Beginning this year, the high school has begun implementing Chromebooks into the classrooms. These devices will be distributed to grades 9-12, and will be the only form of technology allowed in most classrooms. The Chromebooks will be a requirement for all students if they want to use technology in the classrooms; however, they are not a necessity for school and should not be used this year.

The only thing that a Chromebook can do is connect to the Internet; therefore, if a student needs to work on anything offline, there are only a few instances where that is possible. The device simply uses Google Apps for everything, which is something any smartphone can do. The laptops are also not technologically advanced enough to replace all other technology use. For instance, applications such as Microsoft Office, Adobe, and other science and math programs will not run on these devices, making it more of a challenge for students to learn the programs, and more of a challenge for teachers to implement and utilize higher level technology.

Although students can edit some documents offline, almost everything with Chromebooks relies on the Internet. With that, there can be more problems. Google can have problems, accounts can become compromised, and things can be harder to access and use. Even this week, as some of the teachers implemented class-wide writing and editing exercises, students would be working and suddenly all their work would just disappear. This makes the software/platform unreliable with these types of glitches.

Even though some believe that it’s good for students to use multiple platforms, these seems to be one of biggest problems with the Google software.  Students and schools have been using Microsoft Office for a long time, and with such a major change, students may not be able to adjust. Going from almost nothing online to everything online, this could cause serious problems. This year, teachers are expecting assignments and projects to be done, kept up with, and turned in online. A large amount of change very quickly will be too much of an adjustment in only one school year. Although the Chromebooks add the ability to use technology in the classroom, the kind of technology it is allowing is not sufficient enough to move towards a more technologically based classroom.

The school should make Chromebooks an option, not a requirement. Students should be allowed to bring and use their own technology. Chromebooks should be available to make sure every student has access to some form of technology; however, it should not be something that every student must have. Students and parents spend a large amount of money on laptops and other technology for their kids to use for school in hopes of setting them up for success in college. If students want to use technology they purchased, they should be able to do so. It will give them the ability to use something with which they are comfortable and more familiar. Students who have purchased $500 plus laptops should be able to use them if they want to. Other laptops can support Google Apps too, so if the school wishes to keep using applications like Google Classroom, they still could. Basically, letting the students use their own technology makes everything easier. Students are happier by knowing and being comfortable with their own technology, and everything stays the same for the administration. Because the school already owns Chromebooks, people without access to their own technology would have access to them.

The Chromebooks that the school will be using for this school year are unnecessary. With no special technological use, they are not needed and students would be better off using their own technology. Technology in classrooms is a good idea, but Chromebooks are not the way to go.