Electronic devices, one of the staples of the modern age. At FHC students use them daily, in their English, Science, and History classes. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools have been working to increase their use of technology so students can more effectively work outside of the classroom. In the wake of the phone ban in Senate Bill 68, many people are finding it blaringly obvious that FHC does not have enough chromebooks.
When a school has one Chromebook -or other form of school-issued laptop computer- for every student, they are considered one-to-one. It is no secret that FHC and the Francis Howell School District fail to provide these devices for parents and students.
I believe that this is one of their greatest failures. One that students and parents don’t seem to talk about enough. Teachers should not have to worry if they will be able to do a lesson because they will not have the Chromebooks necessary. Students should not have to interrupt other classrooms to ask to borrow a Chromebook because their class had too many broken. Mr. Nick Beckman, a government teacher whose class uses Chromebooks nearly every day, says that technology is a great medium for teaching.
“We live in a technology-based world, everything’s on Canvas. I try not to use as much paper. [Students] have access to the PowerPoints, the notes, the assignments. They have access to information, you know, at their fingertips, that they can look up. So anybody that’s not using, in my position in Government and Contemporary Issues, anybody that’s not using a device or the internet and things like that, seems to be way behind.”
Chromebooks hold endless amounts of resources and information; interactive lessons, for example, are amazing tools where students can see what is happening and why. They give access to graphing calculators and to flashcards; study tools and online schools. They provide a new way for students to organize their work with files and folders. They can also benefit teachers by streamlining how assignments are made and published. Many teachers like Mrs. Trisha Morrow said she often has lessons that could be improved by using online resources.
“I have lessons in every chapter… so at least every couple weeks that I could be improving something [by] having access to [technology],” Morrow said
Meanwhile as a student, I would say that I haven’t really seen progress on improving this situation. However, Principal Rob Gaugh has said that this could be changing soon.
“We’re working on getting devices from the district, you know, it’s a slow process… They’re expensive… But yes, that is something that Dr. Denbow specifically has been working on with technology.”
I think that it would be wise for the school district to put a larger focus on the technology they are working on incorporating into our schools. One of the largest effects of COVID was that students were given a way to do their work even away from school. That’s why today we have AMI assignments. But if students don’t have access to the technology necessary either at school or at home they cannot succeed on these online assignments; hence, we should work harder to become a one-to-one school district so students don’t have to worry about whether or not they can do their assignments at home.
I have a younger brother, and he, like me, has a large homework load every evening. I would say it’s frustrating having to question whether or not I have enough time to do homework at home on top of a sibling and a sport. I should not feel that I have to stay up past midnight just to complete my third social studies assignment for that day. So far this school year, I would claim that due to homework and technology I haven’t had a full night of sleep outside of weekends.
If we had a one-to-one school district, students could potentially have their own school-issued Chromebook they could complete work on. This would eliminate the need to worry about sharing a family computer and would allow students the freedom to do their assignments even when they are away from home. This would also prevent teachers from needing to coordinate just to find out whether or not they can do a lesson online. The only thing that we would need to do is to spend the money to purchase them, the time to prepare them, and the effort to provide them.
