Move Over Starbucks: You're Not the Only Wireless Game in Town

Like Starbucks and your local bookstore, Monmouth Regional is keeping up with the times and has gone wireless.

This is another advancement in MRHS technology, after every teacher was issued a laptop last year and SMART Boards (interactive whiteboards) were installed in every classroom this year.

The decision for student WI-FI was made so students could bring their laptops to school to do assignments and take paperless notes. Many teachers post notes and slideshows on their Web sites or on the school computer program, ClassLink. Having student WI-FI allows students to access these notes and add their own notes to them during class, instead of waiting to retrieve them when they get home.

It is very easy for students to gain access to the WI-FI; all they have to do is go to the technology department to register their laptops. This process only takes a few minutes and is free of charge. 

Teachers continue to project their slideshows and notes onto the SMART Boards during class, and students can access these resources from their home computers/laptops, so having a laptop in school is not mandatory. In fact, most students have, so far, continued to take notes the old-fashioned way, using a pen and paper.

Although the process is easy, many students haven't registered their laptops, in part due to the apprehension of having such a valuable item lost or stolen. Another big reason is that students don't want the added burden of carrying another thing along throughout the school day along with the required textbooks. Some students also might not have access to their own laptop to bring to school. Because some teachers aren't as likely to use their Web sites or other computer applications during their lessons, there isn't a need for the students to access WI-FI in those classes. 

This student WI-FI has great potential, though, in making MRHS a paperless building. With the increased usage of teacher Web sites in the future, and possibly online textbooks, this student WI-FI could gain popularity. Althoug student WI-FI has only been in existence for about a month and it hasn't reached its full potential, I am confident it will.