This is the fifth and final post in the guest blog series on 1:1 at Leyden High Schools.
By Jason Markey, East Leyden High School Principal
The student perspectives below are from Justyna Chojnowski, Amina Patel, and Joaquin Cardenas at East Leyden High School.
For a greater perspective on our 1:1 initiative please see our past four guest posts:
- Why 1:1? Why Chromebooks?
- The Logistics of Chromebooks at Leyden
- What Can You Expect When You Move Learning to the Web?
- Tech Support Internship: Student-Led Support for Leyden’s Chromebook Initiative
When Scott McLeod and I first discussed this series, the first four posts seemed obvious. It wasn’t until after the second post that Scott suggested it would be good to hear directly from students. For anyone that knows me, I usually think this way as well, but I know with the topic of 1:1 computing there are some pretty intense feelings among educators. We all want to see transformational practices every time the device is powered up during school hours. I think it’s important to consider – and I think what the following student perspectives demonstrate, – we have to realize that no matter the level of tech saturation in their lives outside of school, that this introduction of ever-present connectedness during school is something very different for students too. So my approach with the following students was to ask them to simply share what some positives and negatives were with their first few months of this newfound access to the Web. Here are their unabridged responses…
Joaquin Cardenas (Junior)
When I found out last year we were going to get chromebooks I didn’t think there was going to be much of a difference in my typical school day. That my classroom atmosphere wasn’t going to change much. That is only partly true so far in the time I have spent with my chromebook. There have been many positive changes with getting a chromebook, but whenever something changes, there tends to be some negatives as well.
Now that we all have chromebooks, I think I have seen more responsibility among the students. Rarely, does someone forget to bring their chromebook to class. It has taught me how to become more responsible and take care of something that is worth more than your pen and pencil. To me, the major and most helpful difference in having a chromebook is Google Docs. The ability to be able to write, save, and share a document all online is remarkable. You can’t lose what you have written because your document is automatically saved. It is easier for teachers to help you with your writing because now they can directly comment on your paper. You can collaborate more with your peers when you share a document with them and can work on it at the same time. It can also benefit teachers because there isn’t the excuse anymore of that “I didn’t print it”, or “my computer wasn’t working”. Teachers can now see exactly what the student did to the document and at what time they made any changes. Because of the addition of the chromebooks, teachers can place everything online, like the agenda, calendar, homework, etc. If a student is absent he can check online to see what he missed. Having chromebooks opens up the classroom to many resources that are online to get a better understanding of what you are learning. With all the good things that come with having chromebooks there are also some negatives.
As I said before, you have to become more responsible when you receive the chromebook, not just by taking care of it but by what you do with it. During class you may be able to get distracted by browsing the web. Also you can’t use the chromebook for certain classes like math because there aren’t many uses for it. The chromebook come with some distractions but it is worth it for the type of learning atmosphere that the student receives to prepare him for the future.
Justyna Chojnowski (Senior)
Upon hearing that we would be getting Chromebooks that would be ours, most of the student body at Leyden was beyond excited. The teachers, on the other hand, not so much. I, personally, have never been much of a computer person and would rather write out my own papers and not rely on a piece of technology that could break or not connect to the Internet. However, over the last couple of years, the Internet and I have become extremely close friends, especially when I needed help with Physics homework. Because of this, I was also very excited to receive the Chromebooks. The prospect of obtaining a Chromebook was very appealing, seeing as we would have access to an unlimited supply of information from all over the world except, of course, the sites that were restricted. This would not only help us further our knowledge, it would also enable us to collaborate with people from all around the world. I think, this reason was one of the major reasons that made getting Chromebooks so exciting.
Nevertheless, we faced, and still sometimes face, a major obstacle: incorporating the Chromebooks into the classroom. This has been a struggle from the beginning. The Chromebooks possess such great power that some teachers are overwhelmed and do not know how to use the Chromebooks to their advantage. Furthermore, sometimes it is impossible to incorporate the Chromebooks into a classroom, for example my Calculus AP class. Sure, we have Math XL, an online program for homework problems, but writing out equations and symbols on the Chromebook takes way longer than writing them out on paper. Or the Chromebook decides that it doesn’t want to work properly, such as when OpenClass does not want to “open.” I understand the incorporation of Chromebooks into the classroom is a work in progress, but it can be stressful on both the teacher and the students when something is not going the way it is supposed to. Teachers not only have to change how they teach, they also have to make sure that students are on task and not roaming the Internet. Sometimes the Chromebook is a major distractor and functions the reverse role of distracting instead of helping the students.
