Introducing The Advising Sabbatical: A Respite to Refresh and Recharge

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Advisers are busy people. They spend many hours meeting with students daily and completing multiple tasks that can include paperwork, meetings, teaching, phone calls, university service, programmatic responsibilities, and the ever-present email inbox (Donnelly, 2009). And while there are lulls in student traffic during breaks and portions of the term, the accompanying tasks are ongoing. While these are all part of advising, they can easily crowd out time for professional development and restorative practices that make advising sustainable over the long term. What is an adviser to do?

After a recent fall term, I was feeling stretched thin after a term which included new programmatic responsibilities, teaching a class, and a heavy advising load. Furthermore, my professional development had stalled. I had books and journals gathering dust on my shelves and I had some reoccurring ideas I wanted to write about. In short, I needed to regroup, refocus, and reground myself professionally. As a way to do so, I envisioned and implemented an “advising sabbatical”— an intentional step back from daily advising activities to provide space for professional development activities and restore my energy for advising. In this article, I discuss the genesis of the advising sabbatical concept, including goals and possible benefits. In addition, I provide an analysis of the advising sabbaticals I have arranged and outline some practical considerations, including strategies conducive to a successful experience and gaining supervisor and co-worker support.

Sabbaticals are Not Just for Professors

The term “sabbatical” often brings to mind college faculty members taking a long-term respite from their teaching and administrative duties to focus on research and discovery (Davidson et al., 2010). But sabbaticals and sabbatical-like activities are not exclusive to higher education. There are ad agency owners, graphic designers, world-famous chefs, scientists, business executives, and others who take periodic sabbaticals from their normal work routines (Abad, 2014; Trapani, 2009; Walsh, 2011). They do so to pursue “personal and professional renewal, a renewal of their creativity, the discovery of new ideas, and broader perspectives on their companies and industries” (Pang, 2016). One well-known example from the corporate world is Bill Gates’ periodic “think weeks.” Gates gets away from Microsoft for a week twice each year to a remote Northwest cabin. He churns through and digests hundreds of papers, mostly internal reports, to understand larger trends in Microsoft and the industry more broadly (Guth, 2005).

After the sabbatical period, sabbatees re-engage with their daily work, now informed by their sabbatical activities. Back at the office, Gates acts on his “think week” insights with significant (and often lucrative) shifts in Microsoft’s policies, products, and strategies (Guth, 2005). Similarly, professional chefs experimenting with new ingredients, cuisines, or techniques infuse them into their restaurant menus or the dishes they prepare post-sabbatical. (Abad, 2014; Walsh, 2011)

Envisioning an Advising Sabbatical

After researching various forms of sabbatical-taking, I conceptualized an “advising sabbatical.” This would be an extended period during which an adviser would intentionally set aside time to disconnect—mentally, physically, and electronically—from daily advising activities including appointments, emails, phone calls, and meeting attendance. Instead, the adviser would engage in activities to inform, improve, or refocus their advising work, with the goal of professional restoration and amelioration of the effects of daily advising. Afterwards, the adviser incorporates the resulting knowledge, skills, and perspectives and returns refreshed to their daily advising practice.

To test the concept, I arranged multi-day “advising sabbaticals” during three term breaks. During these periods, I did not schedule any appointments, check email, work on projects, or complete paperwork. To further disconnect, I found a space in the university library to work. Although on campus, it provided sufficient separation to diminish the lure of routine activities. I focused on professional development activities where I had not seen recent progress and that would benefit from longer, uninterrupted stretches of time. Some of these activities included:

  • Reading widely on recent developments in advising and higher education.
  • Researching ideas of interest for my advising practice.
  • Writing to explore advising-related ideas with the eventual goal of publication.
  • Learning basic computer programming (technology-oriented projects are in my assigned portfolio).

Other activities that could benefit from the sabbatical environment are:

  • Writing projects including monographs, journal articles, or an advising philosophy statement.
  • Conducting advising research.
  • Working on a conference presentation.
  • Thinking through new initiatives or big-picture activities such as developing the mission for an advising office.
  • For advisers who teach, designing a new course or revising an existing course.

At end of my advising sabbaticals, I found they did produce the desired effects in line with what other sabbatees report: professional restoration, renewal, and mitigation of job-related stress (Davidson et al., 2010). I observed a noticeable dent in my reading list, significant progress on writing projects, and a keener sense of current directions in the profession. Moreover, I refocused my advising through reading and research as well as decisions with regard to future professional activities. Finally, I experienced a palpable rejuvenation and renewed enthusiasm for advising.

Characteristics Conducive to a Successful Advising Sabbatical

After analyzing my experience, I compiled some observations on what contributed to the success of the sabbatical time. I found three factors to be the most significant.

