Berner Issues Chromebooks for 'Anytime, Anywhere' Learning

A new digital dawn is shining on Berner Middle School. As part of Massapequa School District’s “Learning…Anytime, Anywhere” initiative, all seventh- and eighth-grade students will soon be issued Chromebooks as a way to access a host of web-based educational tools that will help them advance and succeed as 21st century learners.

During three parent meetings, Berner staff and district administrators recently explained to parents the benefits of learning with mobile technologies, like the Chromebook, as well as the procedures and responsibilities associated with their distribution. The “Learning…Anytime, Anywhere” program is a one-to-one initiative, meaning each Berner student will be assigned a Chromebook as a primary instructional tool. They will bring their assigned Chromebook to each class, as well as home, with parent approval.

“This is something we’re really charged up about,” said Berner Middle School Principal Jason Esposito. “The landscape of education today is to provide tools that are mobile and web based; it’s a natural progression of the 21st century classroom.”

A Chromebook isn’t a laptop; it’s not a computer. It’s simply a device that runs the Chrome web browser, and is used to easily access the web and all its vast resources. Its use will “help bring 21st century learning to the forefront by engaging students in critical thinking, online collaboration, and communication skills they need to become college and career ready,” Esposito explained. “Students can communicate with each other and get immediate feedback from the teacher, which helps customize learning for each student.”

With Chromebooks, there’s no need for software, virus controls or to save your documents. Work is saved automatically in a secure cloud-based environment managed by the District.

Chromebooks also start up quickly because there are no programs or software slowing it down, which makes for optimal use of time in the classroom. An eight-hour battery life allows for a full-day of use in the classroom.

“We are now in an educational environment where teachers and students working together on mobile devices is commonplace and it’s beautifully efficient,” said Bob Schilling, executive director for student data and technology services. There are approximately a dozen local school districts who have already implemented one-to-one environments and we have picked their brains to death….It’s great to be able to learn from them.”

Through years of exploring technologies, the district has conducted numerous pilot programs to find what best aligns with the district’s needs, according to Jenny Steigerwald, executive assistant for digital curriculum support and development. Chromebooks are currently being used in a pilot program called Compass Learning in East Lake third grade-grade classrooms and in seventh- and eighth-grade math support classes at Berner as a way to boost understanding and mastery of material by aligning instruction based on a student’s Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) test results. Students started by working at their achievement level and have been building skills from there.

In other technologies, Steigerwald said, “We are on our third year of using a learning management system, which is one-stop shopping for students for all academic assignments, drop boxes, etc., and in our second year of using the Google Apps for Education domain, which is a suite of tools for extensive collaboration, creation and publishing which are all strong components of the state curriculum standards,” she said. “Those two platforms give us easy and efficient access to web-based tools we need to meet the needs of our instructional programs today. With that in mind, the next natural step is to provide efficient access to our students on a regular, daily basis. This is where our Learning…Anytime, Anywhere one-to-one program comes in.”

Distribution of Chromebooks to Berner students will take place over the next month and a half. The devices will be collected in June, and students will receive the same device when they return in September. The program is planned to expand to grade 9 in September, and grades 10-12 in September, 2016. More information is available on the Berner webpage of the district website. Simply click on the Learning Anytime, Anywhere banner to the right of the page.

Submitted by Massapequa Schools

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