Databus Issue: 2005 2 04/12/2005
Web-Based Student Lockers:
Darryl Vidal and Andrew Prestage Education Technology Consultant, Management AnalysMobility Without the PDA’s and Laptops
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The Problem Despite advances in the availability and sophistication of technology in education, students and teachers still struggle with the basic ability to store, access and share files in a secure and easy manner. Complex Web pages with dazzling graphics are abundant, yet the seemingly simple task of storing a file on a server to be accessed later remains a frustrating challenge!
To address this problem, many school sites throughout California have established file servers with shared drive space. However, server and user administration for hundreds or thousands of student users creates a full time nightmare for a system administrator. In addition, these storage servers typically can’t be accessed from home because of district firewalls. Other districts have purchased and issued expensive laptop computers to students to foster “mobile instruction.” Technology support and the high cost of equipment replacement makes this a troublesome solution at best.
The ubiquity of Internet connections makes leveraging the Web a good vehicle for file sharing. However, very few users are going to attempt to master the complexities of FTP. Instead, a user-friendly interface is needed to simplify the process of file transfer, storage, and sharing, The ideal solution would be to leverage Web technology to increase mobility and promote academic performance while fostering interest among instructional staff. The question is, “How?” One answer that many school districts have adopted is a product called, “Web Lockrz.”
The Riverside USD Experience Riverside Unified School District, located in Southern California, adopted Web Lockrz in its earliest form. At the time, students and teachers were wrestling with the following issues: 1. How to make student files that were stored on servers at school accessible from home; 2. How to efficiently manage user accounts and permissions on these servers, and; 3. How to set up shared folders for collaboration without compromising security.
Riverside began piloting Web Lockrz in 2003 by adding 20 teachers in their district instructional program, “iTree.” The selected teachers each received two hours of training and immediately began using the system. After testing the system themselves for a couple of weeks, the teachers trained their students. The students began by simply storing personal homework files and teachers began using the shared class directories and class calendars to assign homework. The students jumped on the message boards immediately and began accessing their web locker from many locations including home, friend’s homes, the library, computer labs and in class. By the end of the school year, the system was being used by as many as 4,000 users.
For the district’s IT department, administrative overhead was a major consideration. Automatic creation of user accounts and shared directories was the main focus of Riverside’s Assistant Superintendent of Technology Services, Jesse Stayton. Today, the district has more than 37,000 users on the system and Jesse believes that the Web Lockrz solution provides all that file storage and collaboration capability without the administrative burden.
Managing User and Data Security
The Web Lockrz system creates a secure user login for each student with 100Mb of personal data storage, while teachers each get a gigabyte of storage space. The system then creates a shared directory for each class, and sets permissions to restrict student access to the shared folders. Students can download assignments given by the teacher and upload completed homework to the shared directory, without the risk of the file being stolen or copied. Also, the Web Lockrz system manages filenames using a proprietary file system so that the teacher can receive multiple files with the same name from various students, without getting them mixed up, and without having to teach every student how to embed their name or use some other technique to ensure that filenames are unique.
Web Lockrz’ message boards allow students and teachers to communicate with each other on a district-controlled and fully auditable platform. Each users’ full name and the time is stamped on each message; there are no “handles” or spoof names. Web Lockrz’ calendars provide each user with a personal calendar, while teachers can post events on their students’ calendars.
Grading and Assessment
In the past, many teachers have allowed students to turn in homework on diskette or via e-mail. Some teachers have gone even further by creating Web sites to allow students to turn in homework. But, these solutions don’t truly automate the process of grading and assessment because they still require the teacher to print the homework – usually on their own printer – to assign the grade and provide feedback to the student. This exercise is not efficient and does not make the teacher’s job any easier! The private Assessment message feature of Web Lockrz not only allows teachers to assign grades without printing the homework, but also generates a private message thread between teacher and student that is attached to the homework file.
The San Diego USD Experience
Barbara Forster, the library media teacher at Dana Middle School in the San Diego Unified School District began piloting Web Lockrz in November 2004. Forster was challenged with managing student files on the library computers. Students were allowed to save to the local hard drives, but this provided no protection from accidental erasure by other students and invariably the computer on which a student’s work was located would be in use by another student. Floppy disks provided another alternative for retaining completed work but after many bent floppy disks and lost work, this too was deemed unacceptable. With the approval of the school board, she began training students on Web Lockrz and, within a few weeks, almost half of the school’s 1,000 students were using Web Lockrz directories and message boards. Per Forster: “Web Lockrz has solved the problem of homework and data storage in a way that allows students to access their work from any Internet-connected computer.”
The Murrieta Valley HSD Experience
Murrieta Valley also began training selected teachers to use Web Lockrz. During the recent “District Technology Night,” an English Language Development (ELD) class won an award for “Best Use of Technology.”
“I wanted my students to conduct research on the Internet, and then incorporate their research into PowerPoint presentations,” says said Rebecca Stanton, ELD teacher at Murrieta Valley High School. “My ELD 1 and 2 classes were each asked to do research a career they might be interested in pursuing. The students saved their work into Web Lockrz and were able to continue working at home or in the library after school as needed. We also used the message board on Web Lockrz for journal assignments.”
Web Lockrz is an ASP service available to public and private schools. More information can be found online at www. weblockrz.com.
