Evernote Mandatory for My Business Students

[John Lanigan 0]

Am not sure how other tertiary lecturers see Evernote, but I've reached the stage where I've made it compulsory for my students (commercial law, corporate law, corporate governance) to have EN on their smart phones as a means of gathering materials, especially pdfs used in conjunction with lectures, tutes etc.  Used to be that students would forget to bring stipulated papers to tutorials for discussions, now there's no longer any excuse.  My first lecture in every semester is on 'must have apps' for all students, and Evernote begins the list.  With Evernote students no longer have to queue at photostat machines etc., but can copy the document 'in situ' via EN, save it on their smart phone and read it whenever is convenient, especially on trams (Melbourne has probably the most extensive tram system in the world), trains and buses.  

 

I need to share ideas with other lecturers as to how they use EN to streamline student data collection (papers etc).  I want student focus on analysis, not on how much time their standing in queues when their smart phone with EN can steamline the task.  A student who can'td assemble and copy materials for hearings, cases, tutes, etc. is not going ot make the smartest commercial lawyer, given s/he has got the ideal medium in their pocket.

[Candid 167]

I love Evernote, but I do have reservations about requiring only one such service when there are other competitive products on the market. One reason I have those reservations is that I've looked at OneNote and the way it formats itself and the lack of tagging features which make sense to me turn me off and make it difficult for me to use. But I know from being on this board that many find similar problems with Evernote (they usually want a deep folder structure that Evernote does not provide). So by requiring one product you may be making the task more difficult than it should be. I'd say, you need to require each student use only one product, but give them a time period to experiment before deciding and then chose whatever works for them. 

 

If you wish to use only Evernote, include reference to how to get files from Evernote to whatever product they desire to use (IFTTT comes to mind here).