Category Archives: Uncategorized

Notability: New Features you should play with

WIDGETS!

Widgets are the tiles on your iPad that give you the Weather, News, Photos, etc. They are VERY customizable [for example, are you tired of seeing the weather Cupertino? CHANGE IT!].

The Notability widgets lives on your HomeScreen, and you can use it to create a new note, access a specific note [Long press the widget, then select the note you want to have quick access to], and view your Recent Notes.

CLICK HERE for more details.

OPTIONS MENU UPDATE

You can rename and sort a note, all within the note Info screen.

You can also more easily import multiple documents into Notability at the same time., instead of having to do one at a time.

You can HIDE the status bar, if you’d like more screen devoted to note taking.

TAPE!

This is a tool that can help you learn from your notes. Use the tape tool to cover over the notes – see if you remember the material, and then tap to reveal the hidden areas.

CLICK HERE to read more, and view a video that demonstrates it.

Transfer your data to a new iPad

NOTE: This does NOT apply to the MDS iPads issued to students.

There are basically three options to transfer data from your old iPad to your new [or new-to-you] iPad:

  1. Quickstart – easiest
  2. iCloud – easy but slower, and you have to have enough storage in your iCloud account
  3. iTunes on a computer – you use iTunes on a laptop or desktop as a middle storage step.

CLICK HERE to see an article from Apple that describes all three methods in detail.

Quickstart

Useful if both devices are running iPadOS11 or later. This is easy and decently quick. How long it takes will entirely depend on the amount of data being transferred and your local network conditions.

You put both devices together, and wait for the transfer to complete.

iCloud

Backup your old device to iCloud first. Then you can select that backup to restore to your new iPad. Note that you DO need to have enough iCloud storage for this to work – the free iCloud accounts come with 5 gig of storage, which is obviously not enough room to backup a full 32 gig iPad.

iTunes

With this method you will connect your iPad to a laptop or desktop running iTunes. You create a backup of your old iPad – not this takes up storage space on your internal drive, so make sure you have enough room. Then connect your new iPad to the same machine, and restore the backup.

Final Notes

One oddity that MDS Tech has noticed – perhaps it is a feature – is that the data will transfer over, but not necessarily the apps.

For example, you might have a lot of Notability notes on your old iPad. After restoring the backup, Notability is not there – causing you to fear that your notes are gone. Open up the app store, redownload Notability, and POOF – there are your notes.

Thing you can multitask? Think Again.

Multitasking is a myth. What you THINK of as “multitasking” is ACTUALLY “serial mono-tasking”. You really are working on ONE task at a time, and switching from one to the other quickly.

The problem?

Everytime you switch, it costs you time, energy, and attention.

Disagree? Read the article below.

Try reading it while you are doing NOTHING else – just focus on the article.

See the source image
Multitasking is a Myth. It’s a TERRIBLE way to study.

The article below taken from https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-multitasking

Think you’re good at doing several things at once?

Reading and listening to music? Driving and talking on the phone (hands-free, of course), or texting while sitting in a meeting?

Think again.

Research in neuroscience tells us that the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously, as we thought (hoped) it might. In fact, we just switch tasks quickly. Each time we move from hearing music, to writing a text, or talking to someone, there is a stop/start process that goes on in the brain.

That start/stop/start process is rough on us. Rather than saving time, it costs time (even very small micro seconds). It’s less efficient, we make more mistakes, and over time, it can sap our energy.

Still don’t believe me?

Take a small test that I learned recently in a workshop about mindfulness, delivered by the Potential Project, a group based out of Denmark. Here it is:

  1. Draw two horizontal lines on a piece of paper.
  2. Now, have someone time you as you carry out the two tasks that follow:
  • On the first line, write:
    • I am a great multitasker
  • I am a great multitasker
  • On the second line, write out the numbers 1-20 sequentially, like those below:
    • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
  • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

How much time did it take to do the two tasks? Usually it’s about 20 seconds.

Now, let’s multitask.

Draw two more horizontal lines. This time, and again have someone time you, write a letter on one line, and then a number on the line below, then the next letter in the sentence on the upper line, and then the next number in the sequence, changing from line to line. In other words, you write the letter “I” and then the number “1” and then the letter “a” and then the number “2” and so on, until you complete both lines.

I a…..

1 2…..

I’ll bet you your time is double or more what it was on the first round. You also may have made some errors and you were probably frustrated since you had to “rethink” what the next letter would be and then the next number.

That’s switch-tasking on something very simple, but that’s exactly what happens when we attempt to do many things (often more complex) at the same time.

So next time you think you’re multi-tasking, stop and be aware that you are really switch-tasking. Then give yourself a time limit (10 minutes, 45 minutes?) and focus on just one task and see if you can’t complete it better, faster, and with less energy.

About the Author

Nancy K. Napier, Ph.D.

Nancy K. Napier, Ph.D., is Professor of Strategy and International Business at Boise State University.

Online:

Beyond the Blue Podcast — Creativity