In the episode below of The Chromebook Classroom Podcast, John Sowash interviewed Eric Griffith. Eric had some really great insights for going 1:1 with Chromebooks. Here are a few of my favorite things that are different from what we currently do at my school . . . but may consider adopting in the future:
- Mechanicsburg uses iPearl shells (under $20 each) and let kids select their color and apply stickers to them. This encourages increased student “ownership” of the device, which is an issue that we face at our school.
- At Mechanicsburg, Eric places a paper (rather than a label) under that colored transparent shell where student & device info are listed and, of more interest to me, space for badges are provided. We currently use printed mailing address labels for student information and have discussed ideas relating to badges. This is a cool way to implement this and make their successes visible.
- Students complete the GSuite training (formerly Synergyse) and perform other tasks (i.e., keyboarding) to earn badges. After completing portions of the training, Eric tracks down the student to congratulate them and give them their badge. This is a nice way to give merit to these important things that just don’t fit within the normal classroom constraints.
- Mechanicsburg families pay $50/year to protect the device and offset the repair costs for the district. After 4 years, the families get to keep device . . . or select to use it for a 5th year and avoid the $50 fee. This is a nice way to show reciprocation for the parents paying that protective fee over the years.
