Best Note Taking Apps

Looking for some new apps?  Want a high-tech way to take notes?  Here are some hot apps that can help you get the best of both worlds…

1.   Penultimate – Hand-write notes right no your ipad.  To do this, you’ll need a stylus but, penultimate features smooth, realistic handwriting simulation with multiple paper styles and a variety of pen color options.  When done, you can search your text, save your ideas to Evernote, and share single page images or full PDF notebooks.  Cost: Free

2.   Bamboo Paper – Notebook – Also Hand-write notes right no your ipad but, what makes this app special is that bamboo paper has creates its own stylus - Wacom.  The app allows you to save your notes in Dropbox and Evernote and there is even a feature to allow you to post your ideas to Facebook and Twitter. Cost: Free or you can unlock the full version, which gives you unlimited notebooks for $1.99.

3.   MyScript Notes Mobile - Not only can you handwrite your notes, but you can turn your notes into text so that others don’t have to try to figure out your handwriting. Your handwritten notes are also searchable and you can look up definitions of words, or search for them on the Internet. The app also lets you use a wide variety of gestures to edit text and you can import PDFs for annotation, or add images to your document. Files can be saved to Evernote and Dropbox and can be posted on Facebook or Twitter. This is one of those apps that utilizes everything the iPad’s technology offers to create an exciting and inventive app. Cost: $7.99.

4.   Notability – Type and handwrite notes using this app.  It also includes a full-featured word processor with the ability to spell check, add bullet points, and more. You can annotate PDFs, so if your professor sends out a worksheet, you can write notes directly on the iPad without having to switch to a different app. The most useful feature of this app is that it records audio. You can record a lecture while taking notes. The app syncs what you type with what was recorded so that, when you go back over your notes, if something you wrote doesn’t make sense, you can tap a word and it will play back the section of the lecture that took place at that time. Cost: $1.99

5.   My Sketch Paper - This is less of a note-taking app and more of an idea-sketching app, but I felt that is was important to include it for our creative readers. Users can take notes using the text editor and freehand sketch ideas, or simply doodle in the margins. Cost: Free.

More can be found at iDownloadBlog.com.  Original article written by Lory Gil on April 23, 2013.  

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YouTube EDU

Did you know that YouTube has a special "edu" section where colleges and universities from across the country post videos? You can find neat stuff there, from musical and dance performances to brief lectures from noted scholars around the country to commencement addresses and interviews with students.

The site can be entertaining, but it could also be useful if you are looking for resources to help you with class projects--for example, if you're taking a business class, why not visit YouTube EDU and look at what you can learn from the videos posted by Harvard Business School? Or, are you looking for inspiration for a project in an art or design class? Watch videos where other students share their ideas and projects to help you brainstorm. Are you taking a speech communication class and want to see good examples (and bad examples!) of public speaking? Listen to recent commencement speakers, like Michelle Obama at the University of California, or Brad Delson (of Linkin Park) at UCLA, at practice critiquing them.

What other ways could you use the videos you find on YouTube EDU?

Digital Identity: Status Updates

Have you ever been surprised by a status update in your network? Have you ever drawn a blank when trying to post a status update? Well you are in luck. Today’s Tech Talk is focused on Status Update Tips. Whether you prefer facebook, twitter, or LinkedIn here are some tips and ideas for your professional social network.

Are you going to a conference or presenting what you have been working on? Post about it. Let your network see what you are working on. Or even better, make connections with peers who you may not know, but have similar interests. You can learn from each other.

You can mention some of the profiles you are "following". This will help your peers connect with the people you find beneficial to follow. When I first joined twitter I found a couple of people and companies that I connected with and through their followers, was able to gain a lot of interesting connections.

Do you travel -- for work or pleasure? This is a great way to share your adventures with your network once you return from your trip. Use good judgment and make sure you are staying safe. Don’t let your entire network know you are out of the country.  But share you experiences when you return!

As with everything on your network, show off your personality.

These and many more can be found at iLibrarian.

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Digital Identity

In some ways, your digital identity in the social media world is just as important as a first impression in a face to face conversation. Using social media sites for networking and free professional development is a growing trend. If you are new to social media, start with this Social Media Revolution video by Erik Qualman from "Socialnomics".

