New Sharing Technology

I have recently been introduced to a new technology by a collegue and friend.  Dropbox (http://www.dropbox.com/) allows you to access any files from your home computer on any other computer as long as you have an internet connection.  You can also share folders with friends around the world.  This works similar to google but you do not have to have a goole account, you can access it with any email account.  I am so excited to be able to share projects and files with peers without having to worry about attachign to emails, bringing USB's everywhere and the always nerve racking forgetfulness of leaving assignments at home.  Now if this were to happen I could just pull it up on a computer at school and print, no harm no foul. 

To sign up you go to http://www.dropbox.com/ and set up an account.  All you need is an email address.  The download doesn't take very long.  Once it is installed you will have an icon on your desktop.  You can copy/move any file you liek from your computer and place in this folder, giving you access to it through the web.  You can take a tour of dropbox to figure otu your way around the site and its tools. although, I didn't find this necessary and caught on very quickly (which says something because I generally don't).  There are tabs toorganize your folders, share with other people (must also have dropbox), see when things have been modified, etc.

I am looking forward to collaborating using this technology when getting out into placements.  My peers and I can share lesson plans and resources without the hassel we used to face.  I also am excited to know when my computer infamously crashes in the middle of a major project I have the piece of mind to know that my files are safe.  I would suggest this to anybody who has friends who they want to share materials with, or just want a place to back up thier files.  As as educator I am excited to know that my materials are handy and can be shared with other faculty, students, parents, etc.