be used to follow along during lecture. Instead of printing out the lecture PDFs and writing on them by hand, you can simply download these notes to OneNote and annotate/draw directly on the slide, or even right next to it in the margin. Since I review my notes multiple times, typing allows me to get as much information down as I can while being very precise; this allows me to finish taking notes in a shorter amount of time and increased my productivity. The notes can be divided into subjects (tabs) and then separate notes within the tabs. Below is an example of a lecture PDF I had downloaded and annotated, both on the PDF and in the margins in order to fully understand the material!
Ankiweb
Anki is an online flashcard system driven by algorithms and data in order to maximize your understanding of the material. It is similar to other services like quizlet, however anki translates to “memory” in Japanese, and it utilizes spaced repetition to decide what cards you see on any given day. You can make your own flashcards or upload pre-made decks by other students, and you can study the decks long-term. You choose how many “new” cards you see a day (~30-50) and then based on how you felt about the card (See Again, Good, Easy, Hard) the system will decide when you will see the card next; it could be tomorrow, two days from now, or a week from now. You can also make many different cards: basic, fill in the blank, images, type in the answer, etc. Anki works to deposit things into your long-term memory, and it is very useful in classes where a lot of facts need to be memorized. The best part is that the website is free! The app for iPhone costs $25 (free for Android) but the website opened on your phone’s web browser also works.
Passion Planner PDFs
I am a paper-to-pencil kind of girl when it comes to planning out my days. I have tried to utilize things like Trello and Google Calendar and it has not worked for me. I love my paper planner, but sometimes I wished that I could have something similar on an electronic device. I discovered that my paper planner brand, Passion Planner, actually makes free PDFs of their planner pages! This way I download them to my iPad and am able to write in them using Notability (another great tech tool that allows you to write/download/animate notes for the iPad!) I feel like I’m able to work fast by having the planner on my iPad, while still being able to add my own personal touches. Here is an example of my weekly layout!
