And Pooh had his Little Black Rain Cloud

Clouds. Clouds are everywhere. Some clouds bring rain, others create shade on an extra sunny day. Some clouds even provide digital storage solutions. That’s right folks, clouds have gone digital. Microsoft has Skydrive. Apple has iCloud. There is even the Independent cloud called DropBox. And Google has Google Drive. Cloud based storage has a lot of us stumped. It seems mystical: “cloud storage”. How does one access the cloud? How do I store my stuff in the cloud? or “on the cloud”?

 Cloud storage is simply saving data to an off-site storage location that is maintained by a third party. Instead of storing information to your computer’s hard drive (MY DOCUMENTS) or other local storage device (disks, cds, jump drives or external hard drives) you save it to a remote location. The Internet provides the connection between your computer and the remote location.

 

Cloud storage has several advantages over traditional data storage. For example, if you store your data on a cloud storage system, you’ll be able to access that data from any location that has Internet access. That’s right, no more carrying around a bag full of jump drives or a cd organizer full of cd’s with sharpie marker scribbled titles. You are also freed from the impossible task of finding the exact same computer you used when you created the “data” and save it to the My Documents as you always have. And as an additional bonus, the right cloud storage system will even allow you to share your data with other people. So now that individual project becomes a collaborative effort. (I hope you read that paragraph in your best-cable-television-commercial-announcer-voice because that is the voice I used to write it.)

 

So, which cloud storage option is the best? Well, I have used all three of the aforementioned. All three offer a free version and a paid version. Dropbox is easy to use and if you share files with people who do not already have a Dropbox account you get free space. Microsoft SkyDrive I have used as well but have much less experience with. My school district is going with Google Drive, thus the focus of 31 Days of Google. Google Drive is one of the many applications offered by the Google branding. It allows users to create one account to access all applications and the Google Drive application can be downloaded and installed to any mobile device or PC to allow access to all data 24/7. And, here is the silver lining to this whole cloud thing – the data automatically syncs for each device on which Google Drive is installed.

Tune in tomorrow for more Google Goodness. J

Google 101

In the beginning there was Google, the search engine. (Well, not the VERY beginning.) Google was a search engine that wanted to do a more precise job of searching the internet. Google started out as a PhD. research project for two students at Stanford University.

It is hard to believe that Google is only 15 years old. Happy Belated Birthday Google!! View the timeline here http://www.google.com/about/company/timeline/ .

Doodles are the fun surprises that one will find when arriving at the Google page. Doodles represent moments in history, celebrations of birthdays, anniversaries. They even serve as announcements of global activities. See all of the Google Doodles here http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2013/All%20doodles

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. They focus on giving the Google user the best experience possible. Google may have gotten its start as a school project and moved on to a garage start-up company in the dotcom boom, but it is now a worldwide corporation with numerous products, brands and devices. Somewhere between 2002 and 2006, Google actually became a verb. People started referring to locating information as “googling”. In fact I too am guilty of saying “I don’t know what that is. Let me Google it.” In fact, I have a reoccurring conversation with a friend every time “Brown Eyed Girl” plays. The conversation always ends with me pulling out my phone, opening Google and searching “Brown Eyed Girl” and then showing him that the artist is not Don McLean as he emphatically claims but rather Van Morrison.

As a teacher I feel that it is important to introduce a topic…thus this post. For the next 30 days we will focus on Google for Educators, not that’s not another page on the Google list, but rather how you as an educator can use the numerous Google Applications in your classroom with your students. (You may even figure out how you can use these applications to build your Personal Learning Network.)

--- IT Girl