At Prairie Ridge High School’s library, a different kind of book can now be checked out. A book with no paper or ink or pages. A book with no author or editor or publisher. A book made of metal and circuits and plastic: a Chromebook. As of Friday, November 30th, the library has thirty Samsung 550 edition Chromebooks that students can check out for use during a commons period. This use, however, is limited to anything you can access on the internet, which is to say, everything.
Senior George Wood, on the netbooks’ design, concludes that “the Chromebooks show that Google thinks of their clients – a lightning fast, cheap computer that exists solely for the internet? What more could you want?”
Mrs. Bland, Prairie Ridge librarian, explains that “the Chromebooks are here to enable more widespread access to Google Apps for Education, which we hope would in turn encourage more collaboration and research.” The collaboration she refers to is because of any Google Doc’s blue Share button which allows users to share a document with anyone if they know their email. Once a document is shared, both users can comment and edit online at anytime.
There a few differences between what users expect from a laptop and what we receive from a Chromebook. Despite these differences, however, sophomore Nick Czyzewicz describes the Chromebooks as “really great and easy to use.”
The first point of contrast is the login process. With the library’s Chromebooks, students have to log in twice: the first time to connect to the servers and the second time to log on to your Google apps account. This, according to Mr. Breeden, PR’s Technology Integration Specialist, is “just like logging on to the desktops first, and then when you open the internet you have to log on again to open Google apps.”
Once you are logged on, you will notice some obvious differences. The first is the keyboard; it’s missing some keys that you might be used to. There is no Caps Lock button, and in it’s place, a search key. When you press it, the Chromebook will automatically open a new tab and begin a Google search without the hand ever having to leave the keyboard.
Also, along the top of the keyboard where all of those “f” keys normally are, now there are buttons like ‘forward’ and ‘back’ as well as ‘refresh’ and ‘maximize.’ These all together make navigating the internet much simpler.
Instead of a ‘Start button’ at the bottom of the screen, there is a row of icons for new browser tabs, like Gmail, Google search, Youtube, and more apps. This means no more Googling Youtube and waiting for it to load, it is instead, right there on the bottom of the screen. Senior George Wood points out that in fact, it seems that “Youtube is what a lot of students would use the desktops for, but now they use the Chromebooks. So the desktops opened up a bit for the kids who actually work.”
There is, however, one downside to this new device within our library – it is not able to print. This could lead to problems for many people who may need to print a paper when all of the desktops are occupied. However, Mr. Breeden explains the reasoning behind it, “the point of Google Apps is collaboration. If we enable printing, people won’t use the share button as often.”
The Chromebooks offered up some interesting issues for the tech department, which is why they are available now instead of the beginning of the year. Mr. Breeden laughs that “we wanted them to be out in the beginning of the year along with Google Apps for Education but unfortunately, due to technical problems that wasn’t possible.”
The first obstacle was that Chromebooks “are designed for one person to use,” he continues. This leads to a dilemma when the school’s intent is for hundreds of users throughout the day. This is why the double login is necessary. Secondly, the Chromebooks required the installation of another, specific type of wireless router in the library because of the high traffic. This means that the Chromebooks will not work if you leave the library.
When asked about the future of the technology at PR, Mr. Breeden explained, “our eventual goal is not at all to have a Chromebook in the hand of every student. It is to have something in the hands of every student. We hope teachers will incorporate technology into the curriculum.”
This means that teachers are being asked to come up with ideas that would incorporate the technology we do have, as well as technology that we don’t. This would lead to less wasted technology, because according to Mr. Breeden, “there is nothing worse than pushing out technology only to see it sit in the back of the classroom.”
Next time you need to work on a paper, or just want to watch a Youtube video, don’t go over to the library’s desktops. Instead, walk over to the circulation desk and ask “can I check out a …Chromebook?”