Although the Chromebook possesses some disadvantages, it in turn has a lot of advantages that can be utilized by students and teachers. One of the best things about the Chromebooks is being able to share and simultaneously collaborate, revise, and work on the same document. This allows students to complete an assignment or project without having to meet up outside of school. With busy schedules and a lot of other schoolwork, this feature ensures that students turn in their assignments, especially group projects, for they cannot use the excuse of “I wasn’t able to meet up with my group.” Sharing documents is also favorable to teachers. Teachers can view what a student is doing as they do it and are also able to access who is doing what on each document, thus in turn giving each student the grade they deserve based on the amount of work they completed. In addition, the Chromebooks are light and portable, and, in some cases, replace the back-breaking weight of carrying a stack of books. As I mentioned before, the Chromebooks offer students and teachers access to a huge supply of readily available information. This is turn can be utilized, propelling students and teachers alike into the future of technology. With a head start, students will know how to work different programs on their computers, use the Internet to obtain extra information, and eventually leave an amazing digital footprint that others will be able to view.
We, here at Leyden, have begun the process of leaving a digital footprint. Administrators, as well as teachers, are promoting the use of the Chromebooks in a positive manner, such as starting the Twitter hashtag #leydenpride. Many of our students have participated in using this hashtag. Search #leydenpride on Twitter and the results will portray students talking about our school in a positive manner as well as many different activities going on at our school and in our community. I believe, that the Chromebooks have presented students here at Leyden with many opportunities, and will continue to do so even more effectively once all the kinks are worked out.
Amina Patel (Junior)
Google Chromebook, if you mentioned these two words to me last year I would have stared at you in confusion, but now it has changed my way of thinking. It all started back in January when I was doing a service event for a club, I had to give my opinion on what I thought of these chromebooks and how other teachers can learn, it was some sort of edcamp. I honestly had no idea what I was going to say, but being me I winged it and gave it my best shot. After talking to other teachers from our school I realized that Leyden is a very privileged school, being able to have 1:1 for each and every single student is phenomenal. Having the chromebook has changed my experience here at Leyden in a postive way.
Being a junior here at Leyden has given me two years without the Google Chromebooks. I have been in the place of using simple pencil and paper in every class, I have had a basis of comparison between the classroom environments. I can honestly say the use of the Chromebooks have made my job as a student easier. The hassle of printing, the worry of late assignments, and most importantly the ease of communication with my teachers. In particular I am in an AP English class, the teacher (Mr. Narter) had us watch the political debates, and apply the things we are learning in class to the significance it has in the debate. Well, the problem was that the debate is after school hours, and instead of having the inconvenience of writing an analysis, he send us a link to a website called Today’s Meet. This website lets you log on to a specific group and have a group conversation, this made watching the debate more entertaining because you essentially had your fellow classmates right there. And trust me we had heavy debates going on. But thinking about the difficulty of this tasks without the chromebooks, made it somewhat impossible. The ease of the chromebooks with the students doesn’t go quite well with the teachers.
We live in the age of technology, with such easy access to internet the world is at our fingertips. With the chromebooks learning has becoming easier but in the case of the teachers, teaching has become harder. To implement learning online is a difficult task especially for teachers who have been doing it for years. In my opinion teachers aren’t using the chromebooks to the full extent, there has been quite a gap in the adjustments between paper and digital.
Twitter, many people know what this is and many people do not, simply put, it is a social networking website. I started using Twitter because being a teenager and using social media went hand in hand. At first it was just place to post tweets aimlessly, but has we all received chromebooks it started gaining popularity here at Leyden. Sooner than I thought the hashtag #leydenpride had started trending within our school. Students, including myself, would use it to tweet about amplifying school spirit, and other activities we were taking apart of at school. It has gotten so popular that even our own teachers and administrators were using it. Yes, my principal (Mr. Markey) is a huge twitter fan and was using the hashtag all over the place. Because the hashtag had such great popularity I had an idea, my entrepreneurship class was creating new leyden wear. Why not put #leydenpride on it? So, I got the class to agree and we sold wristbands, and t-shirts with the hashtag #leydenpride. It helped encourage students to not only have pride in their school but pride in themselves and their own self-achievements.
