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Thousands of local students are getting computers and tablets to use this month, as schools race to take advantage of a technology boom that has already changed how we work, pay bills and socialize in the 2010s.
The roughly 7,000 students in Kettering City Schools will each have their own computer or tablet to use by next week in an effort funded by an $8.3 million state grant. Kindergarten and first-grade students will get a tablet with attachable keyboard, while second-graders and beyond will receive a Chromebook laptop. Only middle school and high school students will be allowed to take them home.
Kettering joins Beavercreek, Bellbrook, Piqua and several Catholic schools in creating “1-to-1” programs, in which each student, either school-wide or in selected grades, has their own computer or tablet. Chaminade Julienne’s program, called Connected Classroom, enters its third year this week.
“We have to do this. The world is a technology-driven world,” said CJ assistant principal Steve Fuchs. “If we’re not doing this, we’re not serving our students.”
Fuchs said CJ’s program aims to teach students technology skills before they go to college, but also helps improve the educational process while they’re still in high school. Kettering schools’ chief technology officer Chris Merritt agreed, pointing to math, language arts and other applications that come loaded on the computers.
Without widespread school computer access, a struggling student might get math homework on a Tuesday morning, complete it on paper that night, turn it in Wednesday, and get it back, graded by the teacher on Thursday. If the student didn’t understand the concept, there’s the potential for a two-day lag before the teacher is able to intervene.
Ideally, in a computerized classroom, students could do the first five problems that Tuesday in class, with the software immediately grading it and reporting to the teacher which students struggled, allowing for quick, personalized help.
“Our teachers will be able to individualize instruction for students more than ever before,” Merritt said. “We don’t look at technology as the solution to every problem. It’s just another tool. It takes great teachers using the technology in ways that help our students reach their full potential.”
A Dayton Daily News survey of 28 local districts and schools revealed that very few offer a program where each student is assigned a computer. But many schools are moving in that direction.
Carroll High School is launching its program this year, with freshmen and sophomores getting computers. Greeneview is trying a pilot program for high school Advanced Placement students. Piqua is starting at the other end of the spectrum, using a Straight-A grant to pay for computers for kindergarten and first-graders.
In Bellbrook, each fifth- through eighth-grader will get a computer to take home, and third- and fourth-graders will have them at school only.
Bellbrook Middle School principal Jenness Sigman said last year’s limited pilot program was “a huge success,” helping the school go more paperless, streamlining communication and assignments through the Google Classroom program. That allowed students to report bullying and social problems more easily, and even allowed students who were out of school sick or on vacation to work remotely on group projects.
“The big thing with the kids is organization,” Sigman said. “They just have to carry their Chromebook. … There’s no, ‘I lost my paper.’ It’s all saved on the computer.”
Nash Infanto, a Kettering Fairmont freshman, said last year in middle school, computer use was fairly limited.
“In reading class we would only use computers to take tests on books, and in math we would use it to do flashcard-like problems, but that was about it,” he said. “I’m excited to see how the teachers involve using the Chromebooks, and I’m looking forward to not carrying around all the textbooks.”
Merritt said Kettering will expect teachers to incorporate the computers into their classrooms, adding that the interactive approach of some of the software keeps kids engaged. The district also purchased video tutorial programs for students or parents who aren’t as tech savvy. Filtering software prevents students from going to inappropriate internet sites, or emailing with anyone other than students and teachers via school email.
Schools don’t have to go fully 1-to-1 to have an impact, as numerous districts wheel carts of laptop computers into classes when they are needed. Sabrina Woodruff, director of instructional services for Xenia schools, said the district struggled for years with old computers that had failing batteries.
A recent investment gave the schools new Chromebooks. Fourth-grader Reagan Hammond said she likes playing math and science games now that the computers are faster and more reliable.
Along with its Chromebook initiative, Kettering also added a large-screen, high-definition videoconferencing system in each school. Instructional Services Director Dru Miller said that could open several doors — field trip-like video lessons with participating museums, multi-school teacher training without leaving the school, or middle school students taking high school classes without having to ride a bus.
Fuchs said based on CJ’s experience, Kettering likely will still be learning and finding new uses for the technology in a few years. As each teacher finds a feature that is useful for them, they get more engaged.
Fuchs cited a social studies teacher who had students of varying reading levels, some of whom struggled with the textbook. But the online version has a feature that changes the wording of the text to a sixth- or seventh-grade reading level (rather than ninth), without changing the content being learned.
“This is the way school is done now,” Fuchs said. “But we spent eight years telling kids you cannot have your cell phone out. You cannot have your computer open. You have to write on this worksheet. … Now we’re changing our culture.”
Staff writer Rachel Murray contributed to this report.
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