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.
The “Learning…Anytime, Anywhere” program is a one-to-one initiative, meaning each 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 M.S. 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 is simply a device that runs the Chrome web browser, and is used to easily access the web and all its vast resources.
“The use of the Chromebook will engage students in critical thinking, online collaboration and communication skills they need to become college and career ready,” said Esposito. “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. 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.”
Chromebooks are currently being used in a pilot program called Compass Learning in East Lake third 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.
“We are on our third year of using a learning management system and in our second year of using the Google Apps for Education domain,” said executive assistant for digital curriculum support and development. Jenny Steigerwald. “Those two platforms give us efficient access to web-based tools we need to meet the needs of our instructional programs.”
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 ninth grade in September, and grades 10-12 in September 2016. More information is available on the Berner webpage of the district website.
