The strategy you will want to use will depend on:

Overview of Shared Drives versus My Drive 

My Drive is a bunch of folders and files with permissions based on each folder or file. Shared Drive is a workspace where all files are shared to a defined group of people.

My Drive Folder

Pros: You can nest folders within each other with different permissions so you can make a "class" folder and nest group folders within (results in a cleaner look).

Cons: Whoever makes the file owns the file, meaning when that person leaves RIT, the file deletes. It may be more work to control permissions. You can set sharing permissions at the folder level and new files created in that folder should inherit the permissions. However, items can be moved into a folder with no sharing permissions and people who normally have access to the folder may not see that one file. 

Shared Drive

Pros: The entire group owns all files regardless of who makes it so files don't delete when people leave. All people added to the shared drive automatically get access to all files.

Cons: Each group would need to have its own shared drive so you will have a lot of shared drives in your list. Students will only see their own shared drives, so it won’t be messy for them.


For more information on the differences, review the Google Support Documentation.



If you need help thinking through your options, request a consultation with an instructional technologist.