Jordan School District certainly has a catchy technology initiative, calling it PLANIT Jordan, which stands for Personalized Learning ANd Integrated Technology. While it may be a bit of an acronymic stretch, it's still clever. What's not clever is when all those new Chromebooks start having problems, so we hope Planit Jordan has assessed the risk in order to shield the Chromebooks from out-of-this-world threats.
With a slightly bendy screen, Chromebooks have a small flaw that can be exposed by inquisitive Planiteers. In order for the Chromebooks' forcefields to operate at full strength, these screens can be bolstered by the Cranium Hard Case Protector and White Board. Read more about the Cranium and why it makes sense here. For some ideas about how to use your Chromebooks, check this out. When Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) gets Chromebooks in the hands of all 55,000 of its students and staff, the first question might be, "How long will this last?" As an educator who has worked in schools with laptops and Chromebooks for kids, I can tell you that the honeymoon phase never really exists. In fact, someone will have an issue on day one, and those issues will continue. Keep in mind that Chromebooks themselves are not the culprits. Not always. The network will be taxed. Power cords will be lost. Logins won't work. All that.
In order to make life just a little easier, CCPS should look at investing in a little insurance for the new Chromebooks. The machines are fairly sturdy, but they do have some screen flex, and that means that when a student "accidentally" picks on up by the screen (and this WILL happen), the screen could bend too much. Get the Cranium in order to limit stress on the screen. As a bonus, the Cranium is a white board, which could save a separate purchase for students. The Cranium cannot make sure students charge their Chromebooks, and it can't remember forgotten passwords, but if it saves screens from having to be replaced, then it does its job. More info at Educabana. Gwinnett County Public Schools took bids for Chromebooks in 2015, so 2016 should be the year students get their hands on the devices. Maybe not everyone at first, but some students. And then it's time to order more. And time to figure out how to keep them all up and running properly. Luckily, there are some options for protecting the Chromebooks that not everyone knows about, like the Cranium Hard Case Protector. Sine Chromebooks tend to have flexible screens, it makes sense to protect them with something, and the Cranium simply works better.
Find out more at Educabana. Over one million students. That's a big school district, and it's a lot of Chromebooks to service. New York City Schools would be the perfect testing ground for how durable the Chromebooks are. We know that the screens have some flex, but do the Chromebooks being used in New York City Schools tend to have screen problems? If you are a parent, teacher, taxpayer, or school board member, ask if the Chromebooks could use more protection.
Take a look at this article that discusses why the soft cases aren't perfect. Probably nothing is, but New York has the opportunity to use statistical evidence in order to figure out if more is needed to protect the Chromebooks in the district. It might also be nice to have a built-in whiteboard. If your Chromebooks need help staying in good shape AND you want each student to have a whiteboard, then the only option is the Cranium by Educabana. Granville County Public Schools in South Carolina are getting Lenovo Chromebooks, but what most school districts do not consider is what does not come along with the computers. The first missing piece is teaching teachers what to do with students who have the machines. Hopefully, Granville has that covered. If not, here’s a short list of goals.
The second part that many school districts miss entirely or get wrong is protecting the investment–Chromebook screens will bend and potentially break. Soft covers are bulky, and students take the computers out every chance they get. The Cranium is a permanent, inexpensive, and effective solution. Teachers in Alpena, Michigan, took delivery of Chromebooks this summer in preparation for using them with students in the fall. While it's a good idea to allow staff to familiarize themselves with what the students will be using, the students are the ones that ultimately will need training. However, students don't need training in how to use the Chromebooks, but in how to handle the devices.
Most students have tablets or smart phones available at home, or at least they've used these devices, which are relatively solid little screens without a keyboard. While Chromebooks behave quite a bit like these other devices, the Chromebook is really two pieces, and that makes them a bit more vulnerable to students used to solid, one-piece electronics. The screens are where problems happen most, when students pick the laptops up by the screen, not to be destructive, but out of habit. Cranium Chromebook Protectors can help eliminate problems from students not knowing the best way to handle Chromebooks properly. Plus, there's a built-in whiteboard. Read more here. The Homer 33C plan to provide Chromebooks or other laptops to students is a good one, partly because it's the first plan we've come across that actually tried to repurpose older computers. The computer I'm on right now is a 2008 HP running on Ubuntu, but other laptops like this one can be converted into virtual Chromebooks. The good news for Homer is that the older laptops are kind of disposable. The bad news is that newer Chromebooks are not always as sturdy as some of these old monsters. And the GOOD news is that Chromebooks can be outfitted with Cranium Hard Case Protectors in order to make them as sturdy as Elite Books.
We hope the Homer School District continues to make wise choices in the use of public funds to implement technology in education, and one of the wisest choices is to protect that investment. The Lawndale Elementary School District in California recently made the wise choice of purchasing Chromebooks for students. The Chromebooks will come in handy in the classroom and are excellent devices for helping kids learn. One thing the kids will learn, however, is that Chromebooks have a flexible screen. It's not good if the kids find this out after picking the computer up by the screen, but that won't stop them from trying. If you've never seen a classroom full of kids on laptops, then you might not understand why the devices end up needing to get fixed so often.
While computer labs are archaic, they did provide protection to the computers, housed securely at stations. Kids move around all the time, but in a computer lab, they can't take the devices along for the ride. However, Chromebooks are small and light, so watch them take off. If you're a school board member, parent, teacher, or taxpayer in the Lawndale Elementary School District, you'll want to investigate protection options for the Chromebooks. Read the linked article to find out more about the Cranium Hard Case Chromebook Protector AND White Board. Augusta School District will be ordering Chromebooks this year, but will those Chromebooks also receive the protection needed for when students start to use the devices? While Chromebooks are tough, they are built to be lightweight, which means thin plastic. One place where this can be a problem is in the screen flex. The Cranium Hard Case Chromebook Protector virtually eliminates this problem, costs less than other options, and is way less bulky than large soft cases that can be tossed aside. Every school district that is looking to implement Chromebooks needs to seriously consider getting the right protection for the investment.
If you live in Brown County, Ohio, your schools are about to change for the better. Chromebooks are on the way. The devices work well for students and teachers, as long as someone knows what to do with them. Even if it takes some time to revise curriculum to use the Chromebooks, it won't take the students long to find ways to mistreat the computers. Not on purpose, but it does happen. For added piece of mind, Brown County Schools should look into some kind of hard case cover to protect the somewhat flexible screens, and the Cranium by Educabana is the best we've seen. Plus, it's a white board, perfect for math class.
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AuthorBrian Jaeger writes columns for respectable websites all over the kingdom. Archives
July 2019
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