If we look to 2013 we were just starting to make plans for tech in our schools. getting ready for the iPads that would soon be in our schools, and only 2 years later the chromebook was on the rise. Technology has many benefits such as new learning opportunities, students being able to learn at their own pace, and a well of information, though some skeptics still remain.

Technology is quickly becoming a part of everyday life elsewhere so, many say it belongs with kids in school as well. According to Mrs. Derosier, kids up to 4th grade don’t really need technology. But after that, kids should work with it because it’s so much part of their world now. She added that it’s important for kids to learn social skills early on in life, without technology. Tech is a big part of our world nowadays, and kids do need to learn social skills before technology. I think it’s fairly obvious, that, these days, technology is apart of everything, from our homes, to our jobs, and more importantly our information resources. And according to Ana Learman, she said that she feels like technology has impacted her, saying that when she goes home after a long day at school, or in between classes, even before the teacher starts talking she’ll just play on her phone if she feels like it.

But, if we need technology in our schools; why the chromebook? When we asked Mrs. Derosier, she replied that she didn’t feel chromebooks were a good choice, but a necessary choice, because of a few key factors. She noted that the main reason the chromebook was chosen was because of cost. Chromebooks are growing in the education market for two reasons: cost and size. Chromebooks are roughly one third of the price of the average Macbook and clock it in at just $191. The other reason is their size. The average chromebook is very light, perfect for carrying around the school.

However Mrs. Derosier had a very large reason that she didn’t like the chromebook: applications. Because its producer, Google, it doesn’t have the same applications as the average windows or mac computer. That means no excel, or word, which is a deal breaker for her since she teaches business and tech, and relied on excel and word for many years. Instead of this, students must use onedrive to access these programs, which both serves the same purpose of the average microsoft computer, and manages to make reaching its purpose infinitely more clunky and difficult. When we asked Ana Learman, a 8th grader, she said that she found the chromebook okay, but definitely not what she would have chosen if she had been a part of the decision.