Weekly Reflection 4- Creating & Curating Digital Resources

I sometimes find myself wondering how I used to remember everything before digital tools became such a big part of my life, tasks, phone numbers, schedules, appointments. I remember notebooks, folders, color coding, and loose papers everywhere. Today, my calendar, Google Drive, contact lists, and reminders hold so much of my daily information that it is hard to imagine functioning without them. Having a digital assistant that tells me where I need to be and what I need to do feels incredibly helpful. Now, as I learn more about teaching, I also hear that we should get ready for an even larger scale of digital sharing in education.

Google Drive has become a serious sharing space for me. Sharing large files, working on the same document with classmates late at night before deadlines, and watching ideas come together in real time still feels a bit amazing. These tools make collaboration much easier and faster than anything I experienced before.

That said, none of these tools have ever quite matched my relationship with Evernote. It started very simply, with sketching and saving small notes, and for a while it even replaced my daily journal. I used it to write after reading a book, watching a movie, or having a meaningful conversation with a friend. Over time, I began recording thoughts while walking or on the move, pasting in links, images, and reminders. Slowly, Evernote became my personal assistant, one of those assistants in movies who knows everything about you. It also allows everything to be shared, if you want it to be.

Today, it honestly holds more information about me than I hold about myself. I can offload memory quickly and feel organized, but I also wonder if I rely on it too much. Sometimes I worry that my ability to remember, sit with ideas, or slowly return to them is being replaced by instant storage. In that sense, these tools make me feel both organized and vulnerable at the same time.

While writing this blog, I found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole exploring Evernote even more. I came across some resources that helped me see new ways educators are using it and ideas I hadn’t thought of before. These resources helped me understand Evernote beyond just my own habits and showed me there are many ways teachers can use it creatively. Here are the links I found useful:
Evernote Experts Monthly Roundup: Back to School With Evernote
Educational Technology Guy
Tony Ballantyne Tech

As part of this week’s exploration, I started playing around with OneNote. At first, it felt empty and a bit uninviting, almost like meeting someone who seems dull until the conversation begins. But once I started clicking, experimenting, and making a mess, I realized how powerful it is. You can embed spreadsheets, record audio and video directly into notes, and create quick instructional content on the spot. I can easily imagine saying to a student or a colleague, “Here, this is how you do it,” and recording a short explanation instead of spending hours preparing something formal.

The real-time sharing features are also impressive, and OneNote seems to do almost everything Evernote does for me. One feature I am especially interested in practicing is handwriting-to-text. This could be extremely helpful in math and physics teaching, where handwritten explanations matter, while still allowing me to keep organized digital records that could later become handouts or teaching resources. I also appreciated that OneNote notebooks can be shared through a browser without requiring others to use Windows devices or special Microsoft settings, which makes collaboration more accessible.

There is no doubt that these tools make life easier for educators. They support organization, collaboration, and efficiency, which is important when teaching workloads can feel overwhelming. At the same time, I keep coming back to the question of balance. I do not want these tools to replace slower, human moments of learning, coffee or tea breaks, ideas shared on napkins, or conversations that turn into friendships and mentorships. Many of the most meaningful learning experiences I remember came from sitting across from someone, connecting on a human level, and taking time to really listen.

Sometimes it feels like technology frees up time, only for that time to be quickly filled with more tasks, more tools, and more expectations. This makes me think that using digital knowledge management tools responsibly also means knowing when to step away from them. Leaving room for slowness, handwriting things out, crossing ideas off, getting hungry together, and grabbing lunch still matters. For me, the goal is not just to be efficient, but to remain human, relational, and present while using these tools thoughtfully.

Until next week, I wish us a few moments of slowness, connection, and presence.