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.

Coggle is an online tool for creating and sharing mind maps and flowcharts. It works online in your browser so there’s nothing you need to install or download! Whether you’re taking notes, brainstorming, planning, or doing something creative. It’s simple to visualise your ideas and build a plan with Coggle. Share with friends, classmates or no one as you like. Changes are saved instantly so no worry about having to make sure you save it before closing.

You can create a mind map or flowchart for loads of different things, probably things you’ve never even thought of! From learning how to manage your stress in a way that’s unique to you, to creating diagrams to help you revise for your assessments. Check out these example boards below:

You can add floating text and images to your diagrams meaning you can annotate your map for clarity, you can create loops and join branches from multiple starting points for your different ideas and paths.

With the free version of Coggle you get access to all the features we mentioned above, as well as unlimited image uploads, access to over 1600 icons, a full change history and PDF & Image download. The free version allows you to create 3 private diagram boards, once you’ve used the 3 private ones then all others you create will be public so anyone may be able to look at it if they know how to find it.

Google Jamboard is a digital whiteboard app that allows you to collaborate with others and join together your ideas.



Jamboard is Google’s answer to an Interactive Whiteboard, originally designed and marketed with a portable 55-inch, 4k display. Google have since released Android and iOS apps for it, perfect for touchscreen Chromebooks here at Barton! Even if you don’t have a touchscreen device you can still connect to a Jam on your web browser at jamboard.google.com

It is connected to G Suite so you can log in with your College credentials as normal giving you the ability to present, edit and share files with Google services like Drive, Sheets, and Slides.

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Speechnotes is an online Speech-to-Text notepad. For thinkers, bloggers, writers, drivers, joggers, busy people and anyone who prefers fast & easy typing.


Speechnotes is an online speech to text, designed to save time and to help turn your ideas into neat, clean notes.

Speechnotes uses the latest audio recognition technology to produce the best results in the shortest amount of time! With over 90% accuracy and one-click syncing to Google Drive, Speechnotes is perfect for your college work. It’s powered by Google’s Speech-to-Text engine and will autosave after every change, just like Google Docs.

For many of us, key-typing is slow and thus time-consuming. Speechnotes lets you type at the speed of speech (slow & clear speech). 

Speechnotes lets you move from voice-typing (dictation) to key-typing seamlessly. This way, you can dictate when convenient and type when more appropriate. You can also dictate and edit your text results right away, and continue dictating. No need to go through app modes or even stop dictation. 

Insert punctuation marks by speech (voice commands) or by a single click.

It works completely in your chrome browser and doesn’t require any downloads or installs to work although if you have an Android device you can get an app for your phone which includes a homepage widget to make it easier to start.

The video below from the team at Simpletivity is a great example of Speechnotes, skip forward to 1:15 to see it in action.

Blogger is Google’s free blogging service, probably the most famous blog service in the world. Whether you’d like to share your knowledge, experiences or the latest news, create a unique and beautiful blog for free.


It’s so simple to get started with Blogger, follow the steps below to start your first blog. Before you do get started though, it’s worth noting that Blogger will only work in Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Safari browsers so if you’re using Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge, you’ll need to get yourself one of the other browsers listed here. Also, your blog can either be Public for anyone in the world to see or Private where you can limit it to a maximum of 100 people to view it. If you want more than 100 people to be able to view it but don’t want it to be public to the world, it might be best creating a Google Site and adapting it into a blog instead.

If you are creating a blog for a personal reason, it might be best to create it using a personal Google account as you may lose access to your blog when you leave Barton.

Creating your Blog

  1. Sign in using a Google account.
  2. On the left, click the Down arrow .
  3. Click New blog.
  4. Enter a name for your blog.
  5. Choose a blog address, or URL.
    • This can be anything you want it to be, as long as no one has used that same URL before. 
  6. Choose a template.
  7. Click Create blog.

That’s your blog created and ready for content!


Blog Theme

A plain blog might look a bit boring, there are a couple of ways you can change the design of your blog to make it look a bit better. Blogger provides a range of pre-made template themes for you to choose from. Follow the steps below to take a look:

  1. In the left menu, click Theme.
  2. Click the theme you want to use.
  3. Just below the theme, click Apply to Blog.

Now you’ve picked the theme, you can customize it further by simply selecting the Customize option at the top of the page. From here you can change the background, colours, sizings and all sorts of settings. Once happy, click Apply to Blog in the top right corner,  to make your changes live. Click Back to Blogger to go back to the homepage.

