April-Organization
Technology allows us to have vast amounts of information. Organizing and backing up your technology-based information is important!
The learning in this module is worth 1-3 Continuing Ed Credit Hours.
You can earn 1-2 hours in the Learn area below and an additional hour can be earned in the Do section by implementing something you've learned into your teaching and/or learning. Complete the Share what you've Learned section below by May15. Some of the links will take you to Atomic Learning. You'll need to log in using your school email. Your default password is/was learning. |
Learn-Build your Understanding-
1 hour of continuing ed credit are available in this area
Organizing your digital and electronic resources:
Organize.....Organize....Organize.... and then Back Up!
If you would cry, scream or go broke if you lost the files...have multiple copies
Ask for help/support on any of the ideas/directions below.
Organize.....Organize....Organize.... and then Back Up!
If you would cry, scream or go broke if you lost the files...have multiple copies
Ask for help/support on any of the ideas/directions below.
Pictures, Music and Movies
Pictures, Music and Movies are set up on district computers to save to the computer's hard drive. This is done to save network drive space and make back ups faster. Pictures, Music and Movies are not backed up for you. You'll find your Pictures, Music and Movies in your Finder--Under your Log in name on the left--and then in the Pictures, Music, and Movies folder. **For best results backing up photos from iPhoto-Choose Export and export the photos that you want to back up. (Teachers who are log in to multiple computers have experienced some problems with losing pictures. Ask for help to avoid this problem in the future--especially if you're receiving a new laptop this spring.) **Movies that you've made in iMovie most likely should be exported/shared and saved as a QuickTime or .mov file before you back them up. |
FlipCharts
If you use Flipcharts created for your ActivBoard, be sure that you know where they're saved to. By default, they're saved into My Flipcharts (see the picture on the right). **Taking some time to come up with a consistent naming scheme is helpful. Give flipcharts longer, meaningful names. It allows you to search for documents if you didn't organize them.
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Files saved to your ISD47 Network Account-
Documents (Word, Pages, Excel, PowerPoint etc) that you have created on your school desktop computer are saved in your Documents Folder or on your Desktop are saved to the "server" as you create them.
Documents (Word, Pages, Excel, PowerPoint etc) that you have created on your school laptop computer are saved to the laptop when first created. They are most likely set to sync automatically--you can check this by going under the "Two House" icon on top. However, likely in the future, you'll need to go under the "Two House" icon and choose sync now on a regular basis. (This is better for keeping our network speed moving and will result in fewer sync errors)
**Taking some time to come up with a consistent naming scheme is helpful. Give documents longer, meaningful names. It allows you to search for documents if you didn't organize them. (This article has searching tips for using the Finder search.)
Documents (Word, Pages, Excel, PowerPoint etc) that you have created on your school desktop computer are saved in your Documents Folder or on your Desktop are saved to the "server" as you create them.
Documents (Word, Pages, Excel, PowerPoint etc) that you have created on your school laptop computer are saved to the laptop when first created. They are most likely set to sync automatically--you can check this by going under the "Two House" icon on top. However, likely in the future, you'll need to go under the "Two House" icon and choose sync now on a regular basis. (This is better for keeping our network speed moving and will result in fewer sync errors)
**Taking some time to come up with a consistent naming scheme is helpful. Give documents longer, meaningful names. It allows you to search for documents if you didn't organize them. (This article has searching tips for using the Finder search.)
- TO DO NOW-Take some time and organize your documents.
- Trash documents that are no longer needed.
- Move documents into folders with meaningful titles.
- Make plans to back this data up to a USB drive, CD, DVD, DropBox or external Hard Drive before you leave school for the summer.
Dropbox-
If you have a Dropbox account, Dropbox is cloud storage. You can access items saved in your Dropbox from any device connected to the Internet. Documents you have saved in Dropbox are not saved to your computer. You may want to consider backing them up on a regular basis. (To an external hard drive, CD/DVD, etc) |
Google Drive
Documents that are in your ISD47 Google Drive live in the Cloud.
Taking some time to organize your Google Drive may help you be more efficient. You can make folders and move items into folders. (You can also nest folders inside of folders.) Atomic Learning has a series of Organizing your Google Drive here.
Again, giving files good names (you get 255 characters) can make searching for files so much more efficient. Searching directions are here.
You may want to back up items that are important that live only here.
**Documents saved in Google Drive are not backed up. You may want to consider backing them up on a regular basis. Directions for exporting a folder are here.
**Shared with me--This folder is best left alone to prevent removing something that someone else didn't give the right access to.
Documents that are in your ISD47 Google Drive live in the Cloud.
Taking some time to organize your Google Drive may help you be more efficient. You can make folders and move items into folders. (You can also nest folders inside of folders.) Atomic Learning has a series of Organizing your Google Drive here.
Again, giving files good names (you get 255 characters) can make searching for files so much more efficient. Searching directions are here.
You may want to back up items that are important that live only here.
**Documents saved in Google Drive are not backed up. You may want to consider backing them up on a regular basis. Directions for exporting a folder are here.
**Shared with me--This folder is best left alone to prevent removing something that someone else didn't give the right access to.
Downloads-
If your downloads are saving to the Downloads Folder take some time and organize them. Trash files that you don't need. Move files that you need into your Documents. (And be sure that those you need get backed up!.)
If your downloads are saving to the Downloads Folder take some time and organize them. Trash files that you don't need. Move files that you need into your Documents. (And be sure that those you need get backed up!.)
Bookmarks:
Each web browser manages its bookmarks/favorites in a different way.
If you have a large collection of bookmarks that are organized and valuable to you, it's important that you know how to have a back up copy of your bookmarks.
**You may also want to investigate Diigo-it is a bookmark organizing and sharing Web tool. Here are the Atomic Learning videos for exploring and starting to use Diigo.
Each web browser manages its bookmarks/favorites in a different way.
If you have a large collection of bookmarks that are organized and valuable to you, it's important that you know how to have a back up copy of your bookmarks.
- Safari-Under Bookmarks choose Edit Bookmarks to organize your bookmarks. Under File you can choose Export Bookmarks to make a back up copy. Be sure to back up a copy of this exported file. Here's the Atomic Learning video for backing up Safari bookmarks.
- Firefox-Under Bookmarks, choose Organize Bookmarks. This is where you can organize your bookmarks into folders and rename them. Here's a short video on organizing Firefox bookmarks. It's also where you can Export a copy of your bookmarks. Go under the Star at the top of the window and choose Export to HTML. Be sure to back up a copy of this exported file. Here's the Atomic Learning video for backing up Firefox bookmarks.
- Google Chrome-Under Bookmarks choose Bookmark Manager. This is where you can organize your bookmarks into folders and rename them. It's also where you can Export a copy of your bookmarks. Go under Organize at the top of the window and choose Export to HTML. Be sure to back up a copy of this exported file.
- Google chrome also offers the option of logging in to Chrome. Here are some reasons you might want to consider this. You'll be able to sign in with your ISD 47 user name and password and the settings (Bookmarks, extensions, etc) that you set will stay regardless of what computer you log in to. Here are directions for setting up Google Chrome and signing in. When you do this on multiple computers you'll see your settings on each one.
**You may also want to investigate Diigo-it is a bookmark organizing and sharing Web tool. Here are the Atomic Learning videos for exploring and starting to use Diigo.