Getting started in any social media site, you want to begin with your introduction. Your 160 character twitter bio can easily be your one minute elevator pitch for a potential employer. Your profile picture says a lot about you. Use this opportunity to show off your personality, but keep it professional. When you select your profile name, you want to use something that is easy to identify you as a person. Keep it professional and easy to identify you. Try googling your name and check your name domain to see what is already out there about you.

November is National Career Development Month. To celebrate, ELI is running a theme on Twitter based on enhancing your career growth. We encourage you to create a twitter profile and follow #NCD throughout the month on twitter @novaelife and take advantage of the free professional development twitter has to offer.

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Internet Public Library = www.ipl.org

I never know how to find quality web pages.  To be honest, I am not sure that it was ever covered in any of my classes.  So you can imagine how excited I was when I found www.ipl.org.    Internet Public Library (IPL) is a website   that allows you to search “librarian approved” internet resources.  Unlike Google or Bing that provides you with every resource under the sun, ipl.org is only scholastic, quality websites that are great for finding information you can trust.

Beyond the Card Catalog: The Dangerous World of Internet Research

In his second article, William Hatheway, adjunct professor of English at ELI, will continue to shine some light on writing in the 21^st century.

A few centuries ago, two individuals, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibnitz, invented calculus…. separately. Working a certain unknown number of years apart and certainly with a great deal of distance between them, each in their own way developed an entire field of study. Now, can you imagine this happening today? No, instead we’d hear of it from a tweet by @newton, or a text from Leibnitz, as soon as one of them got finished. In short, information gets out and around today in ways and extents unimaginable before.

Now, for today’s student this offers great opportunity. Who needs to zip through the microfiche reader (do you even know what that is? am I dating myself?) when we have the mighty Google machine? But there are also risks, of course, and prime among them is how we know whether to accept a source as valid or not. And this is made even more complicated because the rules change as fast as the net itself; Wikipedia, for example, was basically banned from college essays just a few years ago, but nowadays it seems that it has accrued enough respect to be allowed in certain academic venues.

So, when you do a search, and a number of hits pop up, where to start? I suggested you begin at the end; that is, look at the end of the address: any corporate interest can buy any .com url, but only verified non-profits can get .org, vetted government agencies .gov, and accredited educational institutions .edu. While these are no guarantee of absolute veracity, they each carry with them a certain standing as being legitimate, trustable entities.

But here’s the rub, and where this entry becomes a cautionary tale. Imagine you know very little about Martin Luther King, Jr., and you are assigned to report on his ethical and moral character. So being a responsible researcher, you take a stab at martinlutherking.org. Makes sense, right? It is a non-profit, and it’s his name. Now you actually take a look at the homepage, though, and you get quite a shock … is this the MLK we are just now building a monument to in our nation’s capital? For what you start to read tells you not about an amazing activist who gave his life for peaceful change, but rather someone so repulsive that you can download a flyer that asks “Which holiday honors a liar, a cheater and traitor?”

You and I know that something is up here, but how? Isn’t this a vaunted .org site? Shouldn’t that alone make it trustworthy? Well, this may surprise you: racist groups can incorporate themselves as non-profits just the same as those that are formed for the purpose of saving the world… and if they get to a website name first, it’s theirs. So who runs this martinlutherking.org? None other than Stormfront, an organization dedicated to “white power."

It just goes to show that, while often invaluable, the internet can be treacherous ground for even informed researchers. So, take your time, dig deep, and question everything before you take its word.

Revisiting EteRNA

In March, one of our Monday Fun Stuff posts featured a game called EteRNA. According to an article written in the The New York Times earlier this year, the game was created by biologists at Stanford University and computer programmers at Carnegie Mellon University to see how much of an impact large groups of non-scientists could make on our current understanding of RNA (Ribonucleic acid).

According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, it is working! The players of the game are consistently able to design patterns that fold better than those designed by algorithms that scientists have created with all of their current research and data. Beyond that, the theories and ideas players discuss on the game’s forums and while voting for which patterns will be tested in a lab are helping scientists improve the algorithms and create better predictive software. So if you enjoy puzzle games and challenges and are interested in contributing to scientific research, I encourage you to visit EteRNA and attempt the challenge yourself!

