In 2016, South Windsor High School distributed Chromebooks to their freshman and  sophomores classes. Currently, all 1,367 students of SWHS are issued a Chromebook to use in their classes. At this point, the impact of this technology on this vast amount of kids has greatly altered their life both inside and outside of the classroom. Since Chromebooks have been mandatory for students, we have seen many changes throughout our classrooms, both positive and negative. 

One place where Chromebooks are making major changes is with students in their lifestyles with work. For instance, senior at South Windsor High School, Gabe Galley has noticed many changes to his high school experience. One of the changes Gabe sees is how “Classroom instruction is no longer limited by the materials at hand.” Chromebooks have created a environment where students can access information for anything they need for school projects and assignments.

Gabe also explains how Chromebooks have created a more active learning environment, where teachers are not constantly handing out worksheets and packets. He has said, “…Chromebooks have definitely changed the outlook of classrooms for the better. Gone are the antiquated boredoms of paper after paper, as students now have the ability to complete assignments online with a whole host of other resources at their fingertips.”

To follow that point, Chromebooks have allowed easy access to websites that make learning fun easy. Teachers are now able to create flashcards, games and study guides of websites such as Quizlet and Kahoot that are now easily accessible because of Chromebooks. Students have been known to have a greater interest in learning about what they discussed in class with these other techniques of learning and studying.

But not only students have felt a changed learning environment at SWHS. Several teachers have concurred with senior Gabe Galley and his comments about Chromebooks. Spanish teacher Mrs. Ruiz said similar things about Chromebooks affecting their classrooms and assignments.

According to Mrs. Ruiz, “The Chromebooks have also simplified the way teachers and students communicate and share information, documents and feedback via Google Classroom.” This makes sense since Google Classroom and many other Google Sites have direct chat lines with anyone they need to. This was always difficult without access to computers, but now is more efficient and time saving.

Many people in the school acknowledge that Chromebooks are not the best thing ever for many reasons. With access to so much information, this technology allows access to many distracting websites filled with games and videos. But many teachers have figured out how to block these websites that distract students using apps like GoGuardian.

With so many possibilities for chromebooks, what is your opinion? Is it worth investing the money, or can students live without personal computers in the digital age?