For my final project, I've decided to investigate the program
Dropbox and a companion tool called
DropitTOme. Earlier this year I helped one of my 8th grade science teachers setup this system because he was having problems using his MobileMe account to collect student homework digitally. Then, just this past week our Assistive Technology Specialist mentioned Dropbox to our IT Director. When I mentioned the pilot I was doing with the science teacher my boss asked if I would develop a presentation on Dropbox for our next department meeting.
There are several implications for Dropbox for both teachers and students:
- It uses cloud-computing technology, something our district is looking very hard at with our conversion this summer to Google Apps. for education.
- It allows access to the data from any computer with Internet access, plus syncing technology to those computers teachers have control of.
- The system, when integrated with DropitTOme, allows students to securely submit work to their teachers from their laptops in class, in study hall, or from home.
- Dropbox has a mobile app. version (this is what our Ass. Tech. Specialist was originally writing about). This means teachers and students could possibly gain access to content they create on their laptops from their mobile devices.
Having just spent the past week dueling with every single one of our network printers on one issue or another,
anything I can do to support paperless communication between teachers and students is time well spent. Dropbox and Drop
itTOme may prove to not be the answer to all of our prayers, but if they come close then at least they will be one more tool that I can offer my constituents.
~Tally-ho!
Ah very cool Nick! I just started using dropbox and am anxious to dig into it more myself. I'm tired of kids having trouble accessing their files off our mac server with PCs at home. It also solves my problem of having the same file on multiple computers.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of DropitTOme and will check that out as well. Our school went to Google mail and apps and have loved it! Having more in the "cloud" and not in our sphere of direct responsibility is proving less expensive and more reliable!
I hope you're willing to share your findings!
Marty,
ReplyDeleteI'd love to pick your brain about your applications and experiences using Dropbox so that I can include the findings in my final project and my presentation for my IT department meeting.
I also got your message via Dropbox, I just haven't had a chance to act on it yet. One of my many to-do items for this weekend.