DigiKeepers: Trapper Keepers...Gone Digital

Trapper Keepers. They answered the prayers of the ‘80s most disorganized students. Style. Organization. Velcro. Trapper Keepers had it all. Let’s be honest, there was a time not so long ago when you couldn’t walk down a school hallway without seeing these colorful three-ring binders and their super-stylish plastic flaps. Add to that the personal stylings of a pegasus, a Lamborghini, or a Care Bear. It was enough to make a kid stand up and shout, “Yea, see that Care Bear sliding down that rainbow? Yea, that’s my stuff.”

Never before was a school supply considered this cool.

Now a lot can be said about the advances of modern technology. Even more about the 1:1 initiative that’s taking most schools by storm. You can’t argue the benefits of technology in the classroom. You just can’t. And while we love (with devotion) all that Google Classroom has to offer, searching through Google Drive just leaves us wanting more. Color-coded folders? Sure, that’s a help… but still everything seems so… same. It’s hard to harness the excitement and hype of 1980’s school supplies when there is no individuality. No personality. No fun.

When we think about student achievement in the classroom, and compare it to what the digital generation students “get” to the students of years past, again, it leaves us wanting more. The content is the same. The kids’ desire to achieve, also the same. The things is, it’s become difficult for kids to stay organized, to easily locate important notes and documents. Here’s why: Google Classroom has allowed the teacher the control to organize their drives for them, to literally label every document for them, to push it into their drive for them. And that’s the problem: for them. They have little ownership. And when you don’t create it, everything just looks, well, the same.

Now, imagine the ability to take all that modern technology (eh-hem, Google) has to offer, but add to it individuality, ownership, and personality. Imagine taking the best of the Trapper Keeper and bringing it into the 21st Century. Imagine adding fun.

Enter the DigiKeeper.

Using the power of Google Sites, DigiKeeper takes what made the Trapper Keeper great and...get this...brings the features into the digital world. The best part(s)?

Tabs: Remember the colorful folders of yesteryear? The DigiKeeper brings the organization of these colorful folders into the digital age using tabs. And the best part? You can add as many (or as few) as you need.

Organization Plus. In the 80’s, the Trapper Keeper’s plastic flap prevented a paper blizzard from causing a white out in the hallway after an embarrassing trip and fall. Likewise, the DigiKeeper laughs in the face of the digital blizzard that is Google Drive and offers the ability to have everything in one magical place.

Connectedness. Umm, it’s through Google - so it’s all connected! Using Google Sites to create a DigiKeeper, students can easily drag and drop all the materials their teacher lovingly pushed through classroom. Adding documents from Drive to a DigiKeeper takes mere seconds.

Visual Cues. Once documents are added to the student’s DigiKeeper, they are arranged in a way which offers an easy-to-see preview of the document. For so many students who can picture what it looked like but can’t remember what it was called, this brings back the triumphant “I found it!” moment that is missing from many classrooms.

Fun. Ummm… you can slap a Care Bear on it! Giving the students the time and respect to make their sites their own! Say goodbye to sameness.

DigiKeeper. The best of 1980’s school supplies. Without the velcro.