What is in your "Tool Kit"?

Wherever you are in the semester, this Online Tool Kit is a good reminder of what tips and tools you might need in an ELI course. This post provided me with a lot of good advice, tips and resources that I wanted to share with you. In addition to the tech tools listed in the post, I wanted to add some ELI specific tips and tools for your Online Tool Kit.

Run the Blackboard Tutorial:

As soon as you have access to your blackboard course it is important to run the Blackboard tutorial that is provided in your course. This tutorial will make sure your computer is up to date with all the software you will need for your ELI course. If any additional software is required for your course, it will be listed in the Welcome section of Blackboard.

Mobile Devices:

The ELI Tech Fair gave students an overview of the apps that are available to download. Check out the resources and get your phone and/or tablet ready for the semester. Are you using an e-reader? Check out the Library Resources available.

Be prepared for emergency closings:

Sign up for NOVA Alerts, join ELI and NOVA’s Social Media sites and check your student email. These are all great ways to be prepared for any emergency closings, updates and announcements. If a campus is closed for any reason this will affect the Testing Centers; Plan ahead.

Online Orientation:

Participate in an online orientation webinar. If there is not a time/date that works for you contact me (Katie Aimone, ELI Orientation Specialist) and I will send you a recording. There are also several webinars offered throughout the semester. This is a great way to get questions answered and meet fellow students.

What is in your “tool kit”? What has helped as you get started in your ELI courses? 

Tricks to Getting Good Assistance Online

When you are getting assistance by email or another remote method, it can sometimes be a challenge to describe the problem clearly. After two or three tries that result in misunderstanding and frustration, stress can increase sharply. If you could just show the person on the other end of the line what you are seeing on your screen, it would make things so much simpler!

With use of screen capturing, you can. Screen capturing capability is built into the operating system of Windows, Macs, and iPhones/iPods. Take-a-screenshot.org has some fairly clear directions on how to take a screenshot using each system. There are also software programs that make the screenshot process very simple. I regularly use Jing to create a picture of a screen while I am assisting ELI students.

When you are working with someone to troubleshoot a computer issue, in addition to screenshots, it can be very helpful to include the following information:

What type of computer and operating system are you using? Which version?

1. What internet browser are you using? Which version?
2. Have you gotten any error messages? If so, what did the error messages say?

This kind of information will often help the person providing you with customer service narrow down the issue more quickly and with less confusion.

Tech Tuesday: Announcing the ELI TECH FAIR!

ELI Student Life is hosting the 1^st annual Tech Fair on Thursday, August 18, 2011 from 6:00-9:00 pm at the Kings Park Library Burke, VA. The Tech Fair is designed for new and returning distance learning students to drop-in to test out the latest tech gadgets and other software used in ELI courses.

The Tech Fair will feature iPad2, iPod Touch, eReaders, eNOVA and Blackboard for students to test before courses begin. Students will also have the opportunity to get more information about Smarthinking, Proctor U, ePortfolios and our virtual student union and online student clubs! This is a great way to meet fellow classmates, ELI faculty and staff before courses start.

We hope you’ll join us! Space is limited; advanced registration required. Register today! http://bit.ly/TechFair

Must-Have Apps, Part 4: Other Apps We Think You’ll Like

By now, we’ve covered a lot of apps that provide cool utilities. You’ve seen productivity apps, music apps, and photography apps. But there are still some interesting apps that can help you on the go—many major companies are developing apps to help you use what you already love, on your mobile device! Check out the apps below:

MapQuest- This app offers spoken turn-by-turn directions that can almost replace a standalone GPS. The best part-- it’s free! Available for the IPhone, Android phones, and Blackberry phones.

Netflix- Netflix has really become one of the best options for instant, streaming movies. The Netflix app works with IPhones, IPads, IPod Touch, and Android phones too. You can stream movies directly to your device, and even show them on your television with a simple adapter. This app is also free, but you have to pay for Netflix service. Get it for the IPhone, and Android phones.

Starbucks- The ever-popular coffee house chain, Starbucks, have released a few versions of their app. The myStarbucks app for IPhone has everything you need to know about their drinks and coffees, and helps you find the nearest location, while the Starbucks Card Mobile app for the IPhone, Android, and Blackberry is basically a replacement for your Starbucks card—you can access your account and even pay for your order with your phone! The app produces a unique barcode that the barista can scan. All versions of the Starbucks app are free. Get them for the IPhone, Android phones, and Blackberry phones.

