Familiarity Breeds Contempt

 ...and now here we are with Chromebooks such a staple that they hinder critical thinking and general effort. Teachers can access work and make grades easier, students can access information without going to a library, and lessons can be more visual and dynamic with all the digital tools available. Flash and glam, those seem to be the plan of the day.

However, with the ease on all sides and the building expectation to be entertained, it appears the willingness to be inconvenienced in the short run for a goal is diminishing. If the information sought is not within the 1st three results in an online search of only one search engine, it is assumed the information does not exist. It looks like cheating, short-cuts, and work avoidance are the new challenges to be conquered.  These are not necessarily malicious actions or some cases even planned - the carrot is right in front of the runner. 

A balance between paper work and computer work needs to be achieved so the Chromebook is the backup tool to be used as needed, then put away in lieu of a notebook and pencil.  There are points of value in the old ways?  More on a developed plan later.

Now with the pandemic...

Here we are in the COVID pandemic and it seems the research students are the ones most prepared to deal with the ire of virtual learning. Never did I expect that a sample program with Chromebooks would grow to such a vital part of the educational landscape. Fortunately, the learning curve varies and students and teachers are collaborating and working their way through the gulf that distance learning must navigate to better or worse success. 

Since this initiative began, a whole host of technology programs have sprung up - it's a whole new technological world into which we're all plunged!  Luckily, we can see benefits and the holes for improvements to come...a blessing and a curse.  Often the students lead the way toward improvements which is probably due to their familiarity with technology all their short lives whereas many of the adults in the room grew up with touch-tone phones and typewriters!

Moving Forward in Spite of Resistance

There has been resistance this semester to the idea that a snow day is not a free day any longer. With the Chromebooks and Google Sites and Docs, class goes on since the course website has all the handouts, quizzes, deadlines, etc. that any student needs for success, or to at least move forward until we meet again and have face-to-face time to answer questions.

My students know the expectation is that the work continues, the deadlines remain, and everything they need to be successful exists.  Still, a snow day is a free day in their minds. In fact, they expect ME to change lessons around, move deadlines, and make adjustments to accommodate the loss of school days even though expectations have been reminded, reinforced, and rephrased over and over.

This year, only the 6th grade have Chromebooks across the county. My classes have them as part of the initial study, but the students believe themselves out of the norm so class expectations are pliable. HOWEVER, next year when all the grade levels have Chromebooks and all the teachers have class websites, classes will continue through snow days. Is that what is needed to make the digital life real for students?  Consistent, across all classes expectations?  Probably. When the expectation to self-direct through a snow day is in only one class, it seems subjective and silly. As a school-wide expectation to return with completed work or at least questions about the unfinished work, lollygagging through a snow day is a lot less inviting, you know?

Backlash

Now we're at the place where the newness has worn off and students are devising ways to get out of doing their work. Yes, it is not enough to have a blog, and YouTube, and links to expedite learning...this semester half the students arriving to class say they do not have home internet services, or very limited at best.

It seems that now with the Google Cloud and the Chromebooks, school work proceeds with or without snow days. The students have learned that a snow day is actually a window of opportunity to work on their projects and that expectations are that the lesson continues and questions are asked/answered online. Shocking!

So, in these cases I am back to printing off hard copies of the lessons and the students are producing notebook journals and index card notes manually. I still expect to see work on snow days, and hard copies for a unit are issued all at once at the beginning of the unit. That reality has come as a surprise to some. In fact, I await today's classes to see how many suddenly decide having access to the internet is not such a problem after all since NONE of them like to hand write information. We are becoming a typing society.

http://www.typeitwritetranscription.co.uk/typing-digital-transcription/

There is no privacy...

The dark side has light, and the light can
have a dark side.

Something that has occurred and is worth considering when using Google Docs is the dark side of collaboration. Some students (oddly the younger, 6th grade ones) use Google Docs as a chat room, passing comments back and forth to each other. Because they are young and haven't yet developed a sense of appropriateness, a Chromebook can be a hurtful tool. It is important that digital citizenship be taught, encouraged, and certainly monitored. It is also helpful to explain to students that within a school domain, there is no expectation of privacy. IT can see not only what exists, but what was deleted.

This is one of those times when I wonder if it wise to put the tools of technology into the hands of young people who still haven't mastered handwriting and social boundaries.

Learning from the Kiddos

Each day, I learn more and more from the kiddos who are now working almost exclusively on the cloud. We have build a trust between us that allows failure and success without reprisals. Some things we do work, some things we do don't. The beauty part has been that the more we've learned about Chromebooks and Google, the more willing we are to try new things and not be so quick to think we've met dead ends.

In addition, the students' work is becoming more sophisticated. Along with their blogs and notes, their use of databases has increased tremendously. The days of just Googling something have waned a bit.

Fall 2014

A new school year has begun and all the 6th grade students are getting Chromebooks. My research classes still have the ones I wrote the grant to get, but now my 6th grade students will have their own. Next year, all students will have them.

Initially, I can tell some students are more savvy than others. While having to walk some through the process of getting to their Drive to start and Share a Google Doc, others have already been there, Shared it, and are asking about embedding a Google Presentation they made at home over the summer into their Doc. What a wide spread of skills!

Oh My! Thank heaven the Google Site
is ready to go1

The research class has required me to adjust and, in some cases, delete, some of the lessons I routinely teach (or a should say, USED to routinely teach!). Since everyone is traveling at a different pace, I am grateful for the Google Site where all my classroom protocols, rubrics, handouts, and lessons exist. That is allowing for self-pacing and self-direction. Once that was a theory, but now that I see how broad apart the skill sets are, I am grateful for that piece of differentiation because, Oh My!, what would I do for those sitting around while I explain to one student how to find the apps grid, and then his/her /Drive?