  1. The length of a sabbatical contributes to its success.

While sabbatical lengths range widely from a week or two to a semester or even a year, it needs to be long enough to promote disconnection from usual workplace activities (Pang, 2016). At least two full days seems to be the minimum to begin realizing the advising sabbatical’s benefits. The first day begins the process of mentally setting aside other activities and bringing full attention to the sabbatical tasks. On the second and subsequent days, when the disconnection is more established, it becomes easier to start right into the sabbatical activities. Multiple, consecutive days also brings further benefits. They make possible activities, such as writing a book chapter or journal article, that demand longer stretches of time to realize significant progress. When consecutive days are not feasible, regularly scheduled morning or afternoon-long periods, while not as effective, are variations that can produce similar results.

  1. Sabbatical location contributes to disconnection.

Since intrusion of daily activities can easily derail sabbatical activities, ideally, it should take place out of the advising office. Promising locations could include the library or other quiet campus spaces. Spaces which can be reserved in advance can be particularly attractive. For some, a local coffee shop may provide the atmosphere conducive to reading, writing, or other creative work. The adviser’s residence may also be an option depending on the presence of family members. To reinforce the physical disconnection, turning off notifications on devices and quitting email and messaging applications can also reduce interruptions that may unwittingly draw focus away from the planned activities.

  1. Plan activities in advance.

Since it will be brief, carefully planning activities and gathering materials beforehand will help maximize the time. For his “think weeks,” Gates queues up all the reports and papers to read in advance, so he’s not using time deciding what to read (Guth, 2005). Similarly, an adviser could collect reading materials, plan a writing project agenda, or gather data to be analyzed beforehand. Additionally, it can be helpful to schedule different activities for each part of the day to maximize the use of the time. For example, planning writing during the day when energy levels are high and allocating other activities, such as reading, to other times. Finally, completing tasks that might take focus off sabbatical activities beforehand, such as following up with a particular student or completing a requested report, is also helpful.

Gaining Support from Supervisors and Co-Workers

While CEOs and chefs who own their restaurants may not need permission for a sabbatical, advisers likely do not have this luxury. In addition to planning sabbatical details, successful sabbatical-taking requires support from supervisors and colleagues alike. Supervisors may be concerned with reduced staffing affecting appointment availability and other mission-critical activities. Similarly, co-workers may wonder if they will bear a disproportionate share of the advising load with an unavailable colleague. There are at least three aspects to the advising sabbatical that should reassure skeptical supervisors and co-workers.

First, due to their short length, the timing for advising sabbaticals is highly flexible. They can be scheduled during term breaks, summer sessions, or other periods of lower student traffic. Proposing a sabbatical during these periods can ease supervisors’ staffing concerns and allay co-workers’ fears of picking up appointment slack.

Second, advising sabbaticals focus on typical professional development activities, which can help reduce skepticism. Reading professional journals, working on writing and research, or preparing a conference presentation are routine higher education activities. Thus, supervisors and co-workers will more likely understand and support them, particularly if the institution requires continuing professional development. Furthermore, compared with other forms of professional development, such as conference attendance, two or three sabbatical days can be an attractive option for units facing budgetary constraints.

Finally, an important benefit sabbatical-takers repeatedly cite is professional restoration, renewal of their creative energies, and stress reduction (Davidson et al., 2010; Pang, 2016). This has profound implications for advisers in light of the recent awareness of advising’s psychological and emotional toll and focus on adviser self-care (Ali & Johns, 2018; Harman, 2018). With this type of renewal as a distinct possibility, supporting advising sabbaticals may contribute to longevity in a position, avoiding burnout, and reducing compassion fatigue. With the time and resources needed to hire and train advisers, most supervisors would be interested in supporting activities that contribute to longer position tenure. Likewise, co-workers, facing similar challenges of workload and daily demands, will benefit from work environments where fellow advisers have the energy and compassion to work with students effectively. This may avert the need to compensate for burnt out team members. Additionally, frequent staff turnover can sap team morale, so advisers similarly have an interest in a stable advising staff. Furthermore, co-workers supporting an advising sabbatical for one adviser see the prospect of taking their own in the future and finding the support to do so. Thus, supervisors and co-workers have compelling reasons to support advising sabbaticals knowing they can have positive effects on their own professional well-being and the advising office work environment.

Implementing an Advising Sabbatical

If after a review of the goals, structure, activities, and preparation for an advising sabbatical, if I’ve persuaded you to give one a try, I suggest a few steps for planning and implementation. First, determine the sabbatical’s purpose. Emphasize goals and accompanying activities that are meaningful for your professional development or advising work at a macro level, but have been challenging to accomplish within the daily activities of your position. When determining a sabbatical’s purpose, it is important to emphasize the overall goal is to have time and mental space for these activities—not to catch up on other work. Once the purpose is defined, work out the details including the timing and duration that makes the most sense, where it will take place, and activities in which you will engage. As discussed above, these details contribute significantly to the success of the sabbatical and therefore merit careful planning. Advising sabbaticals will no doubt take different forms based on the context and this is to be expected. Finally, garner the necessary support from supervisors and co-workers. Explain your plan, the reasons behind it, and benefits to the unit. Doing this goes a long way toward gaining the necessary support.

