Perrysburg expands laptop program

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PERRYSBURG – Teachers and students have successfully woven individual laptops into their classroom
culture, and the district is expanding its technology program after the first year.
Dubbed "1:1" after the even ratio of students to computers, the program awarded Macbook Air
laptops to freshmen and Samsung Chromebooks to students in grades 5 and 8 this year.
Now, administrators are looking at new models and assigning computers to grades 6, 7 and 10. Current
ninth-graders will keep their Macbooks, with new computers purchased for incoming freshmen and their
Chromebooks being distributed to younger students.
The Chromebook model is being tweaked, with the district opting for a more "rugged" Lenovo,
rather than this year’s Samsung computers. The Lenovos offer more durability for an extra $100 per unit,
said Brent Schafer, director of technology.
The new computers will cost just short of $629,000, Schafer said. The purchase is funded with money from
an operating levy. Computers cost $563,600 in 2013.
At Monday’s school board meeting, three teachers detailed their experiences encouraging students to use
devices in class, rather than locking them down. Each reported that the 1:1 program has transformed the
classroom experience and had a positive impact on student learning.
"It has been a really transformative type of experience for myself as a teacher and for the students
as well," said ninth-grade instructor Chris Lake.
Lake said the program fosters communication, collaboration and creativity in the classroom of his AP
government courses. It allows him to share articles and links through the district’s online Schoology
platform, administer quizzes in a fraction of the time and provide instant feedback, he said.
"The communication with students is pretty much instantaneous."
And when storms repeatedly canceled school this winter, Lake was able to post assignments for students to
do from home.
"We were able to continue to do work while the kids were at home, supposedly enjoying a snow
day," he said.
Maureen Gerber said each student having a computer has allowed her to more effectively teach French to
her eighth-graders.
Before this school year, administering oral exams sometimes took the better part of three classroom days.
Now, students each use their computer and a microphone to record the assignment all at once, and the
process, albeit without grading, takes about 20 minutes.
Gerber said she now assigns such exercises more frequently, which makes for good practice for the
year-end exam which features similar work.
"It’s an absolutely wonderful addition to foreign language education," she said of the 1:1
program.
Ashley Brown, a fifth-grade math and science teacher, showed a video of students using a discussion board
feature and sharing what they like about using Chromebooks in their classes.
Brown said she uses the online platform to assign problems that are explained step-by-step, and she’s
been impressed with how students work through problems in collaboration. They share notes and can often
explain where each other made a mistake, such as during an exercise in reducing fractions that was
included in the video.
"Having Chromebooks has changed the way I teach my students and has changed the way that I run my
classroom," Brown said, noting that parents can access anything on the school platform, which often
leads them to view class materials in order to better help their children with homework.

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