The Best and Worst of School Technology

As school starts to get busy, I'm struggling to get posts online in time. I'm trying my hardest! And if anyone has any ideas for posts, please let me know!! I'd love to hear your suggestions!! Anyways..... Some high schools, mine included, tend to go overboard with technology. Some of their ideas are train wrecks, while others are very useful. Here are my reviews of stuff I used in high school:

The Best:

• Schoology: Okay, so this one is a toss-up. For high school, I loved it. But I'm not so sure it'll really be good in college. All of my classes could be easily accessed on my computer or on my phone, with an app that actually kinda works right. Occasionally, there were goofs, but as a general rule, this site was pretty cool. Hey that rhymed.
• Google Drive: I will literally swear by Google Drive. For starters, the interface is so simple, so you really don't have to learn anything new. Plus, you have plenty of free storage, and you can always purchase more if you really use that much (or just make another free account). Even better, you can access your files from anywhere with internet, and I'm pretty sure you can download your files for offline use as well (correct me if I'm wrong). 
• Canvas: I actually only used this for one class, so I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet. But so far, so good. It's pretty simple, and honestly it's very similar to Schoology, but more geared towards college students. 
• Air Printers: So now I can print from my phone? Maybe this should go on the worst list for feeding my procrastination addiction. I have started something awful, but wonderful: download google drive app, do work during class change, print from phone. Who said homework is meant for home? Due tomorrow? Do tomorrow (or the next day or next week or just never).

The Worst:

• Citrix: Throughout middle school, I thought the idea of being able to get to your school files at home was AWESOME or "awsum!!!!! (:" in middle school terms... However, after going through the pains of downloading twenty different virus-inducing softwares (is that a word?) and STILL not being able to get to my dadgum English project, I'm so done. Even at school, it took a good 10 minutes to load all my files, and half of them mysteriously disappeared. No thank you.
• Wyse Computers: They were the absolute coolest things in 2009 but yeaaaahhh no. If you find one that keeps all of its keys for a whole week, steal it, it's rare. 
• Sixteen Thousand Different Types of Computers: Why do we need to learn to use all these types of laptops that are going to fall apart and be replaced with something new in a week? Sorry if I'm partial to, I dunno, quality products.
• iPod Touch Carts: No, I'm not kidding. This is a real thing. Teachers at my school could check out a cart of 25 iPod touches for their class to use. Did they really think we're looking at an ACT Prep app when the selfie option is still there??? The iPad carts weren't so bad, but iPod Touches???
• Prometheus Smart Boards: If you can get these things to work, I guess they're actually kinda cool. But considering only the dorkiest, most underestimated genius teacher (who is also 6'8 and very young- yes I was totally crushing on him) was able to get it working, I'd say it's probably useless for the coach "teachers" and most public school teachers as well.

I guess that's it for this episode of "the greatest and worst school technology"!! More to come later!

xoxo, a.