Apps for School Administrators

At Mercy, we are putting together an iBook on how we use technology. Here is a piece I created to describe digital solutions for keeping organized on the fly:

Cloud Addict

ToDo for iPad

Internet technology changes so fast.  Just two years ago, I led a succession of workshops on Challenge Based Learning.  I remember in one of the introductory sessions I explained the concept of "cloud" computing.  That already seems quaint, considering almost all of those same persons are now using Google Apps or accessing files through their Dropbox accounts.

Nearly all of my computing takes place in the cloud where I have located some pretty sizable storage in Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and Amazon Cloud Drive.  So I have decided to let this blog post serve as a milestone for taking stock of my workhorse cloud apps.  As I mentioned in My iPad Workflow, I will expound a bit on the first two.
ToDo
The ToDo apps for OS and iOs have become even more essential for organizing my work and personal time than my calendars. Here, I can store all manner of lists and short notes. The "tasks" can be set up for sublists as projects or checklists. For instance, I am working on a project slowly cataloging some of my music. I can set up a music catalog project and nest all the little tasks and self-imposed deadlines inside. Of course I can do the same thing with a major work project, like building an electrical substation.  

Checklists are handy for the grocery store since all of these lists synch across all five of my Apple devices, thanks to iCloud. I usually use my iPhone for these. However, the iPad interface with ToDo is splendid.
Evernote
I have made a major commitment to Evernote as a place to keep all of my files. A year ago, I inherited two file cabinets full of folders related to my job. Since assuming my position managing school "operations", I have only contributed to one drawer. The majority of the the quotes, contracts, and diagrams that I receive, come to me in digital form. And at first I simply printed them out and filed them because I was afraid of losing track of them. In the mean time, I tried two different solutions for project management, before landing on Evernote.

I now store all such files in Evernote for four very good reasons
1) I can access them anywhere. Evernote interfaces well across platforms and can be accessed through apps or online.
2) It is simple to get files to Evernote. Much of the time I simply forward email notes and snapshots directly to my inbox.
3) Notes can be collected in notebooks and notebooks can be collected in stacks. These notes can be cross-tabluated with tags
4) The deal-breaker is the fabulous search capability of Evernote. It can even search text within pdfs and images.  
Dropbox
All of my work files are stored in Dropbox so that I can access them anywhere. This has become an essential workflow app with the iPad for everyone at Mercy.

Chrome
I have just started using Chrome as my default browser. Besides being fast, I have had much better luck with extensions than with Firefox and Safari. It synchs across my computers better than the other browsers as well.

GMail
As a school we've gone to the cloud for our email solution. Count me as one user who has no regrets.
Google Drive
Because they work so well with Moodle I have been along time fan of Google Docs for sharing documents. I continue to use them more than any other word processing software.
iCal/Google Calendar
Where would I be without cloud calendars? Surely at the wrong place at the wrong time

Address Book
It probably goes without saying that many of us now expect our contacts to be at our finger tips wherever we go. Already MobileMe is a long ago painful memory. iCloud has assisted me greatly in terms of synching calendars and contacts.odo app.

My iPad Workflow

For the first week of school I managed most of my work through my iPad.  Here were my go-to apps

Administration

ToDo* - I have become completely dependent on this app for organizing my life.  I am a compulsive list maker and this app allows me to synch with all my devices.

Evernote* - I have taken on some major projects.  I have tried a couple of project management applications, but I have decided that with Evernote's phenomenal search capacity I will will put all my digital materials into Evernote (and the paper documents get digitized).  I have already benefited at meetings by producing contracts and spreadsheets in moments while others are fumbling around with their stacks of paper.

Camera*  I love taking pictures as I go about the building.  Sometimes this is for fun, but I also have posted shots to my blog or the school web site such as the ones I took a couple of weeks ago of our new courtyard and the 9th graders who visited my office during their orientation.

DocuSign Ink
Wow!  With my operational duties I frequently sign quotes or contracts that are emailed to me as pdfs.  With this app I can import the files, "sign" them, and instantly email them back.  Nice time saver.

Teaching

Kindle 

Both of my textbooks for AP Government are Kindle books so this one is self-explanatory.

Keynote  I became adept at making slide presentations in Keynote in 2009.  Now I use slides instead of "lecture" notes and share all of them with my students.  However, in the past I have always had to convert them to PowerPoint.  Now I can import them as I created them into my iPad and share them wirelessly through my Apple TV.

PowerTeacher  Pearson has made an excellent app for our student gradebook/attendance/database.


Administration and Teaching

Dropbox  All of my work files are either in Google Drive or Dropbox so that I can access them anywhere. Unfortunately many of the Google apps don't "play well" with the iPad.

Mail  I actually prefer reading email on the iPad.  Almost all of my personal and work mail  comes into this app.

Calendar Ditto with the calendar app.  It is an elegant app and it includes all of my work and personal calendars.

Pdf Expert  If I give any kind of presentation I convert my file into a pdf and place it into this app.  I like the interface and I can make last second notes if I notice a change needed.

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*In my next post, I will detail the usefulness of these two apps.