New London?s 1:1 program will stay, but with new devices

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? New London School District moved to extend its 1:1 computer initiative, but with a few stipulations as the district looks to make some changes to it?s future 1:1 program.

After hearing all sides of the issue from the district?s technology committee during Monday night?s school board meeting, the district moved to begin a pilot program of Chromebook Flips in three of its classrooms, beginning Aug. 2016, to test the viability, endurance and usability of a Chromebook versus a Mac device. The pilot program would test the Chromebooks in the eighth grade, fifth grade and first grade classrooms.

In addition, the board also moved to purchase more memory for the 225 Macbooks currently used by the district?s middle school and high school, as teachers reported that more memory storage is needed in those laptops before starting another school year.

According to New London superintendent Steve McAllister, as well as members of the district?s technology committee, the decision to pilot the Chromebooks has come as a result of further study into other school?s 1:1 programs.

?Chromebooks are about a fourth of the cost of Macs, they have touchscreen capabilities, a keyboard, and the cost to repair them is so much cheaper and easier than with Macs,? said Jon Munford, New London?s director of technology.

New London teachers who make up the district?s technology committee agreed strongly with Munford, saying after visiting with a number of other districts that use various types of technology systems, Chromebooks seem to be the way of the future.

According to teaching staff, with the New London Community School District currently using Apple programs in a majority of its classrooms, the idea of being able to use a cheaper device, while still being able to run Apple-based and web-based programs on them, is a very positive thing.

?At a middle school and high school in Nevada that we visited, we found they were using Chromebooks with an Apple compatible server and a lot of web-based programs,? said language arts teacher and technology committee member, Jennifer Campbell. ?Being able to do all of that, but with a cheaper device, is really appealing to us as a teaching staff.?

Munford also added that nationwide, many other districts are starting to move away from strictly using Macbooks and other Apple devices in favor of cheaper, yet compatible devices such as a Chromebooks.

?The reason we are recommending that we pilot the Chromebooks first is so that we can see if they stand up to what our kids are going to do to them,? said Munford. ?We don?t want to totally go with cheaper devices that ultimately can?t stand up to what we need them to do. And we want staff and student input to see if they like Chromebooks better than Macs.?

The district will spend roughly $18,000 on its 1:1 program during the 2016-2017 school year.

At the recommendation of the school board, teachers in the three grade levels that will be piloting the Chromebooks should log any issues that arise with the Chromebooks. With a year?s worth of data at the completion of next year, an informed decision can be made as to whether the district should consider switching totally to Chromebooks, or stay primarily with Mac devices.

?Ultimately, we want what?s best for our district,? said board member Jesse Howard. ?We do want to be smart with what we spend, and making sure we are spending money wisely on this is important.?

More from Monday night?s school board meeting can be found in tomorrow?s (Wed.) issue of the Mt. Pleasant News.