What students think of the 1:1 chromebook roll out in Council Bluffs, Iowa

As part of our district’s 1:1 study, we recently sent a team to visit the 1:1 roll out at Council Bluffs School District in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The visit included a lot of opportunity for student interaction such as a student panel discussion, tours led by students, and opportunities to talk with students in classrooms.   Here are some of the most frequent comments we heard from students….

1. I am so much better organized, I take better notes, I keep better track of my assignments. I don’t lose things like I did before.

2. Collaborations is so much easier now.

3. Teachers are more accessible – and the learning is much more personalized

4. Revision history in Google Docs is HUGE. Students felt that collaborative projects can truly take place with revision history because the entire team can CLEARLY see what each member of the team has done.  This impacts group work and collaborative projects, as many students commented that they used to hate group projects, but that it’s different now due to revision history.

5. Student commented that they receive more immediate feedback, which they felt was important and is so much easier when its done electronically.

6.  Student response:  “I get a lot more feedback on my writing. Teachers highlight the section in question and provide feedback… it’s so easy to see what they think and it helps guide me. In addition, there are a lot of papers where I get clear feedback from other students as well as the teacher.”

7.  Their biggest frustration….  occasional issues with connecting to the Internet.

8. What if you go home and you don’t have Internet access? What good is the Chromebook then?  Response:  We use the many offline features -so we are still able to access our Google Docs and Slides to be able to continue our work even without Internet access.

9. We love that we can close the lid on the Chromebook, and when we open it back up, it turns back on quickly and easily – so no time is wasted.

10. If you could change anything about the Chromebook, what would you change?  #1 response:  ability to download iTunes.

 

Also visit:  My notes from visiting 1:1 Chromebooks at Council Bluffs Schools