Skip to main content

Share files with you SME using Dropbox

Image
By

Okay, this post really will be short and sweet. This is a tip that I learned very recently while collaborating with a SME. Like many or (hopefully) all of you have already done, this SME signed up for an account with dropbox. She downloaded the program onto her work computer and promptly began loading up important documents for the class we are working on together into one of her folders. Then she emailed me and gave me her username and password so that I could access the files.

I promptly emailed her back and told her that it would probably be best if she never disseminated that information to anyone. Instead I gave her instructions on how she can simply "share" her folder with me so that I could have access. It is incredibly easy to share dropbox folders, and it is much more preferable than emailing back and forth all the time. This also ensures that as long as she makes changes to the file that is in the dropbox folder, then I will have access to the latest documents so that she doesn't have to email them to me, forcing me to adopt some elaborate scheme to sort through all the revised versions. So in essence it is the same principle as google docs. Anyway here is how to tackle the process of sharing dropbox folders:


The first step is to open up your dropbox folder. Right click on the file that you want to share, and click: dropbox >> share this folder...

 

Click that will bring up a dropbox page in your web browser. You will be able to specify your SME's email address and write a message (optional). On your end, it is as simple as that. On the other end, the SME will get an email that reads:

Sean wants to share some files with you using Dropbox. Message from Sean:

"Hi SME, can you access this dropbox folder for your course. Please put any documentation related to your course development in there. You also have access to some of the useful course development documentation, such as bloom's taxonomy and the course map template."

View "whatever the folder is called"

Enjoy!
- The Dropbox Team

When the SME clicks on that link (go ahead, click the link up there), s/he will log onto the online dropbox and will have access to all the files. This will be a browser view, and both parties now will be able to upload, download, and view the shared documents. Better yet, if you open your own dropbox (I always access this by double clicking the little icon in the system tray), then the folder will appear among your other dropbox folders. In fact, this folder will now appear on both ends and will sync just as any other folder does. That is, when you upload a file, the SME will see it. If s/he uploads, changes, or deletes a file, then it will affect your folder.

Anyway, I think this is a great way to collaborate with our people without clutter from constantly emailing back and forth, and without losing people with the google docs approach (which is just so easy, but it's as if people intentionally try their hardest not to understand it).

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Labbett button set

By
Hi again, So the first thing that I am sharing here is a button set that Mark uses in his courses. These buttons are currently found on the shared drive, but additionally I uploaded them onto a photo sharing site (picasa). I created a document with the image code and will walk you through inserting the buttons/icons into the course and week headers. The google doc with the code is found on the shared drive: Z:\Icons & Logos\buttons\img style.doc. Click on the images below to enlarge them Here is the main screen. What we would like to do is put an icon by Week 1. Make sure you are in the Author window and in the HTML editor. Find the icon that you would like to include and copy the code associated with it (underneath the icon) Paste the code into the html where you would like the icon. Normally this will be in the header. Put the img code between the brackets (it could also be depending on the header style). If done right, The image will appear beside the header. ...
3 comments
Read more

basic html tables

By
Hey all, I figure that I would expose you guys to the basics of creating tables in html. There are many ways to do this. The wysiwyg way of constructing a table would be to use the built-in eCollege table wizard, or to build a table in in MS Office or Dreamweaver. These methods offer limited customization, as is the nature of visual editors. In order to really customize every aspect of the table, you must have a working knowledge of the html used to create the table. The basic elements of a table are as follows: row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2 row 2, cell 1 row 2, cell 2 This is what the code for a basic table with a border looks like. And this is what that table would look like: row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2 row 2, cell 1 row 2, cell 2 The elements include table rows <tr> and table definitions <td> which are the individual cells. { As an aside, if you ever want to include an empty cell in a table, make sure you put the code: &nbsp;. That...
2 comments
Read more

Storytelling from SMEs

By
So I'm sure you've seen the recent emails about the upcoming CAE "Storytelling in Psychology" event given by Dr. Sandy Siegel. Sandy is one of our best SMEs (she’s in the MACC program) and she is a force in the classroom because of her storytelling skills. I think instructors’ personal/professional stories and vignettes have a lot of power to give a course relevance and heart, especially in a blended or online format with limited or no F2F interaction, and so I’ve been thinking about getting Sandy to audiorecord some brief stories for the courses she SMEs, either as an introductory “tone-setter” or as a springboard for a ‘what would you do?’-type assignment. Thing is, SMEs are rarely the sole instructors on their courses, and I’m thinking that whoever the other section instructors are may not want someone else’s voice (or video) built in, as for that term it is “their” course, not the SME’s. (In a past corporate job of mine we created situation-specific ‘Expert Vi...
1 comment
Read more