Review by Stacy Zeiger, Common Sense Education | Updated March 2014
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Box

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download on Amazon

Use the Cloud to save, organize, access, and share files from anywhere

Subjects & skills
Subjects
N/A
Skills
  • Character & SEL
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
8–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (0)
Not yet reviewed
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire, Nook HD, Chrome, Apps for Windows

Take a look inside

3 images
Use in conjunction with other creative apps.
Organize files in one convenient place.
Share files with others.

Pros: Features allow saving, organizing, sharing, and presenting many different types of files.

Cons: Many features require users to log in online, rather than work through the app.

Bottom Line: A little difficult to navigate, but offers a solid Cloud storage and organization solution for teachers and students.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use Box to help students become more organized. Instead of rifling through notebooks or looking for key files on multiple flash drives, teachers can have students save their work through their Box accounts. Teachers can also add files, such as rubrics and assignment outlines, to their own Box accounts and share them with students. Students could also share papers and projects with teachers through Box, helping transition to a paperless classroom.

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Standards:

Similar to other Cloud storage and file organization programs, Box opens with a list of files and folders currently saved to a user’s account. Users can read those files within the app, share them through email, or use them in connection with one of the many partner apps. Although most files must be created within another app or on a computer, users have the option of taking photos and videos to add directly to the app.

When it comes time to get organized, files can easily be sorted into new folders, and users can add comments to remind them what the files contain or to keep track of changes they’ve made. After logging into the online or computer-based Box application, users can also add tags to documents to make them easier to find. A host of other features exist through the online and computer-based versions of the app that don't exist on the tablet and smartphone versions.

Box’s design appeals not only to students, but also to professionals and businesses. As a result, its educational benefits may not seem clear immediately. By using the features found within the app, however, students can build their note-taking and organization skills. By designating certain files to be available when they're not connected to the Internet, they'll always have access to files, even when they're offline. This helps ensure that students come to class prepared -- and head home prepared as well. The ability to take photos and record videos to add directly to the app also ensures that students can document and save information right away. This could prove helpful for photographing a homework assignment rather than rushing to scribble it down, or for taking videos to add to a school project.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Professional design and limited creative functions may fail to hook kids, but it navigates easily.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Allows users to upload multiple file types and organize them in different ways.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Guides users through features, offers suggestions for use, and connects with other apps to extend its use.

Common Sense Reviewer
Stacy Zeiger Homeschooling parent
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Writing

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.7.10

    Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.8.10

    Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.9-10.10

    Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

  • W.11-12.10

    Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes

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