The advising sabbatical presents a powerful tool to respond to the daily demands on academic advisers, including the real dangers of burnout and compassion fatigue, and to make room for continued professional development. I have sketched out its contours including purpose, possible activities, strategies for making the most of the time, and tips for obtaining support from supervisors and co-workers. While it may seem difficult to justify in the light of advising’s daily demands, using an advising sabbatical to create an intentional respite opens up multiple possibilities for the professional revitalization needed to effectively and sustainably meet those demands.

References

Abad, M. (2014, July 2). Sagmeister: “Variety makes you happier.” Ferran Adrià. https://ferranadria.fundaciontelefonica.com/expo/en/blog/2014/07/02/sagmeister-variety-makes-happier/

Ali, M., & Johns, S. (2018). Compassion Fatigue and Self-Care for Academic Advisors. Academic Advising Today, 41(4). https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Compassion-Fatigue-and-Self-Care-for-Academic-Advisors.aspx

Davidson, O. B., Eden, D., Westman, M., Cohen-Charash, Y., Hammer, L. B., Kluger, A. N., Krausz, M., Maslach, C., O’Driscoll, M., Perrewé, P. L., Quick, J. C., Rosenblatt, Z., & Spector, P. E. (2010). Sabbatical leave: Who gains and how much? Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(5), 953–964. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020068

Donnelly, N. (2009). A National Survey of Academic-Advisor Job Satisfaction. NACADA Journal, 29(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.12930/0271-9517-29.1.5

Guth, R. (2005, March 28). In Secret Hideaway, Bill Gates Ponders Microsoft’s Future. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111196625830690477

Harman, E. (2018, August 27). Recharging Our Emotional Batteries: The Importance of Self-Care for Front Line Advisors. https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/Recharging-Our-Emotional-Batteries-The-Importance-of-Self-Care-for-Front-Line-Advisors.aspx

Pang, A. S.-K. (2016). Rest: Why you get more done when you work less. Basic Books.

Trapani, G. (2009, October 20). Burned Out? Take a Creative Sabbatical. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2009/10/increase-your-productivity-by

Walsh, J. (2011, October 22). The last supper: El Bulli closes its doors. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/last-supper-el-bulli-closes-its-doors-2327826.html

 

Rethinking Email

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I’ve had a rocky relationship with email. While it provides an easy (almost too easy) way to communicate with students and colleagues, I’ve long wrestled with trying to manage the endless and seemingly ever-increasing flow of message into my inbox. Over the years I’ve modified how I process email and tried different tools, but with only a modest degree of success. Recently, I’ve begun to significantly rethink my relationship with email. Not just trying new tools or practices, but developing a different, if you will, “email philosophy.” The primary result has been a substantial reduction of email’s place in my work day and the way in which I reply to messages. Here are the main changes I’ve introduced:

  1. I’ve restricted my email time each day to no more than 1 hour. I mark the time on my calendar (currently one 30-minute stretch in the morning and a second in the afternoon). It is only during these times that I send or reply to messages. My priority during these periods is sending messages I’ve planned in advance, usually related to a project or follow up with a student. After each email period, I quit my email application. As insignificant as it seems, the extra step to launch the email application introduces just enough friction to substantially reduce the temptation to “just see what’s going on.”
  2. For the most part, I’ve stopped writing long, detailed responses to messages (I periodically get lengthy advising-related questions from students). Depending on the message, I either direct the sender to online sources where they can find the necessary information, or recommend they schedule an advising appointment with me.
  3. When I send email, I try to use a “process-centric approach” as Cal Newport discusses in Deep Work.1 When composing email, the message content focuses on the message’s goal (what’s trying to be accomplished) and the process to reach that outcome with a minimal number of emails. For example, when emailing to schedule a meeting: “I propose we meet at Espresso Roma. Here are the days next week with a few times each day when I am available. Let me know which time works for you and I’ll consider your reply as confirmation.” Contrast this with the more typical email asking “when are you available?” and the multitude of back and forth messages that usually results.

Why the change? I have realized email exercised a kind of tyranny over my time and actions. My day and tasks would be shaped largely by what showed up in my inbox any given morning (or moment). I also felt a silent and unconscious pressure, a kind of “mental overhead,” knowing email was filling my inbox and feeling “behind” in responding. In addition, some observations Cal Newport makes in Deep Work about how email and other internet-based tools distract us from what he terms “deep work” have also contributed to my thinking. 2

After introducing the changes listed above, I’ve reorganized my schedule (with the less email time) to devote time to activities more conducive to advancing my career and making a significant contribution to my work as an academic advisor and the advising profession. For example, I was able to create a new presentation—complete with live technology demonstrations and supplemental online materials—and deliver it at a recent NACADA regional conference (something I’ve not been able to do previously). I also have some advising philosophy and practice ideas that I’m working through with the goal of developing them some journal articles.These projects require extended and focused periods of time—without the distraction and interruption from email (and other sources)—to effectively make progress. My reorganized schedule builds in and prioritizes these periods over other tasks, mainly email responding.

