Chromebooks are a commonly used tool among students for research, online assignments and communication with teachers. However, chromebooks have become outdated over time and many students believe they need to be upgraded.
Recently, many students have reported that their chromebooks are having more connection issues and are overall becoming more difficult to use for learning. Most school issued chromebooks are carried over from past grades and some students have had theirs since the start of middle school.
“We have had our chromebooks for a long time and many of them are becoming damaged,” freshman Ryan Hankins said. “It’s good now but in the future, newer technology would better help with homework and classwork.”
Instructional Assistant of Technology Nick Covino explained that students typically get brand new chromebooks at the beginning of high school or middle school. This could cause students to feel unsure about the effectiveness of school issued chromebooks.
“We buy them for 6th graders that are going into middle school and then we buy them for 9th graders going into high school,” Covino said.
Some students believe it is apparent that the health of chromebooks are becoming a problem and they wonder what the devices should be replaced with. Some have pointed out that artificial intelligence may become useful for educating students.
“There’s a lot of talk right now about AI and how it sort of plays a role in education,” Covino said. “Maybe 5 years from now, instead of having a Chromebook, you might be carrying a device that looks more like a cell phone today and you might just be able to talk to it instead of having to type anything.”
Chromebooks could be left behind in the near future with more advanced technology being introduced. Advanced technology is expected to enhance classroom interaction and enable students to engage with class material in new and diverse ways.
“You could be given some sort of digital display where you can move and interact with it so students would be able to find live images of a topic to manipulate and maneuver,” Covino said.
Some students believe that having new and improved technology in the classroom can also bring more families to CUSD, growing the district in the process. Many students believe it would be beneficial to attract new families to the school by showing CHS is more advanced than other districts in the area.
“They should add new chromebooks so more people would be convinced to join school in CUSD,” Hankins said.
Many students believe that upgrading in the future can benefit the school, district or even state. However, the decision is up to the district whether to move forward or maintain the current course of technology.
“I think that chromebooks could be okay for now but they should be replaced later on,” Hankins said. “Maybe we need more advanced technology so we can have a better understanding of the topics we are learning.”
