Included in the American Rescue Plan funding through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Emergency Connectivity Fund Program (ECF), we submitted a grant to close the homework gap. We received $106,000 to purchase new HP Chromebooks for students!
FCC’s Emergency Connectivity Fund Program is a new program that funds schools to help cover the costs of laptop and tablet computers and Wi-Fi hotspots for off-campus use by students, school staff, and library patrons.
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The middle school continues to improve the One-to-One Google Chromebook program and over the past seven months, a new appreciation is forming for the availability and learning possibilities that they provide. Chromebooks are becoming an industry-standard device, are affordable, durable, and make up over half of the devices shipped to the K-12 education market. Building on similar One-to-One computing environments at both Florence Roche and Swallow Union, middle school students are responsible for their assigned Chromebook, following core values connected to positivity, integrity, and respect. Read more…
Just a sample of what I began to work on for a building based, 1:1 program at our middle school.
For this school year, we are excited to share that the Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School will launch a 1:1 program employing Google Chromebooks during the school day. Read more…
About a year ago, I came across impressive resources on Google Apps for Education provided by Jeff Utecht on The Thinking Stick website titled, “Become a Google Apps Ninja.” Now I had heard educators having the ability to become Google Certified, a program I would like to complete myself, however the concept of opening this up to students blew my mind. My first thought was, “how can I get this program into my school?” Having students develop online search skills as well has the ability to communicate (online) and troubleshoot is nearly as important as the underlying material the students will learn. Giving students the ability to “fish” will open many more doors with technology. I was sold instantly. Read more…
As a power-user and administrator of Google Apps for Education, the availability of extracting my work stored in various Google products is an important option. Although the school owns access to the account, all content, notes and hard work over the years is the end-users. Google has addressed a growing concern of many schools and made it quite easy to download a copy of your work using a simple tool. Users often transition either by graduating or leaving school and as the administrator of the Google Apps for Education program, rather than delete accounts and associated data, it is important that I offer every user the ability to save their content. Read more…