October 23, 2014

Your students may be losing their printers, but they aren't losing their ability to show you what they know. Whether they've built a project, taken a test, completed a lab write up, or filled out a worksheet, you both can accomplish your tasks without printing. That being said, remember that you can print the items you need. Teachers and staff still have the ability to print free of charge. The restriction only affects student machines.

• Students can store everything they do for your class in this folder, and you have full transparency into their work.
  
• You may not want to make an assignment in Classroom or Edmodo for everything the students create for you. The folder gives you both a housing option for that work without making formal due dates.
• If students create the file within the folder, or move it into the folder as soon as they begin, you can see work while it is being created and before it is turned in.
• You can comment on the work at any time. In Classroom, you have to wait for work to be submitted, and they have to wait for you to return it to them. In the shared folder, you can collaborate in real time.

• Students are doing research and you want to see their sources and notes.
  
• Students are writing papers or essays over a period of time, and you'd like to see the work or make comments before it is turned in to you.
• Students create files in preparation for a larger project, and you'd like access to those background files.
• Students are working on a shared file and you'd like to see their collaboration process.

• While kids may take to new technology naturally, the learning curve for parents and other educators can be steep.
• Even in communities where the rollout has gone relatively well, there's still plenty of friction.
• Like just about everything else in education, computers in the classroom work only when used correctly.
• The best teachers, meanwhile, are able to integrate the computers into an active lesson, rather than plugging them in for six hours a day.