In my class we were lucky enough to have an opportunity to trial a pod of 20 Chromebooks on loan to us by Noel Leeming group.
This page highlights the two week journey utilising Chromebooks as part of our learning: As a teacher I found that the pros heavily out weighed the cons however, it would have been greatly beneficial if I had some form of professional development using google Apps and Chromebooks prior to the trial.
I felt having two weeks with the Chromebooks was fairly short to utilise effectively. Below is a short PMI chart highlighting our experience with the Chromebooks.
The need to become efficient using IT
PLUS MINUS INTERESTING
The start up time was less The lack of knowledge I had going Google classroom APP
than 7 seconds in most cases. into this trial.
Sharing and
There was no need to update The need to find plugs for all 20 management
anything like Adobe, Java etc. Chromebooks at the one time.
How are other
Everything would update on Having the students working schools using them
boot up. collaboratively
on one document
often caused
issues The need to develop
Lightweight and easily confidence and
portable meant the The school would need to
purchase efficiency using I.T
Chromebooks were great in key locks for them rather than the
MLEs. coded locks.
The students were very Ideally if we were to get these
enthusiastic to use them in across
the school a ratio of 1:2
their learning. Chromebooks could be costly
 |
| Working together on an assignment - Jigsaw learning |
They held a charge for a
significant amount of time.
Students could save work in
their own folders and easily
access it to continue working
at a later time.
Having signed up to both
Mathletics and Reading
Eggspress – two online tools
easily accessed on
Chromebooks.
Storage online means no files/
folders to slow down the
hardware. There is little to no
chance of viruses as it is
based on Linux and using
Apps. Also very easy to
reset
Chromebook.
A very focused learning
Environment when using them.
 |
| An engaged class, some using chromebooks as part of rotation. |
 |
| Working on writing on a bean bag MLE |
 |
| An engaged e-learning classroom |
