SHS students receive personal Chromebooks

This summer, Solon High School freshmen and sophomores took to the media center to pick up their school-issued Chromebooks. Every underclassman received their own laptop, protective case and charger to bring with them to school everyday.

The decision to issue SHS students personal Chromebooks was a joint choice between Solon City Schools’ central office, tech resource teachers and building level administrative teams.

“Our tech resource teacher, Mr. Sines, did an incredible job of interviewing schools from across the state who have already gone one to one with Chromebooks,” SHS principal Erin Short said. “[He] did all the legwork to determine that we would go with Chromebooks versus something else. We have worked with other schools who have gone through this before us. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”.

The process to go one to one with Chromebooks was started largely due to state graduation testing requirement changes for SHS freshmen and sophomores. After the state of Ohio’s movement to the AIR tests, they allowed schools to choose between traditional paper and pencil and online administration. This year, however, the state is requiring schools to use the online version of the AIR exams.

“We believe[d] that it was important to get Chromebooks in our kids’ hands so that they could practice the assessment style throughout the year. So when they got to the [AIR tests] in April and March they would be prepared and familiar with how to do it,” Short said.

Sophomore Amanda Kim believes having personal Chromebooks opens doors for some students.

“I thought it was pretty cool that we all got Chromebooks because there are a lot of people in our school that don’t have laptops, so I can see this being very helpful for many people,” she said.

9 Honors English teacher Brian Jones is planning on incorporating the online style of assessment on the Chromebooks into the regular testing routine of his classes to get students ready to navigate the online graduation test.

“We’re learning how to highlight…and move…and utilize the screen,” Jones said. “The more we use that and the more we structure some of our quizzes so they mirror what’s going on with the state, the more it’s going to be a benefit for us.”

In addition to preparing students for the new format of their End of Course Exams, SHS teachers and students are using Chromebooks in their daily routines.

“Today we started working on our new vocabulary unit which has an online component,” Jones said. “We went to the website and played some pretty fabulous games dealing with the vocab words like hangman, word searches and crossword puzzles. I think the repetition of that, and each kid doing it at his or her own pace, is really cool.”

Teachers are also hoping that students use their Chromebooks to stay organized and streamline their school and homework experience through the use of online textbooks and the increased use of Google Classroom.

“I’ve been using my Chromebook for my textbooks which has been very helpful in making my backpack lighter,” Kim said.

Jones also champions the Chromebooks as a way to make resources more accessible to all students.

“Google Docs is an incredible way to stay organized,” he said. “I think that if kids have the ability to have all their information in that centralized place it’s going to be a great benefit. It’s less that they have to worry about as far as knowing where things are. It gives them more confidence and freedom to focus on the material as opposed to the paperwork. I know that one of our goals as freshman teachers is to use less hard copy handouts and more stuff that’s online that they can always access from wherever they are.”

Both Short and Jones believe that adding this new technology helps SHS keep up with currents trends in education.

“I think that as a school district we’ve always been on the leading edge of what other educational institutions are doing,” Jones said. “I think this is just one more example of the way that we look to the future and try to bring the future into the present.”