MONROE - The first year of using Chromebooks at Monroe High School is earning high marks from local educators.
Starting in September, the district supplied 730 Chromebooks, one for each MHS student.
"Overall, I think we feel it was obviously successful for our first year," MHS Principal Chris Medenwaldt said last week in an update to the Monroe school board. "It was certainly helpful for some things" such as the ACT Aspire assessment and other testing.
MHS teacher Sherri Hendrickson described the applications she used with students, including Google Docs, Google Classroom and Google Forms.
"Kids are engaged when they have that technology in front of them, and it's not just the technology, it's the applications that we use in the classroom that gets our students engaged, whether it be something interactive, solving a problem or collaborating," Hendrickson said.
She used Google Forms - a free tool for creating and analyzing surveys - to get anonymous feedback from students after tests to see what was working and what she could improve on.
"I know we do an assessment at the end of the semester, but for me that's too late," Hendrickson said.
She also said using Chromebooks saved time in her classes, which allowed her to cover more material than before.
If students had problems with their Chromebook, they could take it to a volunteer group of about eight trained students called the Tech Squad, according to Kim Schaaf, MHS technology integrator. The group worked at a "Genius Desk" in the LMC during lunch, study hall and before and after school.
For their services, Schaaf said she's been trying to provide opportunities for the students to meet professionals in the tech field.
The Chromebooks "weren't as durable as we had hoped as far as what they can deal with - they can't deal with much," Medenwaldt said. "We've done a really good job of finding out ways that we can repair what we can repair, using the warranty when we could use the warranty," and they'll explore options to help some families for next year.
But despite being less durable, the majority were turned in at the end of the year in good condition. Next year, students will get back the same Chromebooks they had this year.
Administration will also be using a tool called GoGuardian next year to monitor the Chromebooks' usage, regardless of location or user, Medenwaldt said. For most of this year, administration could only monitor the devices while they were on the district's network.
GoGuardian would allow the district to filter content and whitelist or blacklist websites.
Starting in September, the district supplied 730 Chromebooks, one for each MHS student.
"Overall, I think we feel it was obviously successful for our first year," MHS Principal Chris Medenwaldt said last week in an update to the Monroe school board. "It was certainly helpful for some things" such as the ACT Aspire assessment and other testing.
MHS teacher Sherri Hendrickson described the applications she used with students, including Google Docs, Google Classroom and Google Forms.
"Kids are engaged when they have that technology in front of them, and it's not just the technology, it's the applications that we use in the classroom that gets our students engaged, whether it be something interactive, solving a problem or collaborating," Hendrickson said.
She used Google Forms - a free tool for creating and analyzing surveys - to get anonymous feedback from students after tests to see what was working and what she could improve on.
"I know we do an assessment at the end of the semester, but for me that's too late," Hendrickson said.
She also said using Chromebooks saved time in her classes, which allowed her to cover more material than before.
If students had problems with their Chromebook, they could take it to a volunteer group of about eight trained students called the Tech Squad, according to Kim Schaaf, MHS technology integrator. The group worked at a "Genius Desk" in the LMC during lunch, study hall and before and after school.
For their services, Schaaf said she's been trying to provide opportunities for the students to meet professionals in the tech field.
The Chromebooks "weren't as durable as we had hoped as far as what they can deal with - they can't deal with much," Medenwaldt said. "We've done a really good job of finding out ways that we can repair what we can repair, using the warranty when we could use the warranty," and they'll explore options to help some families for next year.
But despite being less durable, the majority were turned in at the end of the year in good condition. Next year, students will get back the same Chromebooks they had this year.
Administration will also be using a tool called GoGuardian next year to monitor the Chromebooks' usage, regardless of location or user, Medenwaldt said. For most of this year, administration could only monitor the devices while they were on the district's network.
GoGuardian would allow the district to filter content and whitelist or blacklist websites.