By now I would hope most of you ("my teachers and students") have either a Dropbox or Google account. You advanced ones, you have both right?
A quick history. Dropbox is older and therefor the more experienced and popular with us old folks. Google Drive has only been around a few years. But in prime Google fashion it has been running very fast and caught up do Dropbox very quickly in functionality. Both are fantastic but I will try to compare them below.
I am not sure how a professional teacher functions in today's technology world without one or the other of these "Cloud drive" tools. Here's why...or what they both have in common. Yes, there are others too drive)
A quick history. Dropbox is older and therefor the more experienced and popular with us old folks. Google Drive has only been around a few years. But in prime Google fashion it has been running very fast and caught up do Dropbox very quickly in functionality. Both are fantastic but I will try to compare them below.
I am not sure how a professional teacher functions in today's technology world without one or the other of these "Cloud drive" tools. Here's why...or what they both have in common. Yes, there are others too drive)
- All your files will sync across all your devices.
- If you install the application on your personal computer it works just like a regular folder. Put something in that folder and it shows up on your other "things" whatever they are.
Take a picture of something on your iPhone, iPad... (or other thing) save it to your cloud drive and it shows up on your computer. - Make a folder "Public". Put the link on your webpage. Students (or anyone) can click the link and see any files you saved in that folder on your computer. (No they cannot edit them - unless you give them rights to in Google). Example... Make a folder called homework. Get the link to it and post that link on your website. Create a file with your homework assignment on it. Save it in that folder. Students now have access to it. That's how easy
Problems & Warnings
If you delete a file from one spot... it gets deleted EVERYWHERE. Remember... it syncs! Example... If you have personal files on your <cloud> account that show on your school computer and delete them... They will be deleted on all your devices.
Do NOT install/store either of these on your M:Drive. Don't put a Cloud Drive on you network drive. If (when) the Network goes down you wont have access to your files - it defeats one of the purposes. Put it ON your C:drive.
Unlink before provisioning. Preferences -> unlink. If you don't when we wipe your hard drive it will delete your files. See #1 above!!!
If you use either service on an iPad UNLINK it when you're finished. See #3!
You can unlink items in #3 and #4 above from the setting on the appropriate websites. Example. I can log into Dropbox.com and go to settings and unlink unused devices. Currently I have 6 devices that access my dropbox folders. The files will STILL be on that devices but changes will not be synced.
Do NOT install/store either of these on your M:Drive. Don't put a Cloud Drive on you network drive. If (when) the Network goes down you wont have access to your files - it defeats one of the purposes. Put it ON your C:drive.
Unlink before provisioning. Preferences -> unlink. If you don't when we wipe your hard drive it will delete your files. See #1 above!!!
If you use either service on an iPad UNLINK it when you're finished. See #3!
You can unlink items in #3 and #4 above from the setting on the appropriate websites. Example. I can log into Dropbox.com and go to settings and unlink unused devices. Currently I have 6 devices that access my dropbox folders. The files will STILL be on that devices but changes will not be synced.
Google Drive If you have a G-Mail account you already have access to Drive Online editable documents Cleaner/Prettier interface for shared/public folders Shared documents to let others edit AT the SAME time | Dropbox Simpler (due to non editable on-line files) More Apps save to dropbox |