Evernote as an option for Personal Project Process Journal

Students in the final year of the MYP are required to do their personal projects. The aims of the MYP projects are to encourage and enable students to: 

• participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry within a global context 
• generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth investigation
• demonstrate the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time
• communicate effectively in a variety of situations
• demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of, learning
• appreciate the process of learning and take pride in their accomplishments.

(MYP Projects, page 7)

The focus has always been on the process, but not on the product. Students are required to keep a process journal and document evidences of their process in their process journal. Throughout the process, personal project supervisors help students to identify their working behaviours and ensure that they follow academic honesty guidelines. 

Process journals are personal and can be documented in different formats according to students’ preference, as long as they provide evidence of recording his or her process. So, what can or should be documented? It is suggested in the guide that an extract may include: 

• visual thinking diagrams
• bulleted lists 
• charts 
• short paragraphs 
• notes  
• timelines, action plans, 
• annotated illustrations 
• annotated research
• artifacts from inspirational visits to museums, performances, galleries
• pictures, photographs, sketches
• up to 30 seconds of visual or audio material 
• screenshots of a blog or website 
• self and peer assessment feedback. 

(MYP Project, page 25) 

In my previous experience supervising students’ personal projects, there had been problems that students lost their process journals; personal computer got damaged and couldn’t be repaired any more; or students just never remember to bring their process journals to school and share with their supervisors. With the types of extracts can be included in the personal project process journal and the nature of saving files/notes via Cloud-based service, I think Evernote could be an option for students’ consideration. 

1. Both supervisor and student sign up an Evernote account: https://evernote.com/ 
2. Download Evernote desktop version to your computer (Mac users can just download from the App store.)
3. Once completing downloading, install the Evernote desktop on your computer and log in with your username and password. 
4. Download Evernote Web clipper: https://evernote.com/webclipper/
5. In order to keep up with your research, I also recommended you add Chrome extension called Citable https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/citable/jfiabcklnnhkmkcdjjpmgghiimjkaeio to your Chrome web brower. This tool can help you save citable quotes and notes from your research into Google spreadsheets. 
6. Once you log in your Evernote account, create a Notebook and give it a title, such as ‘Personal Project Process Journal’, ‘Personal Project Reflection’, ‘Personal Project Research’, and so on. 
7. Share the Process Journal with your supervisor. See image below. 

Voilà! Personal project supervisors will get an invitation to join the notebook and keep up to date the student’s progress of completing their personal project.