Chromebook grant helps teachers, kids

By AARON BOHACHEK

Staff writer

BONNERS FERRY — The Boundary County School District has received its first cart full of Google Chromebooks thanks to a grant through the University of Idaho Doceo (do-CHAY-oh) Center for Innovation + Learning.

Like a small laptop, the Chromebook represents a shift in the way information is delivered to students.

Instead of having a hard drive where information like documents and programs is stored locally, the Chromebook uses the internet to access an online collection of program applications (apps) and storage space known as a cloud.

Cloud-based technology allows school districts access to the latest information and tools without having to upgrade expensive classroom computers.

It also allows for central management of a large number of devices without having to have a tech person in every classroom. The mobility of the wheeled charging cart allows the full classroom set of computers to be transferred from class to class, or from school to school as needed.

BCMS principal David Miles II says he jumped at the opportunity to use the free devices as part of a research project conducted by the Doceo Center.

The university contacted schools that had been denied grants that dispersed money from the contentious one-to-one laptop program Superintendent Tom Luna tried to implement.

The Lakeland and Post Falls districts are also participating in the Chromebook program.

In return for allowing the center to anonymously track usage, U of I gave 36 student Chromebooks to BCSD. Teachers were meant to get a second set but, since they already have laptops, they decided to create another classroom set.

The Doceo center is careful to keep all information they track anonymous. Students, teachers and parents are assigned a code that allows researchers to track trends, but not names and other private information.

The research project is mainly interested in learning how professional development of teachers allows them to use the technology effectively in the classroom.

The center is also focusing on connecting rural schools to online resources. Doceo center assistant professor Cassidy Hall works closely with teachers and administration to help provide training on the Chromebooks so they can be used to their full potential.

To use the devices, students are required to have an e-mail account. Despite district network protections, Miles wasn’t comfortable giving students full G-mail accounts. The students use a similar service called Gaggle that provides a more limited and safer student e-mail network.

Technology can’t replace teacher involvement, said Doceo center director Dr. Royce Kimmons. The mission of the center is to meaningfully integrate technology into the classroom, he said.

Without teacher involvement, technology can serve a disruptive purpose.

By allowing teachers to use and think critically about new technology, Kimmons hopes to be able to transform the future of education.

Once the research project is finished at the end of the semester the Chromebooks will stay in Boundary County. The devices will remain the property of U of I but will be too old for research, said Kimmons.

More information is available at www.doceocenter.org.