Layout & Gadgets

The layout of your blog might be something you want to change once you’ve got a bit more content on your blog, it can be hard to decide on a layout before you start adding content.

Gadgets are extra little bits to add to your blog, you can add lists, individual images, links to Wikipedia articles and more! 

To start with both Layouts & Gadgets, just click the Layout menu on the left hand side.

In here you can move the different areas around and find a layout that works best for you. To add a gadget to a certain location click the Add Gadget button and then take a look through the list to find one you want.


Pages

You can add pages to keep information separate, such as an ‘About’ page or a ‘Contact’ page. There is no limit to the number of pages you can have on one blog. Before they will show on your Blog, you will need to add the Pages Gadget to allow users to navigate around the blog. Follow the steps below to add the Pages Gadget:

  1. In the left menu, click Layout.
  2. In the section you want your pages to show, click Add a Gadget.
  3. In the window, next to “Pages”, click Add .
  4. Set your settings and click Save.
  5. At the top right, click Save arrangement.

Adding, editing or removing a page

In the left menu, click Pages.

  1. Create a new page: Click New page. Enter a page title and other information and click Save, Preview, or Publish.
  2. Edit a page: Under the page you want to edit, click Edit. Update your page and click Save, Preview, or Publish.
  3. Delete a page: Under the page you want to remove, click Delete then Ok.

Link to external site

You can get a link on the Pages Gadget to link an external site, such as a YouTube channel or other website.

  1. In the left menu, click Layout.
  2. In the “Pages” section, click Edit .
  3. Under “Pages to show,” click + Add external link.
  4. Enter the page title and URL and click Save Link.

Select the pages to show

  1. In the left menu, click Layout.
  2. In the “Pages” section, click Edit .
  3. Select the pages you wish to show.
  4. Click Save.
  5. At the top right, click Save arrangement.

Posts & Content

Write a new post

  1. Click New Post.
  2. Create the post.
    • Optional: To see how your post will look, click Preview.
  3. To save your post without publishing it, click Save. To publish your post, click Publish.

Labels

Labels can help you organize your posts to make it easier to find posts of a similar subject. You can create a label for anything, such as a month or year or just any word.

  • You can add more than one label to a post.
  • In your dashboard, you can find your labels next to the title.
  • Your readers can find your labels in your posts and use them to filter your content.

Add labels to your posts (Optional)

  1. To open the editor view, click an existing post or click New post.
  2. On the right, click Labels.
  3. Enter a label or click an existing label.

Filter your posts by label

  1. In the upper right, click the label dropdown .
  2. Click a label.

Adding Images & Video to a post

Adding an image

  1. Create a new post or edit a post to add images.
  2. On the Post Editor, click Insert image .
  3. Choose where you’d like to upload the image from.
  4. Choose one or more images to upload.
  5. Click Add selected.
  6. When the image is in your post, click it to change the size, caption, or alignment on the page.
Stop images from opening in an overlay

By default, images on your blog will be opened in a large overlay, called a Lightbox. To prevent images from opening in the Lightbox:

  1. In the left menu, select Settings Posts, comments and sharing.
  2. Under “Posts,” find “Showcase images with Lightbox” and select No.

Adding a Video

  1. Create a new post or edit a post to add a video.
  2. On the Post Editor, click Insert a video .
  3. Choose the video you want to use.
    1. Click the From YouTube tab to search YouTube for a video or paste a YouTube link in.


Access to your blog

You can control who can edit your blog, and who can read it. It’s worth noting that your blog can either be Public for anyone in the world to see or Private where you can limit it to a maximum of 100 people to view it. If you want more than 100 people to be able to view it but don’t want it to be public to the world, it might be best creating a Google Site and adapting it into a blog instead.

Let others edit your blog
  1. In the left menu, click Settings Basic.
  2. Under “Permissions,” find “Blog Authors” and click Add authors.
  3. Enter the email address of the person you want to add.
  4. Click Invite authors.
Who can see your blog
  1. In the left menu, click Settings Basic.
  2. Under “Permissions,” find “Blog Readers” and click Edit.
  3. Select Public, Private – Only blog authors, or Private – Only these readers.
  4. Click Save changes.