Kindle- You can read anywhere with Amazon’s Kindle app. If you’ve purchased eBooks through Amazon before, you’ll be able to download your books instantly and start reading. The best thing about this app? Your bookmarks and the last page that you’ve read will sync across all devices with this app. Available for free for the computer(PC & Mac), IPhone, IPod Touch, IPad, Android phones, BlackBerry phones, and Windows Phone 7.

Facebook- The Facebook app is probably one of the most popular apps to date. Now you can check Facebook on the fly and keep up with all the latest events in your social life. This app is available for the IPhone, IPod Touch, IPad, Android phones, and BlackBerry phones.

So now that you’ve seen all the Must-Have Apps that we’ve suggested, what do you think? Are there any apps out there that you think should be on this list? Let us know in the comments!

Must-Have Apps, Part 3: Photography

So you’ve got a great mobile device that features a fun camera. Now, what do you do with it? The built-in camera apps are nice, but you can take your photography skills to the next level with these photo editing and enhancing apps. And they are super fun to use!

Camera+: Camera+ is a great photography app. This app has several features in one application. Some of these features include a customizable exposure and focus, so that you can focus on a certain location without having to match your white balance to the same location in the photo. There is also image stabilization, a photo timer, a focusing grid on the screen, multiple-burst shooting, a photo-flashlight (keeping the flash on continuously), and digital zoom. Furthermore, this app includes amazing editing features and effects as well. This app is supported on the IPhone, IPod Touch, and IPad.

Camera 360 Free: Camera 360 is another great photography app, but for Android devices. This app offers a variety of fun effects and modes to enhance your photos. This app is also free! Available for Android phones.

Vignette: Vignette is another Android photo-editing app. This app adds film and flash effects, to produce cool, artistic photographs. Available for Android phones.

Hipstamatic- A longstanding IPhone favorite, the Hipstamatic app replicates a vintage camera right on your phone. You can choose between different film effects, different flashes, and even different camera bodies. This app is available for the IPhone, IPod Touch, and IPad.

Must Have Apps, Part 2- Streaming Music

Streaming music on your mobile device is one of the coolest things you can do with on-the-go technology. There are portable speakers and stereos that can enhance this experience, as well as devices that can help you play your streaming music in your car. Check out these apps and have fun creating your perfect playlists and radio stations, available wherever you go!

Pandora- Pandora is a customizable internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your favorite artists, bands, and songs. This service is free over the web, and the app is free as well. Your stations will sync between your computer and your mobile device. This app is free and is supported with your internet browser , IPhones, Android phones, Blackberry phones, the Palm Pre, and Windows Mobile phones.

Slacker- Slacker is a radio service that is very similar to Pandora, but has many more options for customization. Moreover, Slacker supports a wider song selection. Slacker service and app are also free and available for your internet browser, IPhones, IPod Touch, BlackBerry, Android, Palm webOS, Windows Mobile phones as well as the Windows Phone 7.

Grooveshark- Grooveshark is revolutionary. You can use the service on your phone or computer to look up songs, add them to a playlist, and save them online for later use. You can even upload songs from your computer to share on Grooveshark. If you have an Android or “jailbroken” IPhone, you can use their app too. Grooveshark is free to use online, but use of the app requires a low price subscription. Available on the computer, Android phones, Blackberry phones, Palm phones, Nokia phones, and jailbroken IPhones.

Must Have Apps: Part 1, Education and Productivity

This is the first part of our new Tech Tuesday series, Must Have Apps. Our first post brings us to the topics of Education and Productivity.

With these apps, you’ll be able to streamline your workflow and connect to the information you need on the go. Check them out!

Evernote- Evernote is an amazing application that syncs across multiple devices and computers to keep all of your notes and lists in one place. You can easily organize your notes into notebooks, and organize your notebooks into stacks. You can use Evernote for many different things, from organizing online recipes, having your favorite web links accessible anywhere, or even being able to quickly save your ideas and sync them to everything. Evernote service and mobile apps are both free. This app is supported on Windows, Mac OSX, IPhone, IPod Touch, Android phones, Blackberry phones, and Windows Mobile phones.

