So, as I continuously collect digitally based content for both my own research (18th Century colonial American military, social, and material culture), and my ever expanding History Education curriculum and lesson planning resources, I decided that it had become too unwieldy to continue to keep transferring documents and the like from my desktop to my thumb drive, and then to my laptop and vice versa. I went looking for an alternative solution that would allow me to synchronize the files and folders, and add new content across the devices. I also added an iPhone to the mix, not that I would negotiate any files per se on it, but I find myself increasingly using it as a camera to document stuff, so it needs to be included.
I did a cursory internet search and came up with the a bunch options: iCloud, SkyDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox garnered the most web attention. I gave them a glance. Each had their pros and cons, but overall they seemed similar. I then proceeded to search out reviews of each on the techie sites. They were all cloud based, meaning that they would create a copy of your files on a server of their hosting that you could access from any internet connected device, in addition to creating an additional folder on your own devices where the new synced files would reside. I then posted up a request of my techie friends on Facebook to give me some input. Their responses were similar to the web reviews.
As I looked more in depth at each I was surprised to find that iCloud had some limitations on the file types and functionality, SkyDrive, while having the most functionality, was adverse to firearms (how can you study military history without them?), and apparently searched your private data with a security program that would identify that content. That narrowed it down to Google Drive and Dropbox. After looking harder at Google, I realized that I had existing files already saved there, and a plethora of ebooks (can you say 18th century primary source documents!) so I opted to try it out.
Downloading was easy across devices, and as soon as I added a file to the Google Drive folder it immediately synced up the other devices and the folder at the website. In the coming days I plan to add more content and organize my files and folders better, and this will definitely make it easier and faster. There is also apparently an app that allows Microsoft Office content to be automatically synced as well, but I haven't figured that out yet.
So, I believe that I've found a useful tech tool to help me organize and manage my data better and that will infinitely make lesson planning easier because now I'll have access to all my files across devices and won't have to constantly keep looking for and rediscovering stuff that I figured would be great for a lesson but couldn't remember where I saved it.
All good.
Scott, it is funny that you created a post about this because I was thinking about this the other day. Ever since I was in High School I always saved my papers and other assignments onto my computer hardrive or to my USB drive. Until fairly recently, I did not use these free icloud storage programs, even though I was aware they existed. After using dropbox to complete a group assignment for another class, I now feel that these programs can be very useful and be more convenient than a USB drive that can be misplaced at any given moment. All you have to do is log on to a computer and sign in and any information you have saved under your name is there for your viewing. I have grown fond of these programs like you have, and will continue to use them through out my career as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteI'm with both of you on this one. I used to email all my files to myself, to print them in the computer lab. Drop box has made it so much simpler to access all my files from anywhere, as long as I have an internet connection. What I like about google drive is that you can give access to a particular document to different people. This works great with students who work on projects at home, and then they can put it all together online in one document. Sort of how we did it for the group assignment. The new "cloud" technology is definitely make it simpler to access all of our documents, and as future educators we need to use it in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I wasn't the only one to feel that this was a useful technology for us. I have literately thousands of pages of documents and PDF's saved on my computer, and believe that this will definitely help in organization and access. I can really foresee myself utilizing Drive to keep my lesson plans on. As I've watched my co-op access his, it's usually by thumb drive, and I know from experience, that I can leave mine home (along with my wallet, cash, etc.), when I'm in a hurry to get to class. This will definitely take that risk away.
ReplyDeleteThere are some drawbacks though. If the school LAN goes down, it can take a while for them to get a tech there, so I think redundancy in storage and access is probably not a bad idea.
We'll have to see how it plays out.