From eTextbooks to online quizzes to virtual classrooms, education is becoming increasingly digital these days. Even elementary-aged students use technology in their everyday lives — 77% of 3rd-5th graders say that they use the internet to complete their homework, and many primary schools feature Smart Boards, iPads, laptops, and desktops in the curriculum.
As we rely more and more on technology in educational applications, issues naturally arise, including problems with data storage. Rather than handing in hard copies of papers, students often submit their homework and essays online, which can crowd up a teacher’s inbox, hard drive, or school server, leading to slower machines and networks.
Many educators are turning to cloud storage to remedy this problem. In fact, cloud storage has countless educational applications, making it an ideal addition to any classroom.
Why should cloud storage have a place in your classroom?
Easy Remote Access
Cloud storage allows users easy remote access wherever they have an internet connection. This means no matter your students’ geographical location, they will be able to get the files you place in your centralized cloud storage, or submit assignments to you on the cloud storage. In this way, cloud storage is perfect for a distance-learning course.
Cloud storage is also useful in a face-to-face class. Even if you verbally give assignment instructions in class, absent students can access the assignment sheet on the cloud storage. Or you can use cloud storage to post recordings of your lectures, PowerPoint presentations, or class notes for students to review before tests.
As a teacher, you’ll also need access to your documents from home. Rather than setting up a remote desktop or shuffling your laptop back and forth, you can get instant access to your classroom files with cloud storage. This will allow you to grade assignments, edit lesson plans, and more, wherever you are.
Collaborate with Cloud Storage
With cloud storage, you can easily share documents with multiple users — perfect for peer collaboration as well as student-teacher interactions.
When assigning group work, you can create folders for each group on your cloud storage to grant specific students access to each others’ work. From there, you can have your students collaborate by writing group papers, researching together, editing a peer’s work, and more, all on cloud storage. If the course is online, the cloud storage allows your students to collaborate no matter their geographical distance from one another; if it’s in person, cloud storage will let students work together even if their busy schedules don’t match up.
By creating separate folders for each student that only they and you can access, you can also collaborate with your students on cloud storage. Provide feedback directly on their submitted assignments or upload a grade sheet explaining their scores — either way, your students can get your feedback quickly with cloud storage.
Save Space
Cloud storage will save space in your inbox (no more emailed assignment sheets or homework submissions!), on your computer (no need to save student work on your hard drive), on your desk (no stacks of student papers), and in your filing cabinet (no need to archive hard copies of student work since you can easily organize them into folders on cloud storage).
Eliminate Paper Waste
Another use for cloud storage in education? It eliminates paper waste. Instead of printing out their 10 page research papers, your students can submit them on the cloud storage, saving trees and keeping your desk clear. And you won’t exhaust your print quota with assignments.
Classroom Organization
Both you and your students will be more organized with cloud storage, since you won’t have to keep track of all of their printed assignments and they won’t have to hoard every paper. You’ll all be able to archive graded documents, class notes, and files on the cloud storage. So when it comes time for students to take a test or revise a paper, they’ll use cloud storage to easily review your notes, lectures, or feedback — and you can keep student records on cloud storage for years, making it easier to write a recommendation, report grades, or prep for a conference with a parent or student.
Cloud Storage Security
Cloud storage is more secure than storing files on a hard drive or even in hard copy. Whereas files on a hard drive could get deleted by a virus or rendered inaccessible due to physical hard drive damage, and hard copies can be lost, ripped, or water damaged, files saved on cloud storage cannot. Cloud storage can be password-protected to prevent hacking and theft, making it perfect for storing private student records.
Secure Your Classroom Cloud Storage with DataComm
Of course, there are some security issues related to cloud storage, and the full protection of your classroom cloud storage is only guaranteed if you work with a reliable cloud storage provider like DataComm. We can help monitor the security of your cloud storage so that all of your educational files are safe.
To learn more about cloud storage and our monitoring services, call DataComm today at (262) 207-1100.
