My Take
Dropbox supports learning beyond the product by allowing students to build, utilize, and be accountable for their work. My students not only use it for my class, but have found it useful in other classes as well. I use Dropbox to build assignments and create lesson plans that I can access from home and school. This prevents me from having to carry my computer from place to place or having to worry about losing a USB drive.
There is also a Dropbox application for the I-phone that I use. If I find valuable resources or items that I want to share with my students, I can simply snap a pic and place it in my Dropbox. Unfortunately, our school has had to resort to a no cell phone policy so using Dropbox allows me to access items without the use of my phone. In my opinion, Dropbox has changed my classroom. It allows my students and me the opportunity to share, save and record information current as well as later use. I am able to save items in my Dropbox and then post them into my learning management system.
How I Use It
Students create assignments for class. These may be individual or group assignments. Once the assignment is completed, students save it into Dropbox. This site is used for any of the following reasons: share between two or more students as a team project, no computer/laptop available, the need to recall the item, possibility of hardware failure, and etc. Many times students will work on a school computer. They will save the project in Dropbox so it can be opened and edited at home on personal computer or saved for later use. As part of our Simulated Workplace curriculum, students have to complete a portfolio to be presented to a team of three industry evaluators. Certificates, awards, skills check off sheets, pictures, certification cards, and such are placed into the portfolio. Students used the app called Turbo Scan as well as HP Pagelift to scan items and upload to Dropbox. Once there, each child could place them into the correct sections of the online portfolio. This application is used frequently as part of the class. For example: Turbo Scan is used to scan electrocardiograms and such. Students then save them into Dropbox and upload to Schoology when the assignment is due.
The lasting concept is “Responsibility.” Students have to learn to be responsible for assignments. Our school utilizes the One-to-One initiative. Each student is assigned an individual netbook at the beginning of their ninth grade year. I have found that all too often a computer is broken and being repaired or left at home, lost, etc. Students save assignments into Dropbox so it can be accessed from other computers. This prevents delays in grades and point deduction while building student responsibility. This is a lasting concept for the student not only in my class, but in life in general.