Are Personal Chrome Books in School Beneficial?

Technology. It is everywhere, and now it has taken over our classrooms. We have had Chrome Book carts in classrooms for years, but with recent changes from Covid-19, each student has their chrome book. Giving every student access to all the work provided in class; should a student be quarantined, they would have the tools to keep up with the rest of the class. It made sense to have the Chrome Books like this but is it necessary for this year? Because of the continued uncertainty within our country as it pertains to Covid-19, it would make sense that students will continue to have personal Chromebooks this year. However, when Covid-19 has passed will that idea change. We have seen that we can make a transition to primarily online schooling. However, does online learning benefits students?

Gracie Kelly, a senior, said, “I like having a Chrome Book because it makes everything more personal; it is a lot easier to manage my school work.” She mentions that she does not miss how school was before when it was mostly paper. “We can keep all of our work on one computer in one spot and it makes us more accountable for our work.” As our world becomes filled with more and more technology we indeed become more involved with more, widespread, events; as well as becoming more accountable for our work and whether it gets turned in or not. Because we have this constant access to our work it should be easier for students to do their work, here at school or home.

According to an article entitled Why Students Should Be Allowed To Use Laptops In Class, by Mark Zadvinskis, stated that laptops in schools “Meet the needs of today”. We are constantly growing far more advanced and are constantly needing to adapt to new things. According to Zadvinskis, it would leave students without technology at a disadvantage as most careers use technology in the modern world. Zadvinskis also addresses the fact that using a laptop computer is also more efficient and environmentally friendly. While it can be said that using a laptop can lead to less paper being used in school, and fewer trees being cut down, that the environment has gained a positive impact, however, is using a laptop more efficient?

Kaden Trevino stated, “likes them both in different ways.” He likes writing down notes, Kaden says it helps the information stay in his mind longer. However, he likes submitting work online better, because it’s faster and easier. As Kaden stated, both can be used in different ways and can differ from person to person. So should a student prefer to take notes by hand, it would be the recommendation from yourself to take notes by hand. However, Kaden agrees that it is a lot more efficient to have all of his assignments due in one place, and he can find it all there. While we can still find some assignments on paper, it is entirely up to the teacher on how their class should be taught.

Overall instating the Chrome Book checkout system was a good idea. Whether you like them or not, they seem to be beneficial. While, there are a few things we might miss from before; but, Chrome Books have helped the teachers and students stay organized and on top of things. How a student can use their Chrome book is entirely up to them, while most work is transitioning online, we still see a lot of work being done on paper. We are in a progressive era, our Chrome Books are the only evidence of that, we just have to choose to progress with it.