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The most useful features of Evernote

After my last post about how to get rid of your filing cabinet, I got a number of questions regarding Evernote which is the software I use to manage my digital files. I rely on Dropbox for everyday files such as Word documents, but all of the digital files that I store are kept in Evernote. In today’s post, I want to share some of the most useful features of Evernote.

What is Evernote? Simply put, Evernote is an online app that saves a note (PDFs, documents, webpages, photos, or pretty much any digital files) and works across platforms (desktop and mobile; Apple, Windows, and Android). Each note can be tagged with keywords, placed into folders, and easily searched.

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How to get rid of your filing cabinet

Although our world is increasingly digital, I love paper. I read student papers and research articles in hard copy form. I keep copies of my notes and activities for class in folders by class session so they can be easily retrieved during the next semester. This means I was collecting lots and lots of paper which required ever-growing file space needs. Pretty quickly, I filled up six to eight filing cabinet drawers. Enough was enough. Today, I have one drawer of paper files. In this post, I will share how to get rid of your filing cabinet. It is easier than you think!

Photo credit: mcfarlandmo

Before beginning my mission to reduce my filing space needs, I thought about why I was keeping all the files in my filing cabinet. In almost every case, it came down to I might need this one day. Most of the files were infrequently accessed, but they would be hard to recreate again if it turns out I needed them in the future.

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We still need gun control to protect our students.

Again, we have to face another mass murder in our country. Yet again, horror has been brought upon students just trying to learn and improve their lives. After the Sandy Hook shooting, a group of college presidents wrote an open letter to our leaders pleading for change. After the shooting in Oregon last week, it is sad to realize still nothing has changed.
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5 Tips for getting ready to go up for tenure

For assistant professors across the country, early fall can be a stressful time. Many colleges and universities require tenure materials to be submitted early in the fall semester. After working for several years, the future of one’s academic career is up for judgement. Unfortunately, much of the tenure process is a black box where it is hard to know exactly what needs to be done to feel safe. In today’s post, I will share 5 tips for getting ready to go up for tenure.

Going up for tenure is stressful. I was pretty confident when I went up, but you never know what might happen.

One of the best ways to reduce the stress and anxiety of the process is to be as prepared as possible.

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More colleges to close. Reality or hype?

Moody’s has released a report arguing that revenue problems will triple the annual number of small colleges to close through 2017. An average of 5 colleges each year have closed over the past decade. With the attention Sweet Briar attracted before ultimately deciding not to close, the issue of college closures is top of mind lately. However, the question remains: what is the likelihood of more colleges closing?

Photo credit: Sweet Briar College

I agree with Moody’s analysis if not their conclusions.