However, I was (and still am) determined. So, I employed a great deal of patience and insisted that my mathematics students (Algebra II and Geometry) do the same. It was difficult and we wasted a great deal of valuable class time booting up and shutting down, trying to connect, resetting the wifi, etc. The IT admin worked with me and we developed a system that allowed us to keep the laptops booted throughout the day, but we still had to deal with dropped network connections and not being able to connect without a hard re-boot. By mid November we had begun to resolve many network issues, but the bulkiness of the laptops and the slow processing speed really hampered our ability to dig deep into the course materials and tasks we were trying to complete.
Then the IT admin and I started reading about Chromebooks. Their low cost point, ease of maintenance and small size prompted us to request funding for a class set. Our gracious school president agreed to find the funding and told us to order 20. By the beginning of December they were ordered and were supposed to be delivered just as we went on winter break. I was excited as I would have the opportunity to play with one over the holiday and my classes could begin to use them on our return. By December 15 we heard they were on back order and we'd have them around the middle of January. No problem, I thought, we'd just start the second semester with them.
Long story short, with Google's advertising blitz for holiday gifts, the back order was persistent and we did not take possession of our Chromebooks until spring break. I'm happy to say, when they arrived the students were very excited and the devices where an instant hit.
What did my students like?
- Small size - the devices fit on the desk with their notebooks/textbooks
- Quick - they were quick to connect to the network and were on when the device was opened (lift the screen and the device is on) and were off when the device was closed (just put the screen down and the device goes to sleep)
- Instant access to personalized apps - we're a GAFE school so students log in with their school Google account; everything they do on the device is accessible from their Chrome browser at home (they just need to log into the browser at home with their school credentials)
- Did we mention they are peppy little machines?
What did I like?
- Pretty much everything they did
- No more wasted class time
- GeoGebra is an app in the app store, thus it is written in HTML 5 - way cool
- Desmos app - still learning how to use it to our full potential
- Digital quizzing - and digital practice work in class or at home
This is still an experiment in progress, but this year's students (Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry) were blessed to start the year with the Chromebooks and they have been a hit. There's even another teacher in the math department using them regularly. Of course, this creates a bit of a problem when we both want to use them at the same time. I will have to ask our IT admin (a saint in my opinion) to work on a solution for us (ie. working on funding for more devices).
