DropItTo.me - a "must have" Dropbox add-on

Dropbox is amazing.

It is.

Google Drive is great, don't get me wrong. Apple's new announcement, iCloud Drive, seems like it could be killer too. But at this point, Dropbox is the king of cloud storage, in my opinion. It's easy, doesn't care about file formats, simple to share, easy to navigate. It's the market leader for a reason.

My favorite Dropbox add-on is DropItTo.me. DropItTo.me is a 3rd-party, web-based application that links to your Dropbox account.

Old dog, same trick, new name...

This morning I handed a teacher her re-imaged & updated MacBook. She was running an old OS and having problems. I upgraded her, installed all her Smartboard software, Dropbox, etc, etc, etc...

When I gave it to her we had this exchange:

Teacher: "so all my old documents are erased, right?"
Me:  "no, they were in Dropbox, weren't they?."
Teacher: "No, I know you told me to do that but I didn't."
Me: "Why not?"
Teacher: "Because you can't teach an old dog new tricks and I only know how to use my Documents folder."

That exchange synthesized the core stumbling block most teachers encounter when it comes to technology and technology integration. They assume it's difficult and confusing, and they can't learn it, just because it is something new or different. Most often, new technology is exactly what they've always done, just called something different, or looked at from a different angle.

When we logged in to Dropbox and set up her folder I showed her how easy it was to navigate & save to it. She looked at me and said "so, it's just a folder that's everywhere?"

Yup.

"And I should install it at home too, so I have everything I need?"

Yup.

"Oh, that's easy"

What I left her with was the idea of "don't over think technology." She was wary of Dropbox because she didn't know what it was. She assumed it was a complex technological thing thrust upon her just to drive her batty. She realized all she needed to know was it was a folder. A folder like any other, but by a different name. A folder that now existed wherever she wanted it to be.

Dropbox, as with most new technology, isn't dramatically changing the way things are done, it just calling it something new and giving you greater access. If you can save to a Documents folder you can save to a Dropbox folder.

What was once just your computer became portable with your floppy disc. What was once your floppy disc became greater with your thumb/flash drive. What was once your thumb drive has now become your ubiquitous "cloud" storage...

Saving is saving is saving...

...Old dog, same tricks, new name...

Crowdsource Your Professional Development

One of the biggest dilemmas facing all teachers, administrators, and the field of k-12 educational education in general is how to provide enough professional development, frequently enough, to truly benefit your staff.

As with everything in education there are no easy answers, there is no perfect solution, and of course, there is often no funding. All that said, none of those are reasons to not provide professional development opportunities; the key is to think of professional development a little differently...

iOS Photos to Dropbox

Takeaway - seemless uploading of iPad photos to Dropbox, just another reason to love Dropbox...

Dropbox is an amazing service/utility/app that allows you to store things in the cloud and sync all your files to local systems with Dropbox installed. For me it's the best of both worlds; cloud computing with access anywhere but with synced local files allowing me to work without an Internet connection.


But how to sync photos & videos I take with my iPad or iPhone...