Dropbox with Students

In my last post on Dropbox I described most of the technical features of this fantastic application (can you tell I really like this one?). Check out this article for some teacher tips! I enjoy finding technology that is practical, does not take a lot of time, and can save you time.

Dropbox has myriads of uses in the general classroom and especially in a telecollborative project or classroom. Uses include:

• general file sharing with other teachers and students (each will receive a URL if he/she does not have a Dropbox account)
• document collaboration all saved in one place
• sharing pictures, documents, and any other file type in one location in order to use for a larger document or project
• similar to hand in/hand out folders but online so that anything students handed in could be viewed by the teacher at home too, not simply at school
• folders/documents of extra resources that students/parents can access at home
• nationwide/worldwide sharing of folders/documents for telecollaborative projects

As with any public/shared technology teachers need to instruct students on how to use it, describe what is appropriate, and continually monitor what is shared or edited. The only drawback that I have found to using it is when you have updated or created something on one computer and you want to open it on another computer but the Internet is down. You still have access to all of your files, but you cannot access whatever was just updated or created.

Do not forget to back up your files before the computer switch begins at your school! Enjoy Dropbox!