Ridge High School students and faculty – meet Chromebooks. Funded by the Board of Education, these sleek laptops are the newest additions to our school’s technology collection.

In his welcome-back letter to the district at the beginning of the school year, Superintendent Nick Markarian announced the distribution of “hundreds” of Chromebooks throughout Ridge High School, William Annin Middle School, and the district’s four elementary schools by September’s end.

Sure enough, the Chromebooks found their way into the schools, and have left quite a different impression than their predecessors – the slow, deteriorating Netbooks. Just the thought of the sluggish Netbook laptops, which hinder rather than stimulate productivity, leads to collective shudders from the Ridge community. In comparison, students and teachers alike celebrate the change of pace that the Chromebooks offer.

Sarah Venetianer ’15 notes the speediness afforded by Chromebooks, explaining, “I love using the new Chromebooks—they are much faster than the old laptops.”

Developed by Google, the Chromebooks serve as a game-changer; rather than connecting students to Novell accounts, Chromebooks sync up to users’ Google accounts. Upon powering the computers on, students and teachers sign in with Google accounts (often their school-provided bernardsboe.com email accounts). Once logged in, Chromebooks allow easy access to Google features such as Google Drive, a service that allows for collaborative editing of documents and presentations.

Lianna Shimoun ’16 endorses the Chromebooks as useful learning tools: “Chromebooks are a great resource in the classroom. They are fast and easy to use and allow students to do research and write papers without having to go to a computer lab…it makes for an advanced class because the students have access to tools that they otherwise would not have.”

One promising tool for teachers is the classroom organization service dubbed “Google Classroom.” This Google feature allows teachers to upload files, which students can view online, as well as assignment pages, to which students can upload their work directly.

For those who work together on group science lab assignments, Google Classroom accepts Google Documents as submissions; to preserve integrity, Google Classroom tracks editing on the Docs after submission. Alan Du ‘16 appreciates the cooperation that the program allows, remarking, “I think it’s a great new way for kids to develop teamwork skills in lab situations.”

Options such as Google Classroom present the opportunity to bounce back from the Moodle failures in January and get online resources back into circulation. The Ridge community can access Google Classroom from their personal devices at home and at school.

When asked about the role of computers in the classroom, AP Physics teacher Mr. Gilmore emphasized his belief in the value of technology in gathering and analyzing data, commenting, “A major part of learning physics is conducting experiments to further learning. Once you learn about projectile motion, for example, you need to investigate how changing one variable affects another. We can do this by gathering data with laboratory equipment or by running computer simulations. Students draw conclusions quickly and efficiently through observations of simulations and data analysis.”

Students already use the Chromebooks for certain labs in Physics, but data collection is not yet possible. While expressing his preference for PCs in the Physics classroom, an option that has never been at his students’ disposal, Mr. Gilmore hopes to see a purchase of equipment that will allow for the gatherings of data with the Chromebooks in the future. Indeed, there is great potential in the Chromebooks’ usefulness to the science classroom.

Due to the impending PARCC testing, the computers will decline in availability during the spring months as students use them to complete the state-mandated assessments. That said, while the Chromebooks carts are available, more teachers may want to consider acting on the opportunity to increase classroom productivity.

The introduction of Chromebooks certainly increases the efficiency of computer work in the classroom, as well as presents a myriad of additional prospects, such as the access to features such as Google Classroom. What will you accomplish with Chromebooks?