Whether in school, college or university, most students need to store, access, collaborate on and share their work in a safe and secure place.
In the past, students would often use portable USB flash drives or external disks to store their files, however there was always a risk of this getting lost, stolen or becoming damaged, in which case the student would lose all of their hard work.
Not to mention, in order to share a file, someone would need to use this physical hard drive or flash drive, which isn’t ideal for students that work remotely or very secure, as this gives the user access to all of your files stored on there.
Alternatively, they would have to email a copy of their file each time it was updated, which can be time consuming and tedious. So what’s the best solution?
At DMS, we frequently discuss the advantages of using cloud storage solutions. In this guide, we’ll be explaining why the cloud is beneficial to students and some of the best solutions available right now.
What to Look for in a Cloud Storage Solution?
When looking for a suitable cloud storage solution for your schoolwork, there are a few things you should consider. For example, nowadays, file sharing and collaborating on schoolwork is an essential requirement for most students, so you’ll need to find a solution that offers these features.
Secondly, you should also consider how secure certain cloud solutions are, so you never have to worry about getting hacked and losing or having your hard work stolen.
Which Cloud Storage Solutions are Best for Students?
Google Drive
Key Features:
- Incredible collaboration features
- 15GB free storage
- 100GB for £1.99 per month
- Access to Docs, Slides, Sheets, Calendar, Task- all in one place
Google Drive is a cheap storage solution with a range of great features that make sharing and collaboration super easy.
You can share documents to certain individuals or anyone with the link, giving them editing access or view-only.
In fact, with free access to tools like Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, you can work on the same document at the same time, collaborating on a group presentation whether you’re in the same room or on opposite sides of the world from your peers.
You even get 15GB of free storage space, which is fantastic for anyone looking to avoid having to spend a lot.
Google Drive also extends third-party tools, like Slack, Asana and Trello to do a group project which can be really helpful when these tools don’t already offer collaboration features.
Microsoft OneDrive
Key Features:
- Office 365 integration
- Great collaboration features
- 5GB free storage
- £1.99 per month for 100GB
Like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive offers a free plan, however this is limited to 5GB of storage and doesn’t include access to the rest of Microsoft’s apps, such as Word or Powerpoint.
When purchased with a plan or through the student program, you can get access to all the best tools such as Teams, Skype, OneNote and Outlook. Within these apps, it’s also incredibly easy to share and collaborate.
You can work and edit on documents within OneDrive and share links to files to individual, or multiple, email addresses.
Dropbox
Key Features:
- Office 365 and Google integration
- Slack and Zoom integration
- Dropbox Paper tool
- 2GB storage free
- £11.99 for 2TB per month
Dropbox is often a student favourite thanks to the fantastic third-party tool integration, such as Office 365, Google, Zoom and Slack, which help to make student life easier by keeping all your most important tools in one place.
Dropbox Paper is a great feature to help make sharing and collaboration super easy. It’s as simple as choosing a file- or entire folder- and editing the permissions so you can choose exactly who has access.
Cloud Storage Solutions for Students with DMS
At DMS, we understand that schools and other educational institutions are constantly trying to keep up with the latest trends and technology to promote innovation, greater creativity and foster new skills within learning.
We also appreciate the pressure schools are under with such limited budgets due to stringent government cutbacks, making IT equipment funding more difficult than ever.
That’s why we offer tailored lease packages that meet all your school, college or university’s needs, helping you to spread the budget over a longer period of time whilst benefiting from the latest technology.
We take care of it all; IT consultancy, cloud services, audio/visual equipment, tablets & laptops, cyber security, software solutions and print management solutions.
For more information about how we can help to prepare your classroom for the future, get in touch with our team today.