I realize that this approach may be controversial. As an academic advisor, my role is all about helping students. I’ve wrestled with this and wondered “If I don’t answer every email promptly and craft detailed responses and request students make an appointment instead am I not serving them as I should?” I’ve resolved this by reminding myself that one of my professional goals is not just to provide advising, but to provide quality advising. Quality advising is rooted in relationships with students. I find that face-to-face interactions are much more likely to produce stronger connections than interaction over email. I would hazard this is a widely shared view in the advising community. In most advising offices the primary activity of advisors is meeting with students in person through walk-in visits and appointments. On average, at least half of my day is devoted to advising appointments. This is time I have specifically for helping students and to do so in a medium—a face-to-face meeting—most conducive to quality advising.

Furthermore, providing quality advising over email can prove challenging. What may appear to be a simple question (“Can I drop this class?”) often has layers of complexity, which are not always easy to uncover through an email exchange. This is much more effectively (and efficiently) done in person (or even over the phone) where a back and forth dialog can illuminate these complexities. Thus, prioritizing in-person advising, while perhaps not giving students a quick, informative response envisioned when they dashed off the email, probably results in advising that is more complete, effective, and ultimately more helpful to students.

Finally, the universe has not imploded, there have been no cries of protest from students, nor has my dean has called me in due to complaints of unsatisfactory email responses. I’ve been able to devote time to more professionally profitable and satisfying activities. Most importantly, I can be fully present when meeting with students without the unconscious call of my inbox.

  1. Newport, Cal. Deep Work : Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. First ed. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016, p. 249. ↩︎
  2. Newport defines deep work as “the act of focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.” http://calnewport.com/blog/2015/11/20/deep-work-rules-for-focused-success-in-a-distracted-world/ ↩︎

 

Conference Presentation Materials NACADA Region 8

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Materials from my 2018 NACADA Region 8 Conference presentation entitled “Small, But Powerful: Using Mobile Devices to Supercharge Your Advising Documentation System.”

Description from the conference program is as follows:

Paper advising documents, such as checklists and graduation plans, while key to advising, pose challenges for advising record-keeping. A lone copy with the student, if lost or misplaced, causes frustration, duplication of effort, and leaves no record for future reference. With the ability to transform paper into electronic documents, mobile devices offer a powerful solution providing enhanced documentation of advising interactions. The session will demonstrate iOS-based workflows for creating, managing, and adding electronic documents into existing advising documentation systems, including shared note taking platforms. The workflows can be readily adapted to various mobile platforms and participants of any level of technology experience will learn helpful tips, tools, and techniques to supercharge advising documentation on their campuses.

Materials and Resources

Video Demonstrations

Building Workflow 1 Step by Step

In Praise of “Pogies”

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The temperatures on my rides the past few mornings have hovered below freezing. With temperatures in this range, I often arrive on campus with frigid fingers—despite trying multiple varieties of gloves designed for riding in colder temperatures. This winter has been different. I picked up a pair of Bar Mitts “pogies,” which are specially-designed “mittens” that attach to the bike’s handlebars. They are roomy enough inside to permit easy use of the brake and shifting levers all while keeping your hands protected from the elements.

The mitts are made from thick neoprene, so they provide insulation in addition to gloves. But more importantly, they block the wind, which seems to be the biggest culprit for my cold hands. The model I purchased for my commuter bike attaches by means of four Velcro straps. One goes around the bar end (inside the mitt) and three wrap around the bar near the stem. There is also a zipper to snug up the mitt around the cables. With a bit of practice, getting them on and off goes smoothly and takes just a minute. I remove them when I arrive at work since the rack where I park is in an unsecured area.

I needed little adjustment to riding with the mitts on. It took me just a few days to get the hang of pulling an arm out for signaling, wiping my glasses, etc. However, this is a fairly minimal barrier and the wonderful benefit of warm hands far outweighs it. You can find Bar Mitts designed for most handlebar styles and I highly recommend them for cold weather cycling.

The Magic of Text Expansion

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One of the biggest time saving tools I have encountered on a computer is text expansion. In its simplest form, text expansion is typing a small bit of text, which then automatically expands to a longer string of text. You could think of it as similar to writing an abbreviation, but with additional power and features. Using text expansion, when I type the shortcut “;ph” in any text field on my Mac, it expands to my complete office phone number. Text expansion can be used for both small strings of text, like phone numbers and email addresses, as well as longer items–even paragraphs of boilerplate. While a phone number here and there might seem insignificant, when I consider the number of times I type the same things daily it really adds up. According to the stats in TextExpander1, my text expansion app of choice, I’ve saved about 650,000 keystrokes. At a rate of 40 words per minute, this equates to about 55 hours, which is about 18 hours a year during the three years or so I’ve been using the app.

With TextExpander, some elaborate text expansion magic is at your fingertips. To whet your automation imagination, here are a just a few ways I use the app:

Stock phrases

In the course of a day, I have numerous terms and phrases I type repeatedly. This might be a function of higher education work, but I find myself repeating the same words especially when writing notes after advising appointments. I have made shortcuts for these, which can be handy when squeezing in notes at the end of one appointment before the next student arrives. So “;ud” expands to upper-division, “;lcb” expands to Lundquist College of Business, and so forth.

