One of my requests at the beginning of the school year is that my freshmen purchase a portable memory device, otherwise known as thumb drives, flash drives, or jump drives. If watching the weekly ads carefully enough, one can usually find a decent-size jump drive (512 MB - 1 GB) for under $15.00. This will most likely last a student through high school and college.
Jump drives, much more durable than floppy disks, can withstand being put in a purse or backpack or being dropped. The information is protected through a USB plug -- unlike the slideable, thin metal piece covering the sensitive data on a floppy disk. Most computers do not even have a floppy drive anymore. CDs, also, are breakable and small scratches prevent users from accessing the important data. CDs -- most of the time anyway -- are not rewriteable -- which means once the information is saved on the CD, one cannot edit it. All modern computers have USB ports, usually located in convenient places, like the front of the tower, for easy plug-in access. Best of all, unless using a computer with an operating system of Windows 98 or older, the device is plug-n-play -- or ready to use without downloading special software.
Jump drives hold quite a bit of information in comparison to floppy disks or other small media. A floppy disk holds 1.44 MB of information; one of the smallest jump drives available is 256 MB, holding nearly 250 times the amount of information from one floppy disk. This means more pictures, more developed PowerPoint presentations (usually one cannot save more than one presentation on a floppy disk), music, and more documents. On my 2GB jump drive, I have all files from my undergraduate classes (4.5 years), all files from my graduate classes (3.5 years), and every unit plan I've developed, including pictures, sound clips, presentations, handouts, etc. The drive still has room for more.
What about losing the drive? I created a READ ME file in NotePad and have my contact information in case such a tragedy would happen. I also keep the jump drive on a lanyard, so an empty lanyard means no jump drive, and I go looking for it. The best advice? Open what's needed and unplug the drive immediately when finished and put it away.
SanDisk is my preferred brand of jump drives, although most any will work fine. The problem with SanDisk is that now they equip all jump drives of sufficient size with the U3 technology, turning ordinary plug-n-play drives into SmartDrives. I'm not the most technologically savvy person, but my understanding of the U3 is that it splits an ordinary drive in two -- the document folder and something which the computer recognizes as a CD drive. It acts as if it has its own operating system and makes accessing information a million times more complicated if a person just wants a storage system for your files. Before saving any information on my SanDisk jump drive, I remove the U3 technology. Here is the link: http://www.u3.com/uninstall/ .
Ease of access of information depends upon the user. Within my jump drive, I created folders and subfolders for my data. I try to create the same kinds of folders -- especially for lesson plans -- for parallel organization. For instance, with each unit plan, I create several folders, including clip art; tests & quizzes; websites; vocabulary; handouts, study guides, & worksheets; activities & projects; calendar & lesson plans; and games. With each main folder containing the same sub-folders, I do not have to guess where I may have placed a file.
Students may want to organize their drives by subject, creating 7-8 main folders: English, history, science, math, physical education and health, instrumental and vocal music, art, career and tech, business, etc. Within those folders, they may want to create a folder for each class (English 9, English 10, English 11, etc.) and then within those folders, parallel folders (essays, presentations, daily work, etc.). This will make their drives organized and easy to find. Consider naming files in similar ways as well. For each file associated with To Kill a Mockingbird, I include the prefix TKM at the beginning of each file name, in case it would accidentally get saved in the wrong folder. For instance, file names in the tests and quizzes folder might look something like this:
- TKM quiz chapters 1-4
- TKM quiz chapters 1-4 answer key
- TKM quiz chapters 5-8
- TKM quiz chapters 5-8 answer key
- TKM test, form A
- TKM test, form A answer key
- TKM test, form B
- TKM test, form B answer key
By keeping names parallel, the user will avoid recreating documents and save time by easily finding information in neatly organized folders.
For more information, visit the "Organize and simplify access to My Documents" from the Microsoft website: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012191771033.aspx .
