Emerged Technology

Online storage or cloud storage is on emerging technology that has great potential in educational settings. There are multiple mediums that provide online storage of documents. For this particular blog I will be discussing e-Backpack as my school is leaning toward using this service. e-Backpack is a service that provides a digital “locker” for assignments and document storage as well as an area for student collaboration. This product is secure and allows students 24/7 access to their “locker”. e-Backpack can be accessed at http://www.ebackpack.com

A challenge that I foresee with this technology does not fall on the technical side, rather challenges will be with personnel. Teachers will need to develop a trusting relationship with cloud storage. There is a group of teachers in my district that have consistently lagged behind in the implementation of technology changes. There is a fear among these teachers, with this technology in particular, that if they migrate coursework to an online storage unit it may disappear. This is an illogical fear as most teacher files are stored digitally on aging district issued laptops, which will someday experience drive failure. “Many computer users know that drive failure is more a matter of when, not if” (Thornburg, 2009). 

 Over the last several years public school budgets have shrunk considerably. One of the hardest hit areas in the budget has been the technology department in my school district. Online storage provides offsite storage of digital documents, which decreases the cost of maintenance to onsite servers. The decreased cost of onsite storage will help to offset the budgetary decreases that many technology departments face in the current economic climate. From a classroom efficiency stand point e-Backpack as well as other online storage products will provide students with 24/7 access to their classroom materials as if they had access to their physical lockers. Communication lines between students and teachers can remain open after the traditional class has ended with the use of e-Backpack. Teachers can broadcast assignments to entire classes and comment on submitted work for near instant feedback. 

 The pitfalls/challenges that I have identified earlier are not technical challenges. Rather the challenges/pitfalls are more personnel based. I believe that these challenges can be greatly mitigated by providing a robust professional development program on e-Backpack for all professional staff members. Professional development should address functionality and provide staff members with the opportunity to get acquainted with the service. Maybe more important, a successful professional development on e-Backpack will provide rationale for why the service will be beneficial to students and staff. 

 References

Thornburg, D.D. (2009) Current trends in educational technology. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.