PREFACE
Let’s face it. College is hard. It’s easy to get unorganized. All these schedules and hectic calendars and all these different course schedules for each class. It’s so easy to get flustered. And the feelings of being overwhelmed can develop so fast from chaos and problems that breed from inorganization. But the truth is, there is hope. There is hope for combating this and making it less turbulent.
We don’t have to live unorganized for the rest of our academic career. We don’t have to live unorganized for the rest of our life. Instead, we can breathe. We can soar. We can fly. Not only are there calendars and whiteboards we can use, but we live in a digital age. An age that has resources beyond the traditional methods of pen, pencil, and paper. We live in an era that has so many different options digitally for us to stay organized. Innovative ways have been created to help college students get through these hard parts in our academic careers. In today’s blog we will discuss just how impactful these tools are. While also discussing of the best free apps to use for staying organized.
With the rise in technology used in studying, there has been a lot of new apps and websites created. Especially centered around organization and tools to manage a multitude of materials. Let’s break down some of the top three free apps for all things organization as a student.
APP #1: NOTION
the first app we’ll discuss is an app that many students have popularized period the app is called Notion. Pronounced like lotion but with the N replacing the infamous L in that word. Notion is the type of app that even if you know the material, there’s always something for you to use. There’s always something for you whether you’re on the website or even the app.
It has many different versions depending on the type of computer or phone you have. And, it’s considered a versatile workspace that prices itself on its “All in One” options. Many people use notion to organize notes, manage projects, build databases, study for test, track tasks and so much more. It optimizes itself on a variety of different tools. It’s centered around productivity which gives people limitless ability. With its resources it makes it easy to really accomplish anything you need for any project on any scale. Whether it’s keeping track of deadlines, or bigger scale projects—Notion is there for all your needs. You can create to do list, content calendars, note taking folders, databases, project management databases and so much more.
Notion is a very popular choice. With over 100 million users worldwide, it is still rapidly growing. And its actively updating to stay helpful in such a fast-changing world. Many brands also use Notion to organize their projects as well. It’s a great tool to stay organized as a student and even as an emerging professional.
APP #2: TODOIST
Todoist is another popular organizational app that centers around making to do list and project management/task management type of documents. You can create tasks and to do list that go into details with different due dates. It can also help organize different priorities, and subtasks. You can even add people to help collaborate on to do list and other tasks. You can track all team tasks, and it has many different free and paid plans available to choose from. It’s a productivity tool that centers around task management.With a special emphasis task management, it has the ability to make detailed to do list and tracking options for projects.
Notion is more project based while Todoist is more centered around breaking down tasks.
Notion has more tools but todoist goes into great depth for what’s needed for completing tasks. But Notion offers a feature that allows for you to incorporate Todoist into Notion. There’s an option in Notion where you can embed Todoist to really create an all-in-one view.
APP #3: MICROSOFT ONE NOTE
App #3 is a tool called Microsoft OneNote. It’s a tool that students use to have a place where they can consolidate all their resources and files. It is a place where they can organize their assignments into one digital notebook. The book can be accessed across a multitude of devices. We all know that Microsoft is one of the most used tools that students have used. Spanning from all different levels of education.
It has many different aspects and key features. One of the main things that Microsoft OneNote offers that many students are drawn to is that it includes cloud-based storage. That means, that it can automatically sync whatever progress you may have started writing. Or even doing on a document, it can sink across all devices. It makes it easier to transfer because a lot of students use Microsoft. A lot of students use tools like Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. It features a powerful search engine that has the ability to quickly find information. It also gives you the option to embed different materials that you possibly could need. lLike handwritten notes, videos, and even audio. You can collaborate with a multitude of people on this platform, and you can also create shared files and shared notebooks.
OTHER APPS
Some other workspaces that people use are the following: Evernote, Google Drive, and Trello. There’s so many different apps and workspaces out there if one doesn’t work, I promise you can find at least one that will work just for you. They are not all one size fit all they all have their different things that make them so useful and unique to the organization process. The truth is everybody has a different process to how they organize or stay organized with their work and deadlines. And that’s OK. And being able to have a workspace that you can stay organized with is imperative for success.
Ever Note
Like notion, Evernote is prides themselves on having an all-in-one workspace they give you the opportunity to organize and capture all your notes and whatever other files you may need across all devices and centered itself around being a project management hub. Evernote includes a powerful search engine that can quickly find any information you could possibly need. It can also synchronize your files across many different platforms, and you can upload many different types of multimedia needed like images audios and PDFs. You can even sync web clippings into your notes to save web pages. Just like the other workspaces mentioned, you can also collaborate and invite people to edit and look at your notes and notebooks across many different people.
Google DRIVE
Google Drive is another popular choice for consolidating all different types of files. Although you cannot take notes on Google Drive, you can take notes on Google doc and send it to Google Drive. Google Drive is a hub that can create a database that can organize and seamlessly share all the different files that you have created. It also has a collaboration feature where many different people can be in one Google Drive. It’s accessible across many different devices and it works very well with other Google services like as I mentioned previously Google doc, Google Calendar, Google Slides, and even Gmail. It includes cloud storage it has automatic syncing across all devices. It’s also compatible with Microsoft Office files as well. It’s a great place to stay organized if you have a lot of files that you need to keep up with.
Trello
Trello is another workspace that prides itself on collaboration and project management. However, one of the features that Trello really centers itself on is the visual aspect. Trello uses a lot of different colors and diagrams and symbols to help visually amplify project management and task management as well. You can collaborate on Trello, it includes many different boards, many different lists, and it can work across many different devices and interfaces.
CONCLUSION
As you can see these are some of the three workspaces that you can use to help stay organized as a student. They all offer collaboration tools and different ways to stay organized through different tasks, projects, and digital notebooks. As you can see each of them focuses on different organizational purposes, with notion having the most tools you can use. But they all are very beneficial. I also understand that this can be very overwhelming.
Finding a workspace that you can trust to handle all your academic, professional, and project-based needs can be hard. It can be challenging to find a trusty workspace that can handle everything you can possibly need. But these three workspaces can be a great place to start. So many of my friends and colleagues around me use notion. Every laptop that I see has the notion app on it including mine. I started out trying to use notion, but unfortunately my roots lie in Google doc, and Microsoft Word I am traditional. But all the resources and tools that notion has it should not go unnoticed it is a key player in all thing’s academia.
