May 20, 2021

How do I preserve my work?

Google Drive

Since almost all Google Apps save automatically, there is not much you need to do to preserve your work. There is a large amount of storage available for Google Workspace for Education accounts, and a decent starting amount for the standard Google accounts.

Teachers and student accounts are normally suspended and not deleted when they leave a district. Because of this, materials that have been shared with other teachers or teammates will not be deleted, as long as they have been shared with you. Be sure to use the Add a shortcut option in Google Drive, to add that file to your account. If you know the user is leaving, it might even be worth making a copy for yourself so you will now become the owner of the file and be able to adjust and share as needed.

Make a Copy of Google Drive Files - https://youtu.be/19hiC62Ualw

YouTube

As mentioned above, YouTube accounts are not deleted if the account is only suspended by the administrator. The YouTube videos a teammate may have created and you are using are not going away. They will stay on YouTube. YouTube does have an activity clause, that content is removed after an account is found to be inactive, but I am still able to see content from users that have suspended accounts for over 2 years. If you are concerned about specific content, having the user go to YouTube, access the channel videos, and then download the video to a Google Shared Drive will maintain that access.

Download Videos in YouTube - https://youtu.be/-JTPKTzoVg4

Classroom

Google Classrooms should be archived at the end of a year or semester. This will freeze the content in that class and no additional changes will occur or additional monitoring will need to happen. Archived classes can be unarchived as needed to reuse them, but is not necessary to access the content within. Archive class content is still kept in Google Drive. Any templates, submissions, or assignments can be found in Google Drive. To access the content, access Google Drive, find the Classroom folder, then find the folder that is named based on the Google Classroom class. From there you will see folders for every assignment posted.

Archive and Access Google Classroom Folders - https://youtu.be/nEmm5BhxCiw

I am leaving a district and I would like to make a copy of several files or my entire Drive, how do I do that?

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Content produced while employed for a company, unless noted in your contract or other agreement, is the property of that company. So removing or laying claim to content may not be legally viable. That being said, most educators understand that the content produced can be reused and reformatted at your new location. Just work with your district or company to see what the specifics are.

Downloading or Transferring Specific Files or Folders

Many times it is found that we have a lot of useless information and files that you do not necessarily want to transfer. Below it lists ways to transfer everything, here is to do just ones that you really need.

Download

Use the Download as an option in the File menu to download a version of the content. This is dependent on the file that is being downloaded, but many times you will get a PDF and a Microsoft comparable option. This may break formatting, so it is worth spot-checking some of the more critical downloads.

Share and change ownership

To maintain the Google formatting, sharing the file with your new company account or a personal Google account can be an option as well. Once your folders or files are shared, you can make the new account the owner. It is best to do this on copies of files, as this will remove the item from other users in your previous job. Sometimes, companies will not allow changing ownership. If that is the case, share the item. Go into the new account and then make a copy of the file. This works really well for folders of items. As Make a copy is not an option for multiple files at once this can be tedious. There are some Add-Ons that say this can be done, but these have not been fully tested.

Google Takeout

Google Takeout is the option you would need to use if you would like an archived copy of your Google Drive, Gmail, and other products. A zipped file is produced of the options you choose. This can be a good way to get all your files at once, put it on a flash drive and store them to be accessed later. In Google Drive, your content will be converted to the comparable Microsoft product, ie. Docs to Word, Slides to PowerPoint, Sheets to Excel. Other products will vary. Details on Google Takeout can be found here https://sites.google.com/elginisd.net/digitallearning/resources/google/google-takeout-and-transfer#h.76yiporrvuqk

Google Transfer

Use Google Transfer when you have a new email account that you would like to move your Google files to. This maintains the Google formatting, Google Docs stay as Google Docs, and is a simple way to just move the ownership. This will only transfer the items that you own and are allowed by your company. If allowed, you can transfer to a new Google Workspace account or a personal Google account. This will create a folder in your Google Drive that is labeled the previous user’s email. From there you can reorganize and move as needed. For morning on completing this look here https://sites.google.com/elginisd.net/digitallearning/resources/google/google-takeout-and-transfer#h.sqav782fymn2

The Value of Work

Teachers have worked extremely hard during 2020 and 2021 school years. The products made have greatly improved and they have learned a lot. A lot of the content is worth reusing and should be. Even if not going fully virtual or some form of blended, this content can be used for items like remediation, station activities, or flipped lessons. Accessing the content is important, and I hope these points help clarify how that can be accomplished.

Engaging Video Lessons