[Pibe-division] DropBox Update

Wed Nov 14 07:02:50 UTC 2012

Hi All,

This is an update on a prior DropBox inquiry post.

Like Eric G, I love DropBox, but BrailleNote access is very different than
laptop/i-device access.

Our son, Vejas, now a high school sophomore, started using DropBox this
year, primarily for Spanish class.

The following is a blend of our combined experiences.

The 4 most important points are that:

1) First your student needs to create a DropBox account & load the folder
on their laptop or personal computer. For Spanish Vejas has access to 2
subfolders, 1 to his Spanish class’s general DropBox folder & to a separate
personal folder his Spanish teacher set up for him. The website the class
uses for Spanish practice is only marginally accessible, so the teacher
will put modified assignments in Vejas’s personal folder.

2) Secondly, for Vejas to be able to “see” the 2 Spanish folders, the
teacher had to first created them on his computer, then send Vejas
a DropBox folder invite – a link – important point - the link can’t be
accessed on used via the BrailleNote, rather he had to activate it on his
laptop from which he was prompted to download each subfolder into his main
laptop DropBox folder. Once he did that, he could then see the Spanish
Folders & their content on his BrailleNote (& on his iPhone).

3) Third, he has found that sometimes it is hard to log in right from www.*
dropbox*.com <http://www.dropbox.com/>, and he says you need to click on a
DropBox link which then prompts you to log in.

4) Lastly, he has found that he files that work best with DropBox are
 “.doc” (NOT “.docx”) and  “.txt” files; all you have to do is click on
them to read them.  For some quirky reason, even with the latest version of
Keysoft, PDF's and brf's do not work via DropBox.

The end result is that now during class, or at home he can use the Apex’s
wireless to access either DropBox folder. At this point, it is a one-way
street however – you can download, but not upload via a BrailleNote (I
believe the same is true of i-devices at this time – if that is not the
case please let me know!)

An additional consideration: Vejas just got an iPhone (it’s a lot more
portable than an iPad, & he can't see anything, so he doesn’t benefit from
the extra real estate of an iPad). I set DropBox up on his phone. He knows
how to access the iPhone with Bluetooth using his Apex as a braille
terminal. He hasn’t actually used it with DropBox yet, but I have played
around with it. You can open a text doc from DropBox on the iPhone & then
export it & open it in Pages, then edit in Pages, then once you are done
with it you can email it to yourself or the teacher. There are 3 email
options: Pages, WORD, or PDF. If your student emails the assignment to the
teacher, it obviously best to do in the format they prefer. If the student
is emailing to his/herself to with the desire to then be able to access on
the BrailleNote, he/she should email the file as a PDF because the Apex can
read that, whereas it can not read a Pages or WORD document (in the latter
case it is a “.doc”, but for some strange reason, the Apex cant read it).
If the student needs to be able to manipulate the info on the PDF file they
can open it & insert the text into a Keyword file & he/she should be able
to take it from there.

That’s about summarizes what I can share about this at this point.

If anyone else has additional insights or tips, please share.

Best wishes,

EricV

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 6:55 PM, Eric Guillory <ericguillory at aol.com> wrote:

> i love Dropbox, but it is definitely easier to use as an installed
> application, at least in the Windows environment, than it is using JAWS and
> going to the website itself. The iPhone app is also marvelous, and I have
> had no difficulties with it. Have never tried with a BrailleNote, but
> imagine that there may be some challenges with it if it involves Visiting
> dropbox.com. Please keep us posted on this ongoing issue. I know others
> will benefit from your research and findings.
>
> Eric G
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 24, 2012, at 8:04 PM, Marianne Denning <marianne at denningweb.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I have a student who used her brown note and dropbox during her junior
> and senior years of high school.
> >
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > On Sep 24, 2012, at 8:37 PM, DrV <pumpkinracer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> My son's high school is using DropBox for some of his classes.
> >> Has anyone had success using DropBox with a BrailleNote?
> >> EricV
> >> _______________________________________________
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