Hope you could come earlier, Dropbox!

Just fed by a new entry about the use of cloud computing by one of my favorite blogs regarding ICT applications. A new free online tool called “Dropbox” is introduced and here is the product introduction video:

[Or see the latest introduction on its website homepage. https://www.dropbox.com/ ]

I cannot wait but quickly download and install “Dropbox” in my computers after understanding what it can help me.

In short, Dropbox is one of the products using cloud computing technology which facilitates the communication and convey of information. As far as its functions of online storage and sharing are concerned, the concept of “cloud” is not new. However, it can allow me to synchronize the documents saved in my different devices. How good and important is it? Let me briefly describe a day during my teaching block as an example.

6:00 Am	Used my main PC at home to finally check the handout I’m going to use in my LOTE class.
7:00 Am	Saved everything I need today into my MacBook Air which is my handy computer to be taken around. [But it does not support many of the software and font I need to teach LOTE Chinese so I cannot use it as my main computer.]
8:30 AM	At school. Download students’ writing sent last midnight from the school computer (because the student teacher did not allow to access the wireless Internet there) and then save the files into my MacBook Air.
8:45 AM	Take the spare time before P1 to correct the student’s writing on my MacBook Air. [The reason why I could not keep using the school computer to do the correction was because the school computer in the common staff room did not support Chinese typing input.]
11:00AM-	Teaching LOTE with a prepared PPT showed by my MacBook Air. Engaged student in typing into the file and saved it as a new version.
14:00PM	Changed lesson plan for the next day after talking with my mentor with my MacBook Air.
17:00PM	Went back to uni. Used uni computer to download film clips to be used in the next lessons because my MacBook Air was nearly run out battery.
21:00PM	Work at my main PC at home. First of all, put all the updated and new built files back into it…..

It can be imagined that how much anxiety can be reduced since I start to use Dropbox.

In other words, having had Dropbox, I do not need USB anymore (as long as I can assess the Internet). Furthermore, I can also easily share the big-size files with colleagues or friends without extra travel to meet in order to share the work with usb and computer. More importantly, my computer file management can be much more clearly and simply than before because I don’t have to worry if I would happen to delete or forget to save the latest file.