The Lenovo X131e Chromebook

For the past few weeks, I’ve been testing the Lenovo X131e Chromebook.  For the most part, when folks hear “Chromebook”, they think of the $249 Samsung Chromebook. We’ve bought some of the Samsung models for testing and I’m impressed with the price, but not really that impressed with the product.

Why wouldn’t we want the cheaper model? Wouldn’t it mean that we’d get more devices?  It’s true that we’d get more devices for our money, but my concern is durability.  The Samsung models are smaller and lighter…. in fact, light enough to present some issues to the screens when they are accidentally dropped.  Although the Lenovo model is thicker and heavier than the Samsung models, its strength is durability.  They’ve built the frame and corners to be rugged and durable.  Another area of concern on the Samsung model is the power adapter, which is an extremely narrow metal connector.  We’re seeing them get bent or even worse… bending while connected to the device which breaks the ability to recharge the laptop.

So what does all this mean? Are we returning the Samsung models?  We’re not returning the Samsung model that we have, we’re just at the point where we think it’s wise idea to buy several different models so that we can see how the durability pans with real student usage.

Why is the district even looking at Chromebooks? Do you expect that Chromebooks will replace all other computers?  No, Chromebooks won’t replace all other models. Instead, it’s another tool that’s available to help provide more affordable access to basic Internet browsing and word processing.  Here’s another great resource that explains the 6 reasons educators are choosing Chromebooks. 

Using Duolingo to avoid the summer slide with foreign languages

Looking for a way to avoid the summer time slide that happens to your kids with their foreign language?

I was certainly looking to avoid this with my kids… so back in June I started checking out various websites and apps for practicing foreign languages.  Here’s the reasons we choose Duolingo….

#1: It’s  a game.
I made an account for everyone in the family – which allowed me as a parent, to quickly see how everyone is progressing. It’s amazing what happens when your score are displayed against the rest of the family, the competitive drive comes out in everyone.  Kids love to play games and apparently there’s huge power in fake virtual gold coins.  Of course, at the time I wrote this, I’m sitting in third place and have some work ahead of me…

#2: Available on multiple devices.
You can practice on a laptop, iPhone, iTouch, or iPad – which is great. The kids could use any device they wanted to access their account…. pick your screen size and get to it!

#3: Multiple pathways to success
When kids hit a barrier… they can back down to “practice” mode where they can still earn points – but also gain experience to help them prepare for the next level.  That’s the problem we found with other sites/apps, if there isn’t multiple paths to success, they want to stop using the product.

#4: Notifications
To help spark their competitiveness, Duolingo sends daily reminders to both encourage them to practice as well as to acknowledge when they have practiced and improved.  In addition, it sends a reminder to you to let you know when your friends have passed your score.

#5: It’s FREE
Yes, that’s right… it’s completely free. No cost to use the website, the apps… no charges at all.

Here’s a few more screen shots to show you what Duolingo is like…..