First up: Dropbox

The first piece of technology that I am going to introduce is dropbox. This is an app that you can download here for your pc/mac/tablet. So what does it do? Heh...well it is a long list! I will try to do justice to some of the uses this program has.

The basic idea with dropbox is mobile storage. What I mean is, anywhere you have access to the internet (which is almost everywhere now) you have access to a storage device. Dropbox allows you to store any kind of files (PowerPoint, videos, music, gradebook backups, etc.) you want for use on pretty much all of your devices. And yes I mean all. Dropbox has an app for iPhones, iPads, Macs and PCs. This means you can take your files with you everywhere without ever having to carry that obnoxious USB storage device.

All you have to do is go to droppbox.com and install the app on any device you want to use it on and voila! What happens is, anytime you update files that are saved in the dropbox folder, dropbox automatically syncs them with their "cloud" and stores them for access from any device. It is essentially like copy and pasting these files to the dropbox website, and then dropbox copy and pastes them to all of your devices for you.

So why is this useful for teachers? Again, I have found many uses for this. Let me just give you a few examples:
1) Since I hate keeping a hard copy of my gradebook in this digital age, I can keep backup copies of my gradebook in dropbox at all times. Since I can check it on my phone, I never have that moment where someone catches me away from my desk and wants to know their grade. I also use this to ensure that no student somehow gets access to my gradebook and alters their grades.

2) In my JAVA classroom, I have all of my students download this on day one. Why? Well, when they work on their programs at school, they automatically save them to dropbox. This way, when they get home, they always have their saved work from class. It also works the other way. When they show up to school and try to tell me they forgot their paper at home, since it saves their work at home too, it is always just a click away. No more dogs eating homeowork or flash drives.

3) Dropbox also has a feature that allows you to share a folder with another colleague. In this case, anytime one of you makes a change to something in this folder, it syncs with everyone who shares this folder. Well then, what happens if someone makes a change to something that you don't want? No worries...dropbox keeps older copies of files for backup purposes too.

4) Finally, many of the apps I will introduce in the future have a feature that allows them to sync with your dropbox automatically. This allows for much better usability for users.

Hopefully this helps and any suggestions you have, feel free to comment them!