Data Storage: Rio Rico High School Welcomes Back Students And Teachers With New Web-Based Storage Technology From School Web Lockers

The new year has arrived with new technology for one school in southern Arizona. Following winter break, Rio Rico High School, in Rio Rico, Ariz., welcomed back its students and teachers with a new online storage and collaboration tool that allows users to access school-related files from any computer, at anytime.

Rio Rico High is part of the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District #35, which covers approximately 265 square miles and operates five schools, with nearly 3,500 students. Until adopting the new web-based technology this month from San Diego-based School Web Lockers, students and teachers alike at the high school were experiencing file storage challenges. According to Steve Saint-Coeur, technology coordinator, they were able to store files on Rio Rico High's local server, but they couldn't access their documents outside of school, which placed limits on their productivity.

"Students and teachers had no way of finishing projects after the school day ended, since server access was blocked and the use of flash drives and disks is frowned upon," said Saint-Coeur. "Now, with the new web-based application from School Web Lockers, anytime-anywhere access to computer-based assignments is paving the way for increased productivity and greater success in the classroom."

To use the system, each registered user is first assigned a password-protected digital drop box. Teachers can then post homework documents into online folders for easy access by all students enrolled in their classes. Students download the assignment with a single click, complete it, and then turn it back into their teacher through an online homework drop box. All of these steps are completed without the use of paper at any point in time a factor that represents a significant, cost-saving benefit for Rio Rico High.

One key reason that Rio Rico High chose School Web Lockers is because the system is flexible in design, and allows administrators to restrict the use of certain types of files, if requested. For example, Rio Rico asked that MP3 files, which can take the focus off of schoolwork, be blocked from the system.

"That's the advantage of School Web Lockers," said Darryl Vidal, vice president of School Web Lockers. "We can customize our system to meet each school's unique requirements. At the same time, we give all schools unlimited storage so that they have no restrictions on the amount of data that they want to store and share."

According to Vidal, a lack of adequate data storage capacity at schools can cause frustration for students: it often forces them to finish tasks in one sitting or risk losing data. Or, they rely upon flash drives, disks, and other tools that can threaten the security of a schools' entire IT system. When you consider that large video files and other data-intensive projects are becoming commonplace in high schools, the School Web Lockers system becomes even more of an advantage to technology departments already burdened by storage limits.

For added security, all files uploaded to School Web Lockers servers are scanned for potential viruses using Sophos PLC's security software and default controls. In addition, school administrators can monitor and track all files uploaded to the system, which enables them to lock out individuals for misuse.

Another benefit of School Web Lockers is that the system is completely hosted within a secure co-location center, which means that Rio Rico not only reduces its investment in technology infrastructure, but it also eliminates costly software maintenance and administration fees.

A new release of the School Web Lockers application is now available with teacher blogging capabilities for enhanced collaboration. For more information on School Web Lockers, visit www.schoolweblockers.com, or call 1-866-499-6527.

About School Web Lockers
School Web Lockers is a leading provider of cost-effective, web-based tools for collaboration, distance learning, one-to-one computing and online storage. Formed in 2004 as a division of San Diego-based Networld Solutions, Inc., School Web Lockers today serves hundreds of K-12 schools and school districts across the U.S. with secure, easy-to-use computing solutions for students, teachers and administrators. For more information, visit www.schoolweblockers.com

SOURCE: School Web Lockers