Why Dropbox?

Library netbook cart

Our school has just purchased and introduced 20 iPads for each of our three grade levels. The iPads are stored with the netbooks on a cart which can be used by teachers in their classrooms. Each cart has wireless capabilities and the netbooks are networked to the school board intranet.

We have always had issues with students either emailing through hotmail accounts or using USB drives (I have a collection of unclaimed drives in my office) to transfer work between home and school. Now with the introduction of iPads (not networked) there is a need to find a way to share finished or in progress work.

Recent fundraising and my request for iPads in the library has promised me four devices for library use. I have been frustrated by a lack of networking; our first five netbooks were not networked or imaged by the board so there is no connection to student files and without "protection" on these netbooks I hesitate to allow hotmail use and USB drives get lost.

I have an Evernote account and have been trying to use it more often for personal file sharing between home and work but have yet to benefit as much as I had expected. Dropbox has come up in discussions with others introducing technology in their schools and from limited understanding I think this tool is worth investigating.

-ease of access by invitation

-app available FREE on iPads and downloadable on school computers

-capability of emailing files to teacher

-some colleagues with experience

HERE I come!