I would like to thank our three student contributors to this post for their candor and willingness to write some “extra’ this week. Also, I would like thank Scott McLeod for the work he continues to do to support and promote this type of integration of technology in our education system. We all may have a different vision of where education is headed, but I hope we all understand that the Web is going to be vital part of our world moving forward. Since we never deprived our students of the printed word for the past several centuries, I hope the same holds true regarding the Web.
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Note from Scott
Leave the students a comment or question. I bet you’ll hear back!
I greatly appreciate the willingness of Jason and the other Leyden staff and students to contribute to this guest series on Chromebooks in schools. Chromebooks are a new approach to 1:1 computing for most educators. It’s wonderful to have an opportunity to hear lessons learned from a school district that is ahead of the curve on this front. Thanks, Leyden!
If you’re doing something interesting with technology in your school that you think might be of interest to school leaders, I’d love to hear from you. There are many educators and school organizations doing incredible work out there. I try to use my guest posts to publicly honor and share some of that work. Read over my guest blogging guidelines and drop me a note!
Excellent posts by all three students!
Justyna,
What do you think could be done differently to help teachers feel less overwhelmed with the Chromebooks? What support and professional development do you think they need?
Also, do you see any teachers whose classroom management approach makes the Chromebooks less of a distraction? What do they do differently than the teachers who haven’t gotten to this point, yet?
Thanks for considering my questions.
Paul Barrette
Director of Technology
Burrillville, RI School Department
Have you experienced any buyer’s remorse? Are there rumblings along the lines of “I wish I had a pc, or mac, or an iPad?”
Thanks for your time.
Art Searle
Business and Media Technology
Exeter-West Greenwich High School
Art – We have not experienced any buyer’s remorse. In fact, I would say we are constantly surprised everyday on how much our teachers and students are pushing the envelope and identifying ways in which this access to the web can enhance and indeed transform learning. It’s important to remember that we are not even half way into our first year and have already seen some remarkable things happening at our school. The device is central to this in it’s ability to be seamless with learning and not be seen as an “extra” or supplementary.
Jason
Dear students and Scott and Jason,
I’ve been collecting various articles for our management as they consider the future 1 to 1 landscape here at our international school in deepest Europe. I knew I could depend on the students to give the most original perspective. You encapsulated the positives, but you also gave us very thoughtful negatives. It is too easy for teachers or administrators to polarise the discussion, so thank you very much for your considered and balanced opinions and thank you Scott and Jason for making it possible.
As a (West) Leyden alumni who holds a M.Ed. in Educational Technology, I have to say I am very proud to see this. I have not been able to follow up as I have wanted to since first hearing about the 1:1 initiative last year, but seeing not only how it has come to life, but how the students have taken to it is well beyond what I could have imagined! I also love the fact that a couple of my former teachers (Weinert and Storaasli specifically) have had a major part in this. Somehow, this doesn’t surprise me in the least!
I hope to continue hearing about the continued implementation of this technology at Leyden!!! #LeydenPride
Jamie (Wade) Becker, ’99
Thank you Amina, Justyna, and Joaquin for your reflections about having 1:1 access to Chromebooks at Leyden. I have read each of the posts in this blog series and appreciate hearing pros and cons from all angles. Great job!
Students:
We’re in our first year of 1:1 computing here at Licking Valley High School in Newark, Ohio. I can tell you that I laughed as I read your insightful remarks.
They all could have come from our students!
Great job; I’m impressed to hear your voices come through in this blog post. I definitely want
Kudos to Jason, too. Great blog posts.
If you’re interested, I’ll trade you a Licking Valley t-shirt for a #LeydenPride shirt. I’ll definitely be stealing your idea for the t-shirt with the hashtag on it. Very cool.
Wes
There is nothing better than to hear the experiences of students and how a program affects them. Thanks to all of them for being honest and sharing. It is a great help to me to hear their concerns as I try to recreate my own classroom.
