BP9_20091108_Web 2.0 tool_Dropbox

Dropbox

Video created by ©Roxanne Santiago

Dropbox is a web 2.0 tool that allows anyone to access files, photos and music from any Internet accessed computer. Think of it as a USB drive, but you don’t have to carry it around. I am one who is constantly carrying around a USB drive to access files from one computer to the next. Using Dropbox can be helpful in my art room, here’s how: Students who are absent or have missed art class are now a week behind. I can use Dropbox to access a PowerPoint file that is currently being used with a class on another computer. The student who is a week behind can sit at another computer to see last week's steps without interrupting the class time. The student can work independently while I instruct the class on the next step. While the class begins working on their project, I can revisit the student who is working independently.

When traveling from room-to-room, Dropbox can be useful, especially for those art teachers who are still art-on-a-cart (sad face). This allows the accessibility to the files needed to teach the class in a different classroom without the fear of “Oops! I forgot my flash drive at home or in my classroom. Or forgetting your flash drive in someone else’s classroom!"

The Dropbox program can be installed on your computer or computers to drop files in and out of the storage area. The changes that are made on one computer will be saved on all computers since it is the same Dropbox account. There is even a website that you can access your files from without having Dropbox installed!

You can also share files and folders in Dropbox. A file can be sent to a “Public” folder and that particular file will receive its own URL. This URL can then be posted into a Blog, Facebook, IMs, e-mails, etc. Dropbox even has the option to share folders with other users by e-mailing the Shared file to another Dropbox account. This gives the shared users the ability to share files in that folder, add more files, and make changes to those existing files. All changes will be shown on both desktops.

Signing up for a free account on www.dropbox.com allocates 2GB of storage for free! If you would like more storage, it is available for a monthly fee. This web 2.0 will be extremely useful in my district!