Week 8 Thing 18

What a great tool! Often I will work on a document at school and need to continue at home. I am hesitant to trust the durability of a flash drive and find myself emailing the document as an attachment instead. Zoho eliminates that. I was also impressed with how easy it was to use. I used it to work on this year's library handbook. This is something that I give to teachers at the beginning of each year. I have included a link to that document in the title of this entry. Just click on "Week 8 Thing 18".

I immediately saw the benefit to students. This year we asked that all fourth and fifth grade students have a flash drive to use. This way they could carry information from the classroom computer to the lab to home. Great idea in theory....not as great in practice. Since each student purchased his/her own, there were many different brands. Some loaded easy. Some were a nightmare. Also, having a 10 or 11 year old having to be responsible for this item's care has already proved hazardous. They are kids and kids play hard. The chance for a damaged flash drive is imminent. We have also already experienced documents that are created on word processing programs not compatible with our school computers. Let's face it, not every home computer has been updated! The result is a frustrated student who worked very hard on a report that can't be opened.

Enter Zoho! A student could work at home. Save the document and open it from any online computer .... the one in the lab, the classroom, home, daycare, or wherever. This would be a lifesaver for those students who shuffle back and forth between divorced parents.

Yes, Zoho is a definite find. I will be demonstrating this at the next teacher inservice. Thanks!

By the way, here is the latest picture of Little Lightning, our school mascot who is travelling around the world with staff members. This time he is enjoying watching the gondolas load in Venice.