Noted

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Noted is a fully-integrated audio recording and note-taking app.
What does that mean though?


Noted allows you to type out notes as well as recording audio clips to link with your notes meaning it’s easier to keep everything neat, tidy and together. If, for example, you record a whole lecture or class talk, everything you type is time-stamped so you know what point of the audio clip was happening as you typed. You can also add a little #TimeTag on specific points so you can easily jump back and forth between key pieces of information you want to make sure you don’t forget. Then you can also link specific pieces of text to those #TimeTags to join written notes and audio notes together more.

It means you’re boosting your productivity by having all your notes in one place and with audio notes you get to keep the context of what you’re trying to note. You don’t have to miss anything anymore.

All this is completely free! 

Noted only works with Apple products, but it does that seamlessly across Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch so you can just record a quick note on your Watch and it will automatically be synced to your Mac for when you need it. The same with your phone, if you’re out and about just open your phone and record a quick message or type a quick note and you’ll be able to get it on your Mac almost instantly.

There is also a Noted+ extra subscription if you like it enough. This extra includes dictation so you can turn your spoken words into written notes, it includes improved quality, background noise reduction and better exporting tools among other things. The best feature of Noted+ is that it includes Intelligent Playback so with that turned on, when it’s playing your notes back to you it will automatically skip and silence or background noise and only play you the important bits. Noted+ is $24 a year, roughly £17, at the time of writing.

Screencastify

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Screencastify is the #1 screen recorder for Google Chrome. Capture, edit and share videos in seconds.


Screencastify is a Google Chrome extension that is available from the Chrome web store. It enables you to create screencasts and videos on a Windows, Mac, or Chromebook. In addition to recording your screen, it combines annotation tools, record from your microphone for voice over, and you can record yourself with a picture-in-picture overlay of your webcam. Everything you record is saved to Google Drive so you can easily share the video with students, embed it on a Google Site, or upload to YouTube.

You can use Screencastify to create recorded lessons, tutorials, or giving feedback. It is often quicker and easier to convey how to do something in a video, rather than writing a long list of steps. To see an example of Screencastify in action view my video below.

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Mote

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Mote lets you record a quick comment in Google Docs. It’s tagline is; the faster, friendlier way to comment on docs.

The mote Chrome extension makes it easy to add voice note feedback for students within Google Docs, Google Classroom, Slides and Sheets. You can quickly add a comment in simple terms without having to worry about how it may come across in the written word.

mote’s mission is to make document collaboration faster, friendlier and more powerful.

Online Courses

CourseTime to completeBenefitsWhat you’ll learn
Mote Certified Educator20 minutesBadge and certificateBecome familiar with all of Mote’s features. You just need to get at least 12 out of 15 questions right and there is video help too.

Keybr

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Keybr is another app to help you learn how to touch type or to just improve your typing speed. Learning this now will help you in later life, it improves your efficiency when taking notes or completing normal work tasks.

The great thing about Keybr is that once you’ve started typing and gone through a game or two, it will pull all this information about how you type into a report for you to understand. It can tell you where you stand in the average typing speed of everyone who uses the app, what letters you miss the most and more.

On the reports after a couple of minutes of typing, I learned that I am in the top 3% of all users on the site, am slowest going to the I key and hit the E key wrong the most times. It’s easy to also keep track of how many days and how long you’ve been practising too with stats just for that one day and a comparison across your all time statistics.

To get started you need to create an account so it can save your progress. Once you’ve done that, head to the Settings and change the Keyboard Layout to English UK as the default is US.

You can even play a little multiplayer game against others around the world. It gives you a paragraph to type out and the fastest wins!

SleepTown

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Do you often stay up late scrolling your phone? Hit the snooze button too much? If you have trouble putting your phone down at night, or suffer from insomnia and want to attain a healthy, regular sleep schedule. SleepTown is your best solution.


It’s made by the same team who made Forest, one of our recommended focus apps so you can pair the two together and really focus your time and energy on things other than your phone.

How it works: 3 steps to a healthy sleep schedule

  1. Set your own challenging bedtime and wake-up goal.
  2. Open the SleepTown app before your bedtime goal and start constructing a building.
  3. Wake up before your wake-up goal, shake your phone to clear your mind, and see which building you got. Every morning the building is a surprise that will motivate you to wake up!

SleepTown Can Help You:

  • Beat your phone addiction and get more sleep
  • Maintain regular sleep hours between 4-10 hours a day
  • Construct amazing buildings by achieving your bedtime and wake-up goals
  • Wake up to a reward every day – your new building!
  • View your “SleepTown” and all your sleep statistics in the town page
  • Night shift mode helps reduce blue light

Head to this link to take a look at a video of how it works.

TypingClub

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TypingClub is an effective way to learn how to touch type for free! In this modern world, touch typing is an invaluable tool, for a lot of jobs typing quick is key to being efficient. It can also help in your education by allowing you to type your notes quicker when in a lecture.

Although the graphics and games seem to be aimed at a slightly younger audience, it’s free and makes it easy to learn how to touch type in your web browser, you can just log in and get started straight away. Anyone can do it.

There are 678 different lessons, starting from simple tests with a couple of keys to running through a whole paragraph with minimal mistakes.

But if you don’t want to start right at the beginning, there is a Placement Test that works out how well you can type at the moment and jumps you forward to a point in their program so you’re not wasting time on things you already do. When I took this test, it took about 5 minutes and bumped me up from lesson 1 to lesson 316 so I’m almost halfway through the test already.

If you create an account on the TypingClub website you can keep an eye on your stats and monitor your progress towards becoming a fluent touch typist.

I ran through the final test while I was writing this post. I managed to get 98% accuracy, high score of 3665 and 4 out of 5 stars. If you want to give it a go, make sure you are sat at a computer then head to this link.