URLs/links

There are a number of URLs, many of which go deep into websites, that I insert frequently into emails and other documents. I have a group of shortcuts that I use the prefix “;hl” to indicate it will expand to a link. For example “;hlpre” expands to the link for the pre-business requirements on our college website. You can even format links, so they appear as such in your documents. I write my URL shortcuts in Markdown syntax, so they appear already formatted as hyperlinks in the email or document (I mostly write email in Airmail and documents in Ulysses, which support Markdown). TextExpander also offers optionally-installable snippet groups (“snippet” is TextExpander’s term for shortcuts) that manipulate URLs, including processing a link through a shortening services, such as Tinyurl or Digg.

Date stamping

TextExpander includes functionality for date and time insertion with snippets. This will insert the date and/or time in multiple formats (long, short, ISO, etc.). I enter the current date frequently in advising notes and other places, and I use a “date stamp” shortcut that formats the date the same way every time. TextExpander can also perform day and time “math” to adjust the date or time when it executes a shortcut.

Email signatures

I use two email signatures, one for internal communications and a second for contacting students. I insert the desired one using text expansion at the end of each email. Snippets in TextExpander can be plain text, rich text, and even contain images, so you can easily create an elaborate set of signatures formatted to your liking.

Email and document templates

When I find myself replying to the same or similar emails, I create a stock reply, assign it a TextExpander shortcut rather than re-writing the same message each time. TextExpander’s features make this really powerful. You can simulate keystrokes, fill in information that will be added to your text, include optional text, and even do some date and time math! I routinely email our Registrar’s Office with updates to a student’s degree guide. I have a TextExpander snippet that I type in the “to:” field of a blank email message. It adds the appropriate email address, moves to the subject field and enters the stock subject, asks me for the student’s ID number and name, and lets me select the information to be updated. Once it has this information, the app inserts it in the stock text and the message is ready to send. I have about a half dozen of these and every time I see myself writing the same email, I create another snippet for it. This can be done with longer pieces of text like disclaimers or conditions and canned letters. Other email text templates I use include:

  • how to make an advising appointment
  • a blurb summarizing major requirements and where to find them online
  • notification I have authorized a student to register for a class requiring departmental approval

If you send the same (or even similar) emails regularly, text expansion can be a life saver.

Text expansion is some of the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to automation. It offers tremendous power for just a few minutes of set-up time. You can get up and running with most text expansion utilities very quickly and before you know it, you’ll find enormous opportunities for automation. One warning–once you experience the magic of text expansion, you’ll never go back to plain old typing again!

  1. Smile Software offers both a subscription and stand alone version of TextExpander. You can run a trial version of the stand alone version for 30 days to try text expansion for yourself. ↩︎

 

The scanner in your pocket (Using iOS devices to scan documents)

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When I mention that I’m scanning documents for students’ files to my advising colleagues they often assume that our office has an expensive scanner. They express great interest in paperless systems, but see the presumed expense is a definite barrier. That is until I explain that, whether they realize it or not, they already have a capable scanner in their iPhone and iPad (many advisors on our campus have iOS devices). So “How do you do this?” they ask. In response, I’ve put together my brief guide to getting started using your iOS device as a scanner.

Get a scanning app (or two)

There are dozens of scanning apps in the iOS App Store. Many are free with ads, have a free version with a basic feature set (with an accompanying paid version), or offer in-app purchases to go ad-free or access advanced features. The three I suggest to get a feel for scanning are ScanBot, Scanner Mini (a free version of Scanner Pro), or Evernote Scannable (if you’re in the Evernote ecosystem). If you only want to save scans to Microsoft’s OneDrive , you might try Office Lens. Its features are quite limited, and it seems designed mainly to save scans to OneDrive. Start by installing a few, try them out, and see which works for your needs.

Scanning tips

  • Scan on a flat surface, such as a table or desk, whose color is dark enough to provide good contrast with the document. Most scanning apps will automatically detect the document’s edge and the high contrast helps this work most effectively.
  • Scan where there is bright, even lighting. Scanning in daylight near a window and/or with strong room lighting tends to work the best. One challenge to scanning with an iPad can be the shadow it casts over part of the document. Good lighting will help obtain optimal results. Some apps will correct for the distortion from a device being held at an angle, rather than directly overhead. This can often overcome the iPad shadow issue. It also makes it easier to capture a readable scan without the need to have your device absolutely parallel with your document. It helps too with documents that have been folded (like a receipt from your pocket). Scanner Mini and Office Lens are two apps with this feature.
  • Try different filters to optimize the readability of the scan. Good scanning apps will allow you to apply various filters to your scans. Filters make it easier to get the best results based on the document you’re capturing and what you want to do with the scan. Most common filters are full color, grayscale, and black and white. ScanBot adds a “magic color” filter that tries to optimize the scan automatically (I’ve had mixed results with this). If your document is mainly text, black and white usually provides good readability (especially if you plan to apply OCR to the document) and keeps file sizes smaller than grayscale or full color. I suggest trying each filter to see which one produces the best results. Filters are applied before you save the document, so you can see the results and change filters, if desired.