DropBox- DropBox is an application that you can install on multiple computers and devices to share files. This is great for taking notes during class or snapping a quick picture, and then automatically having access to these files on your mobile device—or vice versa. The service is free for up to 2GB of files, and the app is free too! DropBox is supported for the IPhone, IPad, Android phones, and Blackberry phones. Get it here for your computer too.

Saba Centra- Do you attend eNOVA sessions frequently? Saba Centra, (aka eNOVA), has an app for IPhones and IPads that let you attend any of your scheduled sessions from your mobile device. You can even view these sessions multiple times afterwards, as they are stored in your recorded sessions. This app is also free.

Fring- Fring lets you make free group video calls, voice calls, and live chat over your mobile device. You can even have group video calls with up to 3 other people using Fring! This app is perfect for study sessions with online classmates. The service is supported by IPhones, IPads, Android phones, and some Nokia phones.

Tech Tuesday: Prezi

Prezi is a web-based presentation application that allows the presenter to use text, images, and videos in a non-linear fashion and ends as a visual map of the presentation. There is a free Prezi Public License, as well as options for paid subscription access through Prezi Enjoy and Prezi Pro. Prezi also offers a special education license for students and educators. Check it out for free here.

Follow Prezi on Twitter @prezi

Why Student Blogging Is Useful

1. You will get noticed – Not only is blogging useful for making connections with other students and getting your name out as someone who cares about their success and well being, but writing for a blog is a great resume builder. Not to mention, many businesses require a writing sample in their employment applications or at a job interview. Practicing your writing skills in this way is useful in furthering your career aspirations. Additionally, having writing samples to draw from may be helpful in applying to transfer colleges that require a writing sample.

2. People seek you out. Don’t be surprised to find your inbox flooded from students seeking your advice. On a larger scale, you may find publishers contacting you to write for them. You never know; writing an innovative article on something someone has never written about like nifty hardware tools that you build yourself, could lead to a public speaking opportunity at the Homebuilder’s Association! Ok, so maybe that sounds far-fetched, but don’t be afraid to dream BIG! In any case, practicing your writing skills can lead you in another direction or world that you didn’t expect.

3. Providing a link to your blog on a resume can give employers and/or potential institutions that you are applying to for transfer purposes a true sense of who you are and the creative depths of your personality. Because blogs are written from a personal perspective, others will be able to see what you are really about and what you are passionate about.

4. It can lead to instant connections. People will know you from seeing your writing which will facilitate effective networking opportunities.

5. It improves your communication skills. When you are writing for an audience and receiving feedback for your blog regarding a topic that you are interested in, it challenges you to think about the other person’s perspective carefully if you receive feedback and responses from peers. Learning new perspectives can create more blogging ideas in the future, challenge more thinking among the masses and therefore, invite more of those meaningful connections. In essence, you are practicing synergy with people who respond to your writing by opening your mind to their feedback and finding new ways to view and collaborate on an area that several people find interesting and worth talking about.

We strongly encourage and welcome student bloggers to participate in our ELife Student blog to submit posts related to social networking, academic goal setting, test taking and study skills and/or any area of interest that you would find worthwhile to communicate with other students. For more information about submitting blog posts or to submit an ELife article, please e-mail Kristin Shriver at: kshriver@nvcc.edu.

Visit this link for more information on this topic.

Tech Tuesday: Twitter

Follow ELI @NOVAELIFE for updates, announcements, contests and more. Sign up for free here and click on the picture to see ELI's page.

Did you know:

• Washington DC was named most socially networked city? http://bit.ly/kTVl0P
• Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched in July of that year
• Lady Gaga is the first Twitter user to hit 10 Million followers
• 25 billion tweets sent on Twitter in 2010
• 100 million new accounts added on Twitter in 2010 

Not sure about Twitter? Check out this video from Common Craft

Tech Tuesday: Wiggio

Wiggio is a free, online toolkit that takes the stress out of communicating with group members. Using Wiggio you can share and edit files, manage a group calendar, poll your group, and post links. You can also use wiggio to set up conference calls, chat online, and send mass text, voice and email messages to group members. Check it out for free here.