new technology

For the past few years, Mountain View-Birch Tree School District has been introducing new technology into their classrooms. Chromebooks have changed the schools completely. At the Mountain View-Birch Tree High School each student has their own personal Chromebook. During their first hour, they check out their Chromebook, and now the school has added an eighth hour at the end of the day to check their Chromebook back in. Each student has their own log in for the Chromebooks.

There are still computer labs, where there are a bunch of computers lined up on multiple tables. But having a Chromebook in hand makes it easier and quicker to pull up their work, rather than having to sign up for a computer lab, take the whole class in there, and log everyone in. This is better especially if a student is absent that day; they can either work on their assignment from home or whenever they get back to school they can do their assignment in class and not mess with the other students.

If a student is to be quarantined, they are allowed to check their Chromebook out and take it home with them. The Chromebooks are based upon Google. There are many different things to get work done on that Google provides. Some of these things are their email, Google Classroom, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Meets, etc. Google Meets is where a teacher can still communicate with a student if they are quarantined. They can see and talk to the student, and they can also share their screen with the student so they don’t miss out anything. Students can also log into their school google accounts and access all of Google's applications on their phones. Students can also use their Chromebooks for college interviews and their college classes.

Most teachers have begun to use Chromebooks more than they use paper. Google classroom allows teachers to make tests for their students. “Locked mode” is specifically used for tests. When used, students cannot leave their test and get onto other websites until they are finished. This way there can’t be sneaky students doing other things than taking their test.

Mainly students, but also parents and teachers, all have different outlooks on the new technology usage. Paul Brandon does not like Chromebooks. He says that they are “too much to handle.” Brandon would rather have pencil and paper than doing his work on his Chromebook.

Melissa Mcafee on the other hand, likes having Chromebooks, “because we can do our work out of school anywhere.” “It has helped me because I can look at and work on my work anywhere with Wi-Fi, and I can email my teachers on questions. I can also send them my work,” Mcafee states.

“It has helped me a lot because I can find information easier and contact my teachers easier,” Ava Greenan mentions. She also says that Chromebooks, “offer more resources and lets students find things easier and it is easier to work with when used in moderation. In times like this, it’s difficult to do things in person sometimes, so technology being implemented into education can be very useful.”