I’m Victoria Neu, I’m a graduate student at the University at Buffalo, seeking a doctorate in educational psychology and quantitative methods.
Productivity tools help you get more work done in less time!
Productivity tools help to:
- manage your time,
- to create and share documents and websites,
- to seek input from others through forms/surveys/polls,
- to navigate using mapping tools,
- and to manage many other tasks.
These tools are great to use when collaboration is needed, when you want to share the workload, and to help with time management!
Cloud-based tools enable file sharing across different platforms and devices, making it easier for people to collaboratively create and edit documents, slide presentations, spreadsheets, and more.
File storage and synchronization services allow you to keep track of and organize your documents.
You no longer need to be at your computer to access important documents when you instead store computer files in the cloud online. You and your collaborators can access up-to-date versions of files at any time.
Time management is another area where productivity tools are beneficial.
Just like a traditional paper calendar, online calendars can map out your schedule.
Online calendars have added features that improve your productivity. Reminder and notification functions can send alerts right to your phone, desktop or email. They will also let you know if you’ve booked multiple events at the same time. Online calendars allow you to send invites to other people whenever you want to schedule a meeting or an outing. You can share your calendar with multiple people and adjust the settings to customize who has view-only access versus who has the ability to edit events.
Most digital calendars also have apps that synchronize across all of your devices, updating automatically whenever changes are made. Other digital tools help with time management. Many use research-based time management techniques and encourage you to stay focused.
They can limit procrastination, reward you for how much time you spend on task, and track how long you are actually working!
Productivity tools are available if you need to build and publish a website and share information almost instantly.
Inexperienced web developers can make sophisticated websites for free or at a low cost. These websites can be a public or shared privately within a group.
Forms and surveys are easier than ever to create.
These online tools make organizing events or collecting information quick and easy.
Scheduling tools help you identify times when everyone in a group is available to meet.
Using polling applications help to collect data and show instant results.
There are a host of mapping tools that can help you navigate and learn about the world.
Global Positioning Systems, also known as GPS tools have two big advantages over traditional paper maps. The “you are here” marker is invaluable if you are lost and the voice navigation feature effortlessly guides you to your destination.
Other geographical mapping tools are useful to visually represent geographic space and data. Numerous visualization tools have emerged that allow you to map data in ways that visually represent topics, trends, and patterns.
There really are a wide variety of productivity tools to consider in this module.