I've used a number of online storage and syncing devices. Given I work across various school systems it gives me the advantage of having all my relevant files in the one central location.
Skydrive is my preferred device at the moment because it is linked to my hotmail account which I use more frequently than other email addresses but also I keep documents in a more confidential setting as well.
However in more professional settings, I have been moving towards Google Drive as I have professional accounts that are hosted by Google. I'm more likely to share files with colleagues and students through Google.
I have hosted files online that I have used for teaching purposes. Yes as a casual teacher I have done it. Recently a teacher went on two weeks long service leave at one school. I took his classes plus other classes that required supervision. He decided to set the work for the entire period for his Year 10 and 11 Classes. I responded to this by creating a set of instructions including the work in pdf documents. I then hosted the instructions on Google Drive to save time writing the work on the board each lesson but also to allow for constant access to the work, whether in the classroom or school. Because I noticed the urls were so long, I created simple URL's with tinyurl.com to make it even easier to access. These were given to the students. Very quickly they downloaded their own copies straight to their devices whether it was their laptop, classroom desktop, or tablet. Yes I kept up a copy right in front in case on the smartboard.
On an Ipad, there are limitations to accessing Skydrive. You must have an internet connection. Google Drive however will allow you to download whatever files you want for offline viewing, yet remain in the app. Again an internet connection is required for effective
For this module, I've decided to give Dropbox a go and I am keen to explore it a little further.
Syncing an Ipad is fairly straightfoward. It can be a timely process as I update apps, and organise the layout to suit it to my needs.
As for annotating pdfs - I downloaded a free app known as IDocuments. An excellent feature of it is its ability to allow you to download documents straight from a file sharing website. As an amateur photographer, I can find some real use with it if I want to use my photos in any aspect of teaching especially if I want to present them as a pdf file and then be able to let students etc to annotate them. Its weakness is its ability to allow one to type text. That cannot be done just yet. Otherwise its your fingers that will have to do the talking.
I feel at this stage, such apps are still in "development" phase. I felt the options available are a bit limited at the moment.