    Filter options in ScanBot

  • Save your scans as PDF documents and apply OCR. For document scanning, Adobe’s PDF format is usually preferable to JPEG (unless, perhaps, if you’re scanning photos and want to use them in a photo app or upload them to photo site like Flickr or Google Photos). PDFs are universal across platforms, offer small file sizes, and can contain a text layer (sometimes called PDF + text). The last feature is particularly useful for a paperless system because it allows you to search the text of a document in the future. To add a text layer to a scanned document, you need to apply optical character recognition (OCR) to the scan otherwise your PDF is just a picture of your document. Some scanning apps, including Scanner Pro and ScanBot (with in-app purchase) have this feature, and it works surprisingly well. Evernote will apply OCR to scanned documents, using its cloud-based servers, and also is quite accurate. It also can extract some of this data, for example when scanning business cards, which can then be exported to a contact management system. Office Lens will also scan business cards (this is done in the cloud) and import the data into a contact card stored in OneDrive.

What you can do with your scan

 

There are a number of ways you can manage your scans once you have created them. Depending on the type of document you’re scanning and what information is recorded there (e.g. student ID numbers or grades), some methods may raise some student record concerns. This is particularly the case if your scan might be synced to a cloud service, such as iCloud, Dropbox, or Evernote. Disclaimer: In my commentary I note some of these concerns, but I’m not intending to give FERPA advice. Check with your Registrar or IT department if you have concerns about this.

1. Store it on your device

Storing scans on your device is one option. This approach works if you scan infrequently, have space on your device for storage, and do not have a need (or very limited need) to send the scan elsewhere. Using an app such as Readdle’s Documents or DEVONthink can provide a place to organize and store them for future reference. This solution can work effectively if you have a large amount of available space on your device or if you scan documents infrequently. This may be your only option depending on your institution’s policy regarding student records (if you’re scanning documents with FERPA protected data). Be aware that some scanning apps, such as Office Lens and Evernote Scannable, do not store scans in the app. They are essentially conduits to save the scan to their respective apps, which store your documents in their cloud services.

2. Email scans to yourself

If you plan to store scans on your desktop, laptop, or a file server attached to them, email can be used to transfer your scan from your iOS device. Using the iOS share sheet, most scanning apps can send a scan as an email attachment. Sending the message to yourself allows you to open the email and attachment on your primary computer and work with the file from there. Assuming you’re using your institution’s email account, email is an option worth considering if you’re working with scans with student information on them.

There are a few downsides to using email in this way. First, depending on what you’re scanning, like color documents or multiple pages, the files can be on the larger size. This can be a limitation since most email services restrict the size of attachments that can be sent. Furthermore, since you will end up with two copies of the file, one in your inbox and another in your sent mail, this can quickly eat up space on your email server (unless you’re diligent about deleting both copies once you’ve saved the file elsewhere, which also adds a step your scanning workflow). Your friendly IT department may restrict your abilities to send and receive mail once this capacity is reached. Second, I find managing documents being sent back and forth over email to be cumbersome. Sending email to yourself as a method of file transfer can involve many steps and may lead to scans stacking up in your inbox (most of us do not want more email). Unless you have a very low scan volume or your institution’s IT policy is severely constraining, an email-based workflow is usually not the most efficient strategy to manage your scans.

3. Sync to a cloud service

The option that provides the most flexibility with your scans is having them sync to a cloud service, such as iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, or Google Drive. A distinct advantage of this method is that your scans are available on multiple devices simultaneously. This opens up many possibilities for what you can do with a scan including printing, accessing them in meetings, saving to a file server, sharing with colleagues, or uploading to an advising record keeping system. Most scanning apps can send scans to a cloud service using the share sheet. Some apps, such as ScanBot, can be configured to do this automatically once it has scanned and processed the document. Others, such as Office Lens and Evernote Scannable, are designed mainly to send scans to their respective cloud-based services. Syncing to a cloud service is the by far the most flexible solution for managing scanned documents.

It does, however, raise the most concern for scans with student data since files reside on servers not directly in control of the institution. Some institutions have contracts with cloud service providers, such as Google or Microsoft, where the terms of the contract are such that FERPA-protected data can be stored in the service (usually through an account tied to your university credentials). Your IT department should be able to advise if your school has this sort of arrangement. If this is not available on your campus, using one of the other methods discussed above may provide a solution when working with documents with student data. You could still employ a cloud service for other kinds of scans, for example, reference information or handouts from meetings.

Sharing options in Scanner Mini (with in-app purchase to full version)

Now that you’ve learned the basics of scanning with an iOS device, download a few apps and give it a try. Before long you will be a scanning pro and your colleagues will be asking you “How did you do that?” too.

 

Is My Apple Pencil Charged?

