Lyneth Pineda and Alex Powers work on their Chromebooks during yearbook class.
In the last few years, the Duncan Middle School has moved into the 21st Century with the addition of Chromebooks, as part of its initiative to go 1 to 1 devices.
“I think that Chromebooks were a great addition to the school system,” eighth-grade student Kenzie Waggoner said. “I really like the Chromebooks because they give you more learning opportunities.”
With the inclusion of Chromebooks into classroom learning, less paper is being used by students and teachers, which may have benefits for the environment in the long run.
The Chromebooks have also allowed students to take their work with them wherever they go without having to take all of their text books and binders. Plus, with the use of Google Classroom, students and teachers keep track of what has been turned in.
Are Chromebooks worth it?
Waggoner said that yes they are because the Chromebooks are relatively inexpensive and easy to carry.
But with the amount of students and the price of the Chromebooks the total can up to be a lot. The Chromebooks were paid for with grant funds and through student payments.
The actual cost is through damages.
Some students are damaging their Chromebooks by throwing them, popping off the keys and the hinge, and ripping the charger out of the wall.
Librarian Barbara Gee, who is in charge of Chromebooks at DMS, said there were 268 incidents of damage during the 2017-18 school year for a total of $5,092.30 in repair costs. The cost of the repairs are paid either by the students or covered by the school on first incidents of damage.
Additionally, some teachers have complained that Chromebooks are distracting the students from work, but with the app GoGuardian, many are able to block apps to prevent students from getting on things they are not supposed to get on. The school district has even blocked more items, including some games to reduce web browsing during class time.
“The blocked apps are great so we can worth with no distractions,” Waggoner said.
With so many students and teachers running Chromebooks, some have noticed a lag in the Wi-Fi at DMS. Although work has been done to improve the school’s infrastructure, problems still crop up at times.
“In the future, we should update the Chromebooks to something that runs faster,” Waggoner said.
