In the modern world of hyper-tech, everybody has some type of mobile device be it iPhone, iPad, Windows mobile devices, and even more. Each of these devices uses a slightly different Operating System (OS), iOS, Windows, Linux, etc. the ability to pick and choose is great for individuality but there us one massive issue… Not all OS work together. Compatibility issues have always been a problem and moving documents from one device to another (or file sharing) is never as easy as you would like.
Along come online file sharing apps!
Now, before we begin looking at some of the options available, a little disclosure. There are issues with the safety and privacy of these apps, especially with multiple attacks having been carried out on both Dropbox and Google Drive in the recent past. A lot of work is constantly being done by these companies to ensure that documents are safe and of course there are things you can do yourself to ensure the safety of your documents.
1. Change passwords regularly
2. Do not upload documents to the service from sites/people you don’t trust.
Privacy issues aside, Online File Sharing apps can be extremely useful for productivity and the sharing of documents between OS.
Impact on your wallet:
FREE FREE FREE. You can get a personal account on all of these apps but they have limits on the amount of data you can store and nowadays even basic files can be quite large. But it gets even better. Most of these services provide unlimited (basically) data storage for education institutions!
Where to find it/them:
Once again, the usual places for mobile devices, on your choice of app store.
Key Features:
Store any type of file online and have instant access to them anywhere, anytime, it almost makes it pointless to carry around a USB anymore. They also allow you to work on documents online as well as collaborating together on a single document. There is nothing stranger than seeing a document you are working on suddenly come alive with a team member working on it. It also means that if you are using Apple’s iOS (and don’t have Office 365 downloaded, why not?) and want to work on a word document you are able to using the Online File Sharing app on an internet browser! Compatibility at last!
Store any type of file online and have instant access to them anywhere, anytime, it almost makes it pointless to carry around a USB anymore. They also allow you to work on documents online as well as collaborating together on a single document. There is nothing stranger than seeing a document you are working on suddenly come alive with a team member working on it. It also means that if you are using Apple’s iOS (and don’t have Office 365 downloaded, why not?) and want to work on a word document you are able to using the Online File Sharing app on an internet browser! Compatibility at last!
What can I do with it?
Apart from having access to any file, any time, any place. Collaborating with another team member where ever they are. There are a few interesting things you could do with these apps.
- Student feedback
Watch students develop their coursework in real-time. You are able to set up individual workspaces/folders with students and allow them to add documents as well as edit any documents you give them. As students do research, adding reading PDFs to their folders (ed: a good way to find new materials), you as the instructor can give live feedback on their work, guiding and shaping their learning. - Project work
Create a shared space where any member can add documents and review each other’s work. Use this for student project work or even in your own teams.
EDIT – Safesend for file sharing
I’ve recently discovered that UoS has its own version of DropBox called Safesend! This is only accessible to members of the university to send out files but anyone can receive them. An advantage this software has over the publicly available ones is that it is a lot more secure, which is good if you are sending sensitive project files and data. Give it a look and see what you think, the service is always there and can be a great alternative if someone doesn’t have access to one of the above apps.
by Daryl Peel
All of the posts in this series
1 On the first day… a Post-it in a Plus app
2 What is Articulate Storyline?
3 Podcasting: Voice recorder Pro 7, Bossjock jr, Opinion
4 Padlet walls
5 AppBonanza
Office 365
Trello
PDF Expert and Adobe Acrobat Pro
Dropbox, Google Drive, etc
Alfred and Wox
6 Active learning using Panopto recordings
7 7 easy post-processing steps to get your photos to stand out
8 Wirecast play for live streaming
9 Panopto for student presentations and assessment
10 On the 10th day, get organised to keep all your lords a-leaping
11 Hear those pipers piping!
12 TikiTokis