Today, Flexibits has released Cardhop for iOS which we discussed in our parent communication episode. It’s a really great way to manage contacts (especially groups) on iOS, and is on sale for $3.99 at launch.
In the final episode of Semester 2, Robby and Craig revisit lesson planning. Then they get into a discussion of “Sticky Tech,” or apps and services that they keep coming back to.
Previous Lesson Planning Episode
We are aware of an issue with the latest episode and are working to fix it.
In today’s episode, Craig and Robby explorer tools for mind mapping and how it can be useful for teachers in the classroom.
In this week’s episode, Craig and Robby try to explain what Shortcuts are (though Apple’s naming doesn’t make it easy), share several of their favorite shortcuts as inspiration, and then get to some listener questions.
Also, Craig’s kids were home during the recording of this episode…and you can definitely tell. Apologies.
Shortcuts App on the App Store
Robby’s Seating Chart Shortcuts
Canvas Workflow Series Episode 1
In this episode, Craig and Robby discuss the differences between task and time management, then get into the apps and workflows they use to manage their busy teacher schedules.
The Class Nerd - Semester 2 Episode 3 - Task, Reminder, Project, and Habit Apps, Oh My!
Fantastical - iPhone, iPad, Mac
Fantastically Good Event Parser Drafts Action
In this week’s episode, Craig and Robby dive deep into ways to make parent communication easier using technology. Robby gives helpful tips, and Craig goes off the JavaScript deep end.
Scriptable Script for Saving Contacts to Contact Group on iOS
Teachers (and hopefully people in other professions) should always be lifelong learners. In this week’s episode, Craig and Robby share their workflows, primarily on iPad, to help make continuing education and learning easier.
I should clarify that Agenda probably wouldn’t say the biggest features is a bug fix, but it is to me who has been experiencing this bug for a while.
The folks at Agenda just released version 5.0, and the biggest feature is a fix for an exporting bug. It’s what initially turned me off from using Agenda as my lesson planning app. With this fixed, I can whole-heartedly recommend Agenda for teachers.
In this week’s episode, Craig makes Robby’s editing job difficult, and we discuss apps for taking handwritten notes on iPad.
The Class Nerd - Semester 1, Episode 4 - Drafts
The Class Nerd - Semester 1, Episode 3 - Notes
We’re having some technical difficulties getting today’s episode posted, and both of us have started our school days. We hope to have it posted by lunch time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
In this week’s episode, Craig and Robby get into a listen requested topic discussing the differences between different types of apps in the productivity category and how we use them.
“Getting Things Done” by David Allen
Habitica (Robby referred to this in episode as Habit RPG)
Craig and Robby wax philosophical about automation, and then turn to everything bucket apps.
In the first episode of a new semester, Robby and Craig discuss their new iPad Pros and then how they use their Apple Watches in the classroom.
Modular
Infograph Face
It started a few weeks ago. I don’t remember all the details. All I know is in the middle of a conversation where I was attempting to talk Robby into switching from OmniFocus to Things for task management, he somehow convinced me to give OmniFocus 3 a go.
The main thing I was interested in was OmniFocus’s ability to process TaskPaper input which allows easy templates to be made. Things can do something similar with JSON data, but it’s not nearly as user friendly to write.
In OmniFocus 3, the ability to always show tasks with a certain tag in Forecast view was added which meant items didn’t have to be marked as due on a certain day to be visible in that day’s forecast. I used Things’s Today view this way, so it was nice to see this capability in OmniFocus.
I spent a few weeks using OmniFocus, and finally decided to go with OmniFocus full time…
Less than 24 hours after publishing the above post, I realized something. I was more stressed and overwhelmed at work than I had been in a long time. I felt like I was struggling to remember what I needed to do. I realized, to borrow a phrase from GTD, I wasn’t capturing my tasks into a trusted system because I didn’t trust OmniFocus.
I wasn’t sure of the correct syntax for adding a task via Siri. My system was also so dependent on tags and perspectives surfacing tasks I would need to see I didn’t feel comfortable adding tasks without taking time to tag.
I’m sure there are better ways to use OmniFocus, and some of this was my own preconceived notions and misunderstandings. But the fact of the matter is the system wasn’t working for me to relieve stress and help me keep up with tasks because I didn’t trust it.
This realization came right as iOS 12 was released to the public and apps were updating to include new features. With Things still installed on my devices, I noticed the update included really interesting Siri Shortcuts support.
In Things 3.7 you can create a task template and add it to Siri. It can automatically fill in the project, tags, and due dates for you all with one command. It can even use the clipboard as a variable to allow you to input certain pieces of the template every time.
This definitely helps with the template issue I mentioned earlier.
So I’m back in Things full time, and have never loved it more.
My time in OmniFocus wasn’t a complete waste though. After using a lot of tags to create custom perspectives, I realized ways I could be better utilizing tags in Things.
