Chromebooks are here

Jay School Corporation has taken a methodical approach to introducing technology into the classroom.
Now it is ready to implement of a system that has been in the planning stages for four years.
On Wednesday, Jay County High School freshmen will receive Chromebooks (pictured) rented from the corporation or bring their own devices for use in the classroom.
“We think it’s a way to increase communication, to engage students,” said JCHS principal Chad Dodd, who has been part of the technology committee since its inception. “For us, that was the drive behind this — how do we engage 21st century learners and teach 21st century skills.”
Students who will be using their own devices should bring them to school Wednesday, and all freshmen should go to their first block classes as usual. When school begins, their teachers will direct them to the correct rooms for technology training.
Those who are renting Chromebooks will receive the new devices with passwords and immediately be able to log in. All students will also be assigned a Jay Schools email address — [email protected] — similar to those used by school employees.
The remainder of the first block will include technology integration coaches — teachers Katie Clark, Christie Sommers, Courtney Clay, Matt Slavik, Scott Clamme, Scott Miller, Seth Swallow, Whitney Freeman, Amanda Bruce, Anni McClung and CJ Yoder — training students about how to log on to the school’s wifi and use resources such as Google Apps for Education and My Big Campus.
“I think the biggest benefit to (students) will be learning how to integrate the use of technology to solve problems, to organize themselves to make them more productive,” said director of teacher effectiveness and technology committee chair Jeremy Gulley, noting the importance of technology in college and the business world. “We’re tying to make our high school look more like college.”
The roll out Wednesday is the culmination of four years of planning that began with a group of Jay Schools employees, including technology director Dennis Green, business manager Brad DeRome, Dodd and several teachers, making a visit to Danville High School to review how it was implementing its one-to-one initiative — one device for each student.
They decided wanted to start their own program, Dodd said, but wanted to make sure they did it the right way.
“We didn’t want to be out front,” said Dodd. “We didn’t want to be the first ones to do this because of the pitfalls. It’s a pretty big financially responsibility.”
Continued study of the use of technology in schools led the committee to the conclusion that there is no perfect device, and that purchasing one for each middle and high school student would not be the most cost-effective approach. A survey of those students showed that more than 90 percent of students have devices and Internet access at home.
That led to the BYOD — bring your own device — plan, which Jay School Board approved earlier this year. About 145 freshmen will be taking advantage of that option, while 161 have opted to rent Chromebooks at a cost of $75.22 per year, Dodd said.
“We wanted kids to be able to use devices they were familiar with and that they already understood,” he added.
How those devices are used in class will be up to the individual teachers.
Some have already embraced the use of technology — one Spanish class uses an online textbook — while others may make changes more slowly. The new system, though, will allow teachers and students to share assignments through the use of Goggle Docs and could lead to a paperless system in the future.
But, Dodd said, the biggest advantage of having a device in the hand of every freshman is the access to the vast amount of information available on the Internet.
“When we were in school we were limited to 300 pages in a textbook,” he said. “Now they have unlimited resources.”