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A few months ago, I received a 12.9 inch iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil at work. I charged up the Pencil (it charges with a lightning cable via a small adapter) and started annotating PDFs. The Pencil performed this task admirably and using it was a wonderful, almost magical, experience. After a few days the Pencil stopped working, but after brief charge I was back in business. This experience caused me to wonder how I could determine the Pencil’s battery level. I was baffled because the Pencil itself does not sport LEDs (or anything else) that might indicate its battery level. With Apple’s attention to detail, I figured they must have included some mechanism for this. After some searching, I found in iOS 10 there is a Widget called “Battery” that displays the charge level of a paired Bluetooth device. After adding the Widget to the “Today View” on the Home screen, I could now view the charge level of the iPad and the Apple Pencil on the Home screen. (In a subsequent iOS update the iPad does display a “low charge” notification when the Pencil’s charge drops to 5%).

“Batteries” Widget

One note about the widget. The Pencil needs to be paired with the iPad and within Bluetooth range for the widget to appear on the Home screen.

 

My Go-To iPad Apps

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I often get asked what apps I am running on my iPad and how I use them. While not an exhaustive list, here are some of the apps I rely on to get things done on the iPad. It’s a mix of free (or have free version and offer in-app purchases) and paid apps.

Office Tasks

iWork Suite (Keynote, Pages, Numbers)

  • I turn to Apple’s iWork suite for most word processing and presentation tasks when I’m not collaborating with co-workers who also need to edit the documents. Documents sync over iCloud, so they are available on my Mac as well. If needed, the apps can save documents in the corresponding Microsoft Office formats.

Microsoft Office Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

  • Working in a Business School, Microsoft Office documents are the de facto standard for word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation files. The iOS versions of these apps work well and include most features of their of their desktop counterparts.

Other Writing/Text Tools

Drafts

  • Drafts is perfect when I need to jot down an idea or a bit of text and hold it until I decide where it will eventually end up (email, tweet, task, calendar item, etc.). When I’m ready to send it to a final destination, Drafts allows you to export, share, and send text to the clipboard, other apps, and cloud services with its built-in actions. Actions tap into iOS’s URL schemes, and the app allows you to create custom actions by writing your own schemes (unfortunately, not all apps support URL schemes).

Ulysses

  • This is where most of my writing projects start. Ulysses is a elegant app designed to be the home for all your bits of writing. Writing is done in the app’s version of the Markdown to allow focusing on the content of your writing rather than being distracted by its appearance. I have the companion version installed on my Mac and my text is synced via iCloud, so it’s available wherever I happen to be working.

PDF Tools

GoodNotes

  • Great app for marking up PDF documents and general note taking with the Apple Pencil. I use GoodNotes daily for completing checklists and writing grad plans for students. In a future post, I’ll plan to cover my PDF markup workflow in detail.

PDF Expert

  • I use PDF Expert as my primary tool for reading and annotating (highlighting, making notes, etc.) PDFs

Utility

1Password

  • Everyone needs a good password manager to create and store strong passwords! A share sheet action extension makes it easy to fill the passwords when logging in to websites from Safari or Chrome. The basic version of 1Password for iOS is free, but an in-app purchase unlocks additional features. If you’re running the 1Password app on your Mac or PC (highly recommended!), you can sync your passwords between devices.

ScanBot

  • My current scanning app of choice. I use ScanBot for capturing scans of meeting handouts or documents during student appointments. The in-app purchase unlocks additional features, such as custom file naming templates and optical character recognition (OCR) for text. I’ve found the OCR to be quite good, which is essential for a paperless (or less paper) workflow to search for scanned documents later.

Workflow

  • If you have ever wanted to automate repetitive tasks on the iPad or iPhone, Workflow is the app you have been looking for. It allows users to build custom “workflows” to manipulate text, files, and images, share to social media, save URLs to read it later services, to name just a few, using pre-defined building blocks provided by the app. Users can create their own workflows and download pre-made workflows from the Workflow Gallery. Once created, workflows can be run from the app, as a widget from the home screen, or from the share sheet.

Calendaring, Task, and Project Management

OmniFocus

  • I’ve been a (not always consistent) practitioner of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system for over 10 years. OmniFocus is a powerful task management tool built around the GTD methodology. I run the companion Mac app, and the OmniGroup’s syncing service keeps everything in sync between my Mac and iPad.

Fantastical

  • Fantastical is my primary calendaring tool. The natural language event entry, speedy event creation and modification, and many other features make it hard to beat. The one feature Fantastical does not incorporate is the ability to view shared calendars of other Exchange users as my workplace uses Exchange for email and calendars (in fairness most calendar apps, including Apple’s own, do not have this feature). This is not a deal breaker for me since I don’t need to view coworkers calendars often.

Communication

Airmail

  • I use Airmail as my primary email app on iOS. I love the highly customizable swipe gestures to take action on emails quickly. The app allows you to have up to three possible actions per swipe. Depending on how far you swipe on the message in the reading list, you can reveal up to three possible actions (three for a swipe left and three more for a right swipe). This makes a particularly speedy way to process email each morning. Airmail also features email snooze and integration with other apps, such as OmniFocus, Calendar, and Reminders.