One of the perspectives Robby showed me while trying to indoctrinate me into OmniFocus was his Priority view. It showed items from the Forecast view which had been flagged so he could have a list of things that must be completed that day, and those that could be.
I really liked this idea, and have now recreated it in Things with a Priority tag. Now I can open the Today view and filter by that tag and only see my priority items.
Even better, I have created a custom Siri Shortcut I can use to open that exact view. So at the start of my planning period every day, I say “Hey Siri, show my Priority list,” and then get to work.
Things isn’t perfect. No task manager is. I definitely miss some of the features of OmniFocus. But with it’s balance of power and simplicity, it’s the right choice for me.
In this bonus episode, Craig and Robby talk a bit (ok, a lot) about the products Apple is releasing in September, and then move on to their favorite features and apps of watchOS 5 and iOS 12.
Robby and I are busy planning Semester 2 of The Class Nerd Podcast which will definitely include content on iOS 12 and Siri Shortcuts. But I had 2 really good use cases for the Shortcuts app in my classroom recently, and thought it would be fun to go ahead and share them.
The first is a classic automation passing information between apps. As I have previously stated, I am once again planning all of my lessons inside of the amazing note-taking app, Bear. After listening to a recent episode of Automators, I wanted to make a task template for my big unit planning.
This creates a task in Things reminding me to plan the unit with a link to the MindNode 5 file I use for my initial planning, and also creates the Unit Overview note in Bear with a link to that MindMap as well. All I have to do is enter the Math Unit 2 or Science Unit 4, and Shortcuts does the rest.
The other Shortcut I made today took 5 minutes to work out, and saved me probably 30 minutes just today. My room mom needed a list of email addresses for parents of my students. Fortunately, I already had a contacts group on iOS for the class, so I created a Shortcut that read all of the contacts in that group, input their last name, first name, email address, and child’s name into a text block separated by commas. I then saved this whole document as a CSV file which both Excel and Numbers can read. I opened it in Excel, converted it to an Excel spreadsheet, and sent it to my room mom. No going through 30 emails address and typing them up manually. It happened for me at the touch of a button.
This is the kind of power that the Shortcuts app has, and it will only get more powerful when iOS 12 releases and developers are able to embrace Siri Shortcuts even more. Solutions like this are exactly why I’m so passionate about using technology to get my job done and why Robby and I started The Class Nerd Podcast. This saved me real time on the job, and I hope all teachers are able to find ways to use these tools.
You can download these 2 shortcuts here:
The Class Nerd - Semester 1 Exit Ticket
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STOP! Before you read on, please make sure to take our Semester 1 EXIT TICKET so that we can better improve our show for Semester 2.
This week The Class Nerd talks about apps they use to gather, process, manage, and reflect on student data.
Drafts/Workflow Action to Append a Bear Note Drafts Action, Workflow Action
TAKE OUR SEMESTER 1 EXIT TICKET!
As I (Craig) shared on the Lesson Planning episode of The Class Nerd Podcast, I was starting the year using Agenda as my lesson planning app. It had great features like calendar integration, organization, markdown support, and people tags to have me excited to try it. Unfortunately, after the first week or so of school has passed, I’m migrating everything I put into Agenda originally into Bear.
Agenda has a lot of promise, but a lot of bugs and small things that slow me down. They’re things that will likely get worked out (the iOS version only launched in May), but that’s not something I’m willing to wait for. My lesson planning system has to be rock solid.
Which leads me to Bear.
Bear is my note taking app of choice, and it is now my lesson planning tool. It’s missing two features that Agenda has, calendar integration and differentiation between people tags and other tags, but those are easy to rework.
To replace calendar integration, I’m simply typing the date at the top of a note and pinning the notes for the day’s lessons to the top of my list. For people tags, I created a tag category called students and have them all listed. What’s nice about using Bear tags over Agenda tags is Bear will autocomplete tags for you as you type. So that student with a really long name isn’t a big problem while I’m walking around observing.
I may give Agenda another go after Christmas if they’ve had any meaningful updates, and I have made the bugs I’m seeing known to the developers. While I’m a regular beta tester of apps, my lesson planning tool can’t be one of those. So for now, I’m trusting Bear to help me plan.
This week The Class Nerd talks about the apps they use to make letters, posters, worksheets, documents, and other classroom related documents. Robby says the word “artifact” in this one.
Craig’s Classroom in OmniGraffle
Adobe Apps
Sketchnoting
This week, The Class Nerd breaks down their paperless process. In this one, we cover scanning apps, file organization, PDF annotation apps, and handwritten note apps.
Today’s episode is running late. I (Craig) started back to school today and didn’t get my required editing done in time. Robby’s bailing me out, but it may release tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.
That feeling when you need to go to sleep because you have work in the morning for the first time in 2 months, but you had an idea for a complex Workflow/Shortcut that has the potential to revolutionize your whole school year. 🤦🏻♂️