Senior Olivia Cash spent hours working on a review for class and had just finished the seventh page when her computer crashed. All at once, she couldn’t breathe as pure terror and disbelief washed over her. Those hours of work all for naught as soon as the computer shut down, creating twice as much homework for Cash instantaneously. Or so she thought. Thanks to Google+, Cash’s work had been saved automatically and her hours of sleep, and her grade, had been saved.
Many students can relate to this, thanks to the Chromebooks. Over the school year, a significant change has occurred in the dynamic of some of the classrooms, due to the introduction of Google+ and the Chromebooks.
This move to online resources instead of piles of paper and worksheets has helped the environment and the school.
Although the amounts differ for every school depending on the population size, a survey conducted by David Wees of The Reflective Educator revealed that approximately 34 billion sheets of paper are used in schools each year in the US. Converting all paperwork to internet resources through Google+ and other outlets would decrease this number by a very considerable amount.
Using the computers for homework and school work also makes assignments easier for the students, and grading easier for the teacher.
“It’s easier to do the homework, I can get it done in class most of the time,” said senior Marissa Davis.
With online assignments, teachers will no longer have to try to read students sometimes sloppy handwriting, and thus are able to complete grading in a shorter amount of time. Autocorrect can also be a grade-saver for students.
Using the Chromebooks has allowed students to stay organized, and has several other benefits for teachers and students alike.
“I have closer to 100% engagement,” said chemistry teacher Mrs. Irvin who has been using Chromebooks throughout the year. “It’s a lot more organized because students can’t lose their assignment, it’s already right there.”
Irvin uses Google+ in her class as a way for students to conduct research, access notes, fill out worksheets in Google forms, and turn everything in. She also uses Google classroom instead of Remind101 to send out information.
“[With Google+] I have more access to the students. I can see how they’re doing and look at their progress instead of having to wait until the end of a long assignment. Then I can give them feedback sooner,” said Irvin.
Irvin revealed that at least 50 percent of the time in her class is spent on the Chromebooks, and because of this, it can be hard to have class when the internet fails or other things go awry.
“It’s really frustrating when things don’t work. You always have to have backup plans,” said Irvin.
With this transition to online learning, it has been questioned what will happen with snow days and when students are sick. Google hangout is one option, which will allow teachers to have classes while everyone is at home. Students and teachers are not so gung-ho about this.
“I like my snow days,” said senior Olivia Cash.
“The only reservation I have about that is that it’s assuming everyone can get online somewhere else. But for AP classes and EOC exams, it’s definitely going to help a good number of kids not get behind, because those test dates don’t change,” said Mrs. Irvin.
Senior Marissa Davis believes that this really wouldn’t change anything.
“Even when you have sick days, teachers expect you to do what you need to do anyways,” said Davis.
Despite the possibility of eradicating snow days, there are many positive aspects that students enjoy.
“The teacher can put assignments on Google classroom and we can access them from anywhere,” said junior Andrew Ryan.
“The classes that use the Chromebooks are more organized than the ones that don’t,” said Mary Katherine Acosta. Acosta and Cash also agreed that their favorite aspect of having everything online is that it saves automatically, which comes in handy when computers crash or die.
“It’s more on your own, and at your own pace,” said junior Sarah Glenn.
