Author: Miss Abercrombie

Make your Own Digital Planner

What is it?

You may have seen a few ‘back to school’ Tweets about digital planners, these are highly customisable digital versions of the traditional planner. If you’re sick of lugging your hefty planner back and forward from school, a digital planner might be for you!

How do make one?

There are many options for creating a digital planner on your Connected Falkirk device. As with all apps there are pros and cons of each one, but choosing the right one that works for you should be relatively easy with this handy ‘at a glance’ guide.

OneNote

OneNote is free on Glow and is a popular choice for teacher planners due to people’s relative familiarity with Microsoft apps and functionality.

Pros:

  • Easy to set up
  • Excellent page size with plenty of room for information
  • Syncs across all of your devices

Great for:

  • People who want a quick start with digital planners
  • Those who go between PC and iPad a lot

Get Started by opening a new OneNote notebook and begin constructing your planner using the sections and pages functionality. There are loads of YouTube video guides on making OneNote planners so be sure to check these out for inspiration.

Google Slides

Google Slides is also free on Glow and is a favourite for those seeking an alternative to PowerPoint, despite being a presentation software it does much much more – digital planners being just one of the many things it can be used for.

Pros:

  • Simple and sleek design elements
  • Easy to copy and share templates
  • Syncs across all of your devices

Great for:

  • People who are familiar with Google tools
  • People looking to keep it simple with a page by page planner

Get Started by opening a new Google Slides project and constructing your planner. Remember you can add images which can be drawn/typed over. You can also check out these YouTube video guides for tips.

Keynote

Keynote is one of the most versatile apps on your iPad so it is no surprise that you can also use it to create a digital planner.

Pros:

  • Easy to add content such as photos and videos straight from your device
  • Easy to copy and share templates
  • Great way to familiarise yourself with core Apple app functionality

Great for:

  • People who who want to get to know their iPad better
  • People looking to keep it simple with a page by page planner

Get Started by opening a new Keynote project and constructing your planner. Remember you can add images which can be drawn/typed over which is great for Apple Pencil users. You can also check out these YouTube video guides for more tips and tricks.

Canva

Canva is an free to use online graphic design tool. With over 600 templates for teacher planners many use it to make highly customised page types to create a planner that works for them.

Pros:

  • Huge amount of customisation available
  • Can be accessed online or as a copy saved to your device
  • Brilliant for making personalised planners

Great for:

  • Design lovers and people who like things to look lovely
  • People looking for particular types of pages 

Get Started by creating a free Canva account. Search for ‘teacher planner’, pick a template and get started customising it. You can get some help from these YouTube video guides. Once you’re done you can either use the planner in Canva or export it as a PDF, save it to the Files app on your Connected Falkirk device and write on it using MarkUp.

Educator Voice

https://twitter.com/OneNoteEDU/status/1298657712214093831