Goodbye Big Chief tablet, say hello to Chromebook

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    “Click on this, then you click yes to mark it, and  then you hit turn in, and it turns it in to the teacher and she can see if it was late or not.”    
    Eighth grader Bruce Burttschell clicks around on his screen instead of pulling crumpled papers out of his backpack. His homework was assigned, completed, and turned in digitally. The days of 20-pound knapsacks and rushing to lockers between classes are over at Ganado ISD as students and teachers are making the jump to technology-based learning and lesson storage with a program called eBackpack, which works hand in hand with the new Chromebook program. In addition to parental controls blocking inappropriate content, teachers and administrators can use software called Go Guardian, a monitoring system for Chromebook which allows teachers to oversee what students are doing online in real time.
    “From where they’re at, teachers can see every kid’s Chromebook and what they’re on,” said Jenny Nelson, Ganado ISD director of technology, “If Johnny is going to YouTube and he’s not supposed to, they can lock that screen.”
    Students like Bruce are learning in a different era than their parents and grandparents. School supply lists are shorter, backpacks are lighter, and textbooks are on a screen. Every student in sixth through 12th grade at Ganado ISD is issued a Chromebook, with eBackpack and Go Guardian at the ready, and while change can be difficult for some, learning in a different era means being prepared to navigate a different world than past generations, too. Today’s children are set to graduate into a world where a pen and paper will be considered archaic, at least, and possibly obsolete.
    The consensus at Ganado ISD is that the Chromebook program is wildly successful. The benefits are numerous. Students don’t lose their homework, they can revisit old homework to help study, and parents can log in and see exactly what their child is doing, where they’re struggling and excelling, and more. There is even peer-to-peer chat for group study and homework help online.
    Bruce’s creative writing teacher D’Anna Long, said grading is quicker and easier.
    “It has saved the workload on us in terms of paperwork,” she said, “and then we can go back to it and see what they did.”
    Thanks to eBackpack’s color coding system, students can see when their assignments’ due dates are approaching, and so much more. 
    While elementary students are not issued Chromebooks, there are sets in every classroom for use during the school day, and Susie Pape’s third grade class used them on Sept. 21 for the first time, with wild enthusiasm.
    “They’re so excited,” said Pape, over the delighted chatter and giggles of her third graders, “Excited about learning.”
    Any educator will tell you that getting students excited about learning is no small feat. Times are changing, and while some are reluctant to embrace technology, Ganado ISD is embracing what they see as the future of learning.