Nice to hear some student perspectives. We’ve got a partial 1:1 program in our school (with Galaxy tabs for our seniors), so I’ve heard a lot of similar things from my own kids. As a teacher, I love the organizational value of Google Docs and a CMS (we use Schoology). My students often say the same thing, and I always chuckle at how amazed they are when two of them can edit a presentation at the same time.
I’d be interested to know if the students had any thoughts on the tablet vs. Chromebook debate. If the choice is between a 7″ Android tablet and a Chromebook, it seems like a no brainer to me. I’m trying to get our administration to rethink our devices and possibly switch to Chromebooks in the future.
Wow! Great job everyone. Well written and reflective summaries on a tricky topic. I’ve been tackling the integration of technology in instruction for years and on many levels and your insights are very poignant and proof to me that the challenge is worth it. Not just to seek 1:1 necessarily but to aggressively provide you with tools. I really liked Justyna Chojnowski (Senior) summary when he highlights the need for teachers to be equally skilled and flexible if technology is not to be just a distraction. I completely agree. Use the pencil when it’s best and not when it isn’t. We don’t need to zealous fools about the hardware. Thanks everyone.
I think it’s great to hear from the students who are using the devices. The students basically referred to the use of Google Docs, with limited comments about the Chromebooks themselves. GoogleDocs can be used on many devices. What’s the negative of the Chromebooks? Are kids wanting to do things with the Chromebooks that they can’t? Is this a problem? Overall, it’s great to hear from the students, but I didn’t hear anything negative, which I find hard to believe.
Chad,
Thanks for reading and the comment. I think it’s important to understand that students may not be apt to look at device comparisons the same way as we are obsessed with. They are focused on the web, access, and ease of use – the Chromebook provides all of these. I guess what I’m trying to say is the students don’t know they don’t know therefore it might be difficult to articulate what are negatives about the Chromebook. That being said, just like any device positives and negatives. The most obvious drawback to many is you cannot load traditional client based software on the device and it is not a touch screen interface. We actually think there are some positives about both of these attributes that fit our vision.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have specific concerns that I can address.
Thanks,
Jason
I have very much enjoyed following your posts on Chromebooks. My district has a different version of 1:1 in that the Chromebooks remain in the classroom instead of going home with the students. We have found that the device has inspired our teachers to learn new ways to deliver their curriculum, and has given a greater creative license to the students who take great pride in their projects. It has had its challenges, but the biggest hurdle for the teachers has been learning to use a Blog to teach and deliver content from, rather than hand out a paper, especially those who have been teaching for many years & the coaching staff. For the student, it’s been that there are no excuses for a zero anymore, as they are required to be organized in each class, and they are responsible for keeping their student portfolio up to date with their projects (a google site ea student builds). Because of the organization that Google Drive has caused, the lower level students suddenly are becoming stars as papers are no longer being lost – and if they happen to be more tech savvy than another student, the teachers put them to work helping which also increases their own self worth.
I would be very interested in hearing the answers to Paul Barrette’s questions as well – the only negatives we’ve seen have been from the technology side in that we’ve had to increase our bandwidth and the robustiveness of the wireless access points, since we also have BYOD. My only other question would be – how much and what type of training has your teaching staff received to prepare for the Chromebooks in their curriculum?
Thanks!
Hello Leyden High Students!
Thanks for sharing. We are a medium-sized middle school and are about to get at class set of Chromebooks. What are some of the “must have” apps?
Thanks!
What a great, helpful article!
Let me just add my own observation that the Google Docs experience is qualitatively different on a Chromebook. The speed at which you can access and edit a Google doc, presentation, spreadsheet is a fraction of what it takes to log into the Goodle Apps suite from a web interface. For me, that’s huge.
One thing we’re struggling with is the ability to work without an internet connection. Could you talk about that for a bit. Has it been an issue for your kids, and if so, are there workarounds?
Thanks again for writing about this.
I appreciate the students honest reflections. One of the students mentioned about internet access. What do you do in a 1:1 classroom when the internet is not working? We are being guaranteed an increase in bandwidth and greatly improved internet access, but after experiencing the increased issues with slow/no connections, I’ll believe it when I see it.