Evernote and Udacity – A perfect way to increase your productivity

Udacity – Introduction to Statistics (ST101) (Photo credit: AJC1)

Udacity is an altogether different learning experience.For those who have still not heard of it , Udacity is the digital university founded by  Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and Mike Sokolsky, with the stated goal of democratizing education .  It is now offering 11 active courses related to Computer Science and other basic sciences.So check it out if you haven’t.:)

Now I am a Udacian , and between a busy schedule I was unable to find a way to continue my digtal learning and other college work.It resulted in a long gap of about 1/2 a month and it was really hard to get track of course again. So out of the box ,one day I searched the web how to pool out time for the self directed learning between my tight schedule. So i will share some of my tips to increase productivity.

 

 

The savior Evernote comes to picture.Now Evernote was a software that was sitting right there on my laptop and i was rarely using it . And I started using it for my learning at udacity. Here are some tips –

1. Start using evernote to take notes : Make a separate notebook in evernote and start taking notes while watching videos.You can also take handwritten notes as well as type notes.
2. Take Screenshots and make nuggets of important code : Stop the video when you a really studying a difficult concept,Take a screenshot(windows+printscreen) and that screenshot remains at all times in your evernote account.Access it from anywhere your laptop or PC in home or your android, iPhone, iPad in college.
3. Store your Course reference right in Evernote :  Use Chrome to save your course notes in pdf form (Ctrl + P) and store right it in evernote notebook . As evernote can directly store your pdf , no need of storing it separately in all your devices.
4. Use shared notebook for group learning :  Use the shared notebook between your friends to learn in group.

All this about use of tool, Now some additional tips to manage time.

• Block out at least 10 min from your schedule to review your evernote notebook . I have myself experienced just watching a screen clip on your phone can make you remember an entire video nugget.
• On a weekend Block out 2-3 hrs at a stretch.although it seems difficult but sure you can manage it . Use it for continuous learning and reward yourself a pizza at night. 🙂
• Try viewing at least 1 video nugget in the morning . So it stays in your brain entire day.
• Compete between your group so as to increase your pace of learning like who completes unit first . 
• Stay Udacious and Have a burning desire . Have a fire in you to learn and determination to complete the course with the best grade.

So that’s all . Comment if you have any additional ideas . Enjoy!

I am a Udacian and I use Evernote!