Recently I had one of those enlightening experiences that makes you change your perspective. In my district, all teachers are able to connect to the district server via a username (first initial and last name) and password (schoolname). Many teachers, especially me, use the server to save student work when using our mobile laptop carts. All of my students have learned how to connect to and save to the server. This is especially useful when getting kids to use templates that I have already created for them. Of course there is the possibility that students do harm purposely or accidentally because they have access to everyone’s files. Fortunately nothing like that had ever happened…until…that day.
A student (accidentally) deleted everything in my folder-including yearbook pages. I immediately contacted the IT department who was able to get all of the stuff back up until the last few hours. Unfortunately, this meant two classes’ open house projects were gone. In our set-up, I was unable to lock or hide folders. There was really nothing I could have done other than back up everything locally, but isn’t that the whole reason we save to the server? Apparently the IT department had previously tried to convince the administrators to give all the students their own username and passwords, however they felt it unnecessary and unsafe. This is what happens when technology decisions are made by those unfamiliar with technology.
So if this is the problem, what is the solution? I think it is time to give students the tools necessary to save all of their work online in the cloud. In many districts, online storage websites are blocked. I assume it is because students could access inappropriate or dangerous materials and/or hurt the system. I had a student delete an entire yearbook using the “safe” method.
There are many reasons to give students access to online storage. First, students can access their work at home and thus extend the learning time. Second, teachers can access the student work at home in the same way. Third, there would be no more concern about losing data, especially when many online storage sites keep all known drafts of a document. Fourth, the IT department would not have to be concerned with maintaining a server full of student work. It would allow them to focus on more important responsibilities. Finally, it is cheaper. IT departments should not have to deal with something as inane as finding my student essays that were accidentally deleted. Online storage has to be cheaper than having physical server space set aside for student and teacher work.
Technology is a tool. We cannot treat it like a weapon. Tools can hurt as much as weapons, but they can also help if people are taught how to use them correctly. That is why it’s time to send the kids to the clouds.
Here are some of my favorite online storage sites.
getdropbox.com – This is an app on your computer that automatically syncs anything you save locally to your “Dropbox” folder online. It keeps all previous versions of documents too. Free account has 2GB of storage.
drop.io – You can get a dedicated drop.io/ URL for anything you upload. You can even call in or email information to your “drop.”
mobileme – I am a mac guy. You save things on your local iDisk and it automatically goes up into the clouds. You can also upload to your me.com account for PC users.
jungledisk – They have an app that you run locally and it automatically backs up using amazon.com’s S3 storage.