After they accept the invitation, they’ll be listed as an author. You can add up to 100 total members (authors, administrators, or readers) to your blog.

Adobe Scan is a mobile document scanner that can turn anything into an Adobe PDF.


With Adobe Scan, easily capture and convert documents, forms, business cards, and whiteboards into high-quality Adobe PDFs. And with different capture modes, you can ensure that you capture the clearest scan every time.

Fast and easy signatures and form filling.

Eliminate the hassle of finding a printer, filling a form by hand, and scanning it again. Use Adobe Scan to turn paper forms into interactive digital documents you can easily fill out, sign and share.

Intelligently cleaner and clearer scans.

Using Adobe Sensei, Adobes powerful AI, Adobe Scan identifies and sharpens handwritten or printed text, while removing elements you don’t want, like glare and shadow.

Share scans from anywhere.

Scans are stored in Adobe Document Cloud so they’re easy to access, share, or upload directly into emails.


Using Adobe Scan and Google Classroom

The video below will quide you through installing the app and uploading your first scan to Google Drive, which you’ll then be able to upload to Google Classroom.

We’ll take you through the steps below too:

  1. Open the Adobe Scan app.
  2. Press the Camera icon.
  3. Place what you want to scan in view of your device camera.
  4. Wait while the app detects the page and content, when it’s done that it will automatically take an image of it.
  5. When the image has been taken, you can drag the borders around the page to more accurately outline a page.
  6. Once happy with the image, press Continue.
  7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you have scanned everything that you need to.
  8. Press the small image of your last scan in the bottom right corner.
  9. Scroll through the pages and make any visual adjustments you wish.
    1. You can crop out unwanted bits, reorder the pages or change the coloring to make it easier to read. You can also use the Cleanup feature to remove unwanted blemishes in the image.
  10. Once happy, press Save PDF.
  11. The app will now prepare the final PDF for you.

Now to upload this to Google Drive.

  1. On the screen with your PDF, press Share.
  2. Press Share a Copy.
  3. Locate and press Save to Drive or Google Drive.
  4. Enter a name for the file, select which account to save it to and where to save it then press Save.

Now to add to Google Classroom.

  1. Open the class you want to upload this to in Classroom.
  2. Locate and open your assignment.
  3. Click on Add or create.
  4. Select Google Drive.
  5. Locate and select your new PDF.
    1. If you have just uploaded it, you should find it easily in the Recent tab.
  6. Click Add.
  7. Now, if that’s all you need to do for that assignment you can hand it in.

Brainscape is a flashcard or ‘smart notecards’ app that has been built on the back of cognitive science to you DOULBE your learning speed.



Notion is like a one stop app for college life. It allows you to take and share notes, create an agenda, build a reading list, a to-do list and more. Plus, it’s free when you sign up with your college email address.



Notion for students is a free tool that lets you write, plan, collaborate and get organized in the one app. It’s designed to boost your personal productivity by reducing the amount of different apps you need to use for your work. Even if you still need to use Google Docs for college work for example, you can embed the Doc straight in to Notion to get as close to the one app lifestyle as possible.

Don’t just take my word for it, Ali Abdaal a Cambridge University medicine graduate and now junior doctor has made a useful review video that takes you through all the features of Notion as well as a few tips and tricks to get the most out of it.

They also host a series of talks with pioneers of the computer world, including one of the original members of the Apple Macintosh development team and the man who coined the term Hypertext which is the base of the hyperlinks we use today. Watch their Tools & Craft sessions.

G Suite for Education includes unlimited storage on Google Drive and access to Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Classroom, Sites, Gmail and much more. You can access it using any browser on a desktop computer or mobile device. The beauty of G Suite is that it’s free to use, everything is saved online to Google’s servers and can be edited by multiple users simultaneously.

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Evernote is a note-taking application that also allows you to create lists and jot down ideas.



Evernote, as its name suggests, is a note taking application, but that barely scratches the surface of what it can do. Not only does it synchronise across all of my devices – the desktop I’m writing this on, my Chromebook, mobile and tablet – but the notes can include images (imported or captured using the camera on my mobile) and documents in a variety of formats. Evernote indexes all of these notes for easy search, and it even indexes text inside images or PDFs.

You can read the Evernote website for a full list of all the features. I just wanted to go through and outline a few uses and how I use them to help organise my own time and work. Hopefully this will give you a few ideas to improve the way you organise your own wealth of information!

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