Slack

  • My advising team recently began using Slack for team communications. At the most basic level, Slack can be described as instant messaging for a group or “team” in Slack parliance (the app and the service behind it is much more than this). Our advisors work out of two locations and Slack helps keep our staff stay connected throughout the day. We still use email for mission-critical communications, but Slack has quickly filled the gap for most other internal communications.

Cloud Storage/Syncing Services

Dropbox

  • Dropbox has long been the leader in the cloud storage and syncing files between devices. Syncing is nearly instantaneous between devices. I use Dropbox mainly as a conduit for transferring files between my iPad and my Mac.

Microsoft OneDrive

  • While it does not have the syncing prowess of Dropbox and can be a bit clunky, I use OneDrive as my primary cloud storage location. I save most files here, so I can access to them on the Mac and iPad. I also use it extensively for sharing files with our advising team. For activities where our team is working out of the office (orientations, remote advising, etc.) OneDrive provides easy access to our files (compared with our office file server, which is not always easy to access remotely). The university has a Office365 contract and has vetted OneDrive for storing most kinds of data. Each user has a generous 1 terabyte of storage, so this makes OneDrive an attractive option.

Evernote

  • For many years I used Evernote as a “virtual general reference file cabinet.” I stored information on academic policies, handouts from meetings, reference documents–essentially anything I thought I would need to reference in the future and wanted to do so wherever I had internet. Evernote has exceptional search and text recognition capabilities, which makes it particularly well-suited to this function. For a variety of reasons, I have recently transitioned to DEVONthink for my less-paper workflow. I still recommend Evernote as a terrific service for getting started with the paperless lifestyle.

 

Creating OmniFocus Templates with Workflow on iOS

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I have used OmniFocus for task and project management for some time now on both the Mac and iPad. It’s a terrific application and one I’m always learning to get the most of its capabilities. At the end of last year, I heard a Mac Power Users episode on workflows where hosts David Sparks and Katie Floyd mentioned creating templates for OmniFocus projects. David used templates to automate task creation for regular projects that always have the same tasks (his example was prepping a podcast episode). I also heard Fraser Speirs discuss how he uses the iOS app Workflow to create OmniFocus tasks and projects in a Learn OmniFocus webinar. Fraser gives an example of tasks to be completed when he needs to cover for an absent teacher in his school. (To learn more about Workflow, I highly recommend Fraser Speirs and Frederico Viticci’s Canvas episodes on the Workflow app). This got me thinking about possible reoccurring projects where I could use a similar kind of template. In my current role, I coordinate two orientation programs for new business majors each quarter. Preparing for each program requires the same tasks, so it made an ideal project for a template.

Writing the template

To get started, I listed the tasks required and organized them in a way that made sense for the project. In OmniFocus’s terminology, I set this up as a parallel project (i.e. tasks don’t necessarily need to be done in a particular order). OmniFocus requires templates in the plain text TaskPaper format. In its most basic format, a template looks like this:

- project name
	- first task
	- second task
	- etc.

TaskPaper (as it has been implemented by OmniFocus) allows the user to assign tags to projects and tasks to specify options such as context, due date, flagged, etc., Tags start with a “@” followed by the tag name (no space between) and the parameters in parenthesis, for example @due(01/10/2017). This tag would give the project a due date of January 10, 2017. The full list of tags OmniFocus supports can be found at https://discourse.omnigroup.com/t/implementation-details-for-omnifocus-2-14-automation/24179.

The final template with tags for my project is as follows:

- prep for (orientation type) on (date) @due(date -1d) @autodone(true)
	- print advising worksheet labels
	- assign front desk to apply labels
	- assign checklists to advisors
	- pair checklists with advising worksheets
	- update general education presentation
	- update pre-business presentation
	- save copies of presentations to OneDrive and shared drive
	- provide front desk with numbers of packets to prepare
	- request open class lists 
	- prepare agenda and staffing
	- send "items to bring with you" email to staff
	- review agenda with staff
	- print check in line signs
	- check atrium signs have correct room listed

Making the workflow

The workflow starts with asking the user for input, the orientation type and the date, which are used to specify the project due date and project name in OmniFocus. Each request starts with the “ask for input” action followed by the “set variable” action. The date input gets an intermediate step that formats it as a short date. This input is stored in two variables (“orientation type” and “date”) whose values are used in the template.

The next action “text” is where the TaskPaper-formatted template text is stored and variables from the previous steps are inserted. This text is then passed to the “URL encode” action which, in turn, forwards the template text as an input to a custom URL. The URL is the mechanism that sends the template to OmniFocus:

omnifocus:///paste?target=/folder/work/task/orientation&content=Input

The URL tells OmniFocus to paste the content (the text defining the tasks to create) in a specific location in OmniFocus (my “orientation” project in the “work” folder). Details on crafting URL schemes for OmniFocus on iOS can be found on Inside OmniFocus at https://inside.omnifocus.com/url-schemes .

The finished workflow can be run directly from the Workflow app or for quick access, I have added it to the Workflow widget on the iPad home screen.