1. The Nerdy Teacher writes that Dropbox is "a must for all teachers." Do you agree? Explain.
The Nerdy Teacher has it right, Dropbox is a tool that can benefit all teachers. Accessing files from any computer is tremendously valuable. I use Dropbox on my home computer, my school desktop, my laptop, my iPad, and my iPod. Sending or sharing links to files in the Public folder of Dropbox has been particularly helpful. I share a folders with other teachers and administrators. I even share a folder with another web designer who creates a page for our school, then saves the site to a shared Dropbox folder that I can upload to our school server.
One area where I think the Nerdy Teacher might run into some problems is in sharing folders with students. First, just setting this up (getting all of the student emails and creating a shared folder for each class) would be very difficult. Adding new students as they come in to class and removing students who drop the class would be very difficult. Another problem with sharing a folder with students is privacy and protecting information. If you share a folder with students, anyone of them can open, edit, copy, past, delete any of the information in any other student's work. There are no settings in Dropbox to allow some users to upload only. If you share a folder, they have full access to all of the files in that folder.
Dropbox does save historical copies of files and recovering a file that has been accidentally edited or deleted is not difficult. But, you can avoid the problem all together by using a website called DropItTo.Me. Here's how it works:
- Visit DropItTo.Me and create a new account.
- You will be asked to create a new Dropbox account or connect your existing Dropbox Account to DropItTo.Me. When thin is complete, you will see a new folder called DropItTo.Me in your Dropbox.
- Once you have connected your Dropbox account to DropItTo.Me, you will need to enter your new account information. (See the photo below for what you can expect to see on your screen at this point.)
- (NOTE: Each field is explained if you hover your mouse over the empty text box.)
- Enter your Username. This will be your DropItTo.Me web address. For example, mine is: http://dropitto.me/wardjhs
- Enter your email address. You will get an email when a student uploads a new file.
- Enter a password for DropItTo.Me. They ask that you don't use your Dropbox password, and I would recommend following those guidelines.
- Enter an upload password. This will be the password you give students or other people you trust to upload files to your DropItTo.Me folder in Dropbox.
- Give your students your account address and the password you have set and they can start uploading files to your Dropbox account. They won't be organized by class, but they will be secure and only accessible by you or other teachers you might be collaborating with on a particular project or assignment.
I think students should be taught how to do proper research for classroom and personal projects and this includes how to use Wikipedia properly. Wikipedia is a great resource for information and is very comparable to traditional encyclopedia in accuracy. I also like that Wikipedia requires creators of content to cite their sources. This list of links should be used by students to check the sources of the information they are reading about.
However, more than checking Wikipedia, I think students should be trained on how to use databases and other sites that are more typically used and respected as reliable sources for information. Wikipedia is great, but learning how to use a database is a skill they will need in college and possibly beyond.
In the article, Wikipedia in the Classroom: Tips for Effective Use, the autor outlines some potential uses for Wikipedia in the classroom. Both of these methods for instruction are cumbersome and could only be accomplished by some very tech savvy teachers and students. Gaining access to edit Wikipedia from a school is often not possible unless teachers and students all create a Wikipedia account. In the case of my school (and I believe this is true throughout the Canyons School District) anonymous editing is blocked. Below is a screen shot of what most school and colleges should expect to see when attempting to edit a page without logging in to the site.
For now, my interest in Wikipedia will be as a tool to teaching students and teachers how to access more in depth research materials.
3. After reading about and exploring the Skype in the Classroom program, do you think this is a program you would want to participate in? How do you think Skype could help you build your PLN?
This is a project that I am very interest in participating in as a teacher, technology trainer, and within my PLN. I want to save my responses for a time when I have done more with this, but for now, I will say that I think this is a great idea and would love to work with any teachers in our class who are interested in Skype in the classroom as well.