Google's Chromebook -- and by extension Chrome OS -- is being adopted by our education system at a brisk pace. As of February 2013 more than 2000 districts in the United States have deployed Chromebooks to their students and faculty. I've reported on Chromebooks before, but I wanted to take a deeper dive and explore the benefits as perceived by superintendents and IT directors. After all, these are the individuals investing considerable time, resources, and training to carry their schools into a mobile-based, cloud-connected future.
I was recently introduced to Dr. Lawrence Everett and Joshua Koen, respectively the interim superintendent and IT director at Passaic Public School District in New Jersey. The introduction came by way of CDW, a B2B technology provider assisting organizations like Passaic with comprehensive Chromebook deployments, from training to infrastructure preparation. It afforded me the perfect opportunity to examine the appeal of Chromebook and its impact throughout the various stages of deployment in schools.
Moreover, it occurs to me that the tech press covers Google, well, because they're Google. I figured some insight beyond just sales and statistics would be a refreshing change of pace. With that, please enjoy this interview with Mr. Koen and Mr. Everett.
How long have you been using Chromebooks in your district?
Joshua Koen: Around this time last year, we were looking to invest in a 1:1 program here in our district. We were looking at the kind of educational changes we wanted to see in our students and opportunities we wanted to provide to them. We looked at a number of different devices, we looked at best practices that were being implemented around a number of 1:1 districts that were doing this for a number of years. That was about the time the beta version, the Cr-48 version of the Chromebook came out and it really appealed to us...it's what we're calling a “right time” technology.
About 3 years ago we were looking at PC...Microsoft OS netbooks. Understanding the amount of support needed, virus protection, imaging, software, just a lot of maintenance that would be required.
You made the right call – the netbook ship has sailed at this point!
Joshua Koen: We look back at that time as a net benefit, that we did the research in terms of the pedagogical changes we wanted to do, but held off in terms of technology. It was a fad; it went up and it went down. And when the Chromebooks came out it provided a unique opportunity to fit our educational needs. Right before the PARCC assessments.
For people not familiar with PARCC, tell us a bit more about its importance.
Joshua Koen: Right. Beginning 2014 and 2015 a number of states -- 22 so far -- will be implementing online tests and assessments. Understanding that our students aren't accustomed to taking tests online -- and additionally it'll be on a different set of standards -- We felt the only way our teachers could prepare our students was through a digital learning environment.
It sounds like districts not adopting this are going to be doing serious catch up.
Dr. Lawrence Everett: It's a challenge for most of the districts as you can imagine. Most don't have the resources or the infrastructure to support this type of change.
So you have had this infrastructure in place for about a year?
Joshua Koen: Last year we did research, this year we're treating it as a "year zero" or a build year. We're heavily investing in our teachers by providing significant development.
Does it feel like they're embracing Chrome OS? Is there a noticeable learning curve with your teachers and students?
Dr. Lawrence Everett: There's definitely a learning curve, and it's going to require a change of our educational culture. Prior to the implementation what we have done is we've extensively trained a cadre of 50 teachers between our middle school and high school on the Chromebooks. It's professional development that continues – it started through the summer of last year, continuing through this academic year. We have plans for next year, because we just can't launch without having everyone on the same page.
Joshua Koen: The Chromebook has an elegant interface, and our folks are accustomed to working in browsers. That's where I believe most software is going. So our professional development hasn't been tool focused, but instructional and pedagogical focused. We feel that's where the investment needs to be. In terms of getting used to the Chromebook, we're about ready to deploy them in these pilot teacher classes. For the remainder of the year they're going to implement some of the lessons and activities they've created in preparation for next year which will be our "year 1." And year 1 will involve about 4700 students. We'll be the 2nd largest district in the US doing a Chromebook deployment.
Dr. Lawrence Everett: It's also important to note that it's an urban district with a student population of about 14,000.
Joshua Koen: Right, it's located about 15 minutes west of New York City, and about 3 square miles. And last year our free and reduced population was approximately 94%.
Apple's iPad doesn't make sense for students doing serious content production (Photo credit:... [+]
How do textbooks figure into all of this? Will there be a gradual adoption of ebooks? Where does your curriculum live?
Dr. Lawrence Everett: Right now we use textbooks but we're looking to phase in the use of ebooks, about 25% in the 2013-2014 year.
Joshua Koen: Our biggest focus is on the instructional changes. If we purchase e-textbooks without changing the way we do things, without leveraging the technology of an internet-connected device in every student's hand, where they have the ability to research, to collaborate, to access real time data, speak to experts around the world, create that home school connection...then we haven't done what we wanted to do.
“We're trying to avoid what we call the $1000 pencil." ~ Joshua Koen
Did you ever discuss adopting iOS and iPad?
Joshua Koen: Our educational needs drive our technical decisions. So we discussed what exactly did we want our students to achieve. We did look at iPads, and they're powerful in that it's a mature device, it has a tremendous battery life, but not having a keyboard is a deal breaker...in grades 7-12 a number of our students will be doing a lot of producing. In the younger grades the iPad might be a more appropriate device.
Having the Google Apps ecosystem baked into Chromebooks was important to us. You can't log on unless you have an account with Google, and we have our own domain. So that immediately logs you into the drive, the docs, the forms, and we've configured it so each teacher will share folders with their classes, students will submit their work there, sharing features are enabled...
Are the students required to have their own Google account, or is each account given to them by you?
Joshua Koen: When we procured the devices from CDW, they provided their “white glove” service to us, which enrolled every device into Google's management console. So we provide every student with an account, and they can use that account to see their grades, their assignments, their test scores, course materials, and they'll be able to email each other and their teachers just within our domain.
Can you discuss the security advantages of Chrome OS over Windows? That's a feature Google definitely touts as a highlight.
Joshua Koen: Chromebooks shine when it comes to security and deployment because of the ease of management. We've got the devices locked down so you can't log in unless you have a Passaic City account. And because you can't install anything, there's very little harm that come to it.
The Chromebook Management Console allows instant deployment of settings and apps to 1000s of devices
What about the Chrome Store? I would assume they have limited access there.
Joshua Koen: We enable the apps that we'd like to them to see. Right now we have teachers and administrators and principals reviewing these apps so that we can provide an app interface based on our curricular needs.
“We're also planning workshops for the parents around internet safety, because it's important they plan an integral role in this." ~Dr. Lawrence Everett
Is battery life ever an issue in the classroom? Most Chromebooks seem to peak at about 4 hours, correct?
Joshua Koen: The Samsung 550 Chromebook which is the model we went with, has about a 6 hour battery life. Next year we're looking at having students take the Chromebooks home, but we'll provide charging stations in every classroom in case a student forgets to bring their Chromebook to school charged. But just as our students are now expected to wear a uniform, we'll be expecting our students to bring their devices to school every day fully charged.
How has student reception been so far? Are they excited, are they curious?
Dr. Lawrence Everett: Extremely excited, as is the community. In fact (laughter) by mistake at our last Board of Education meeting, there was some misinformation that went out. Thinking that we were going to distribute the Chromebooks at that meeting! Needless to say we had to turn people away from that particular meeting...
Did you have to overhaul your network infrastructure in the schools? Was that a significant expense?
Dr. Lawrence Everett: Absolutely. Much of our resources for the past 2 years and moving forward have been allocated to the infrastructure to support this kind of initiative, but Mr. Koen can get into specifics.
Joshua Koen: We recognize that the education field is really one of the last strongholds not to fully adopt technology and infuse it in the variety of ways to make our job more efficient. And our job is to prepare our students for a career in college. Understanding that, we've heavily invested in our infrastructure, upgrading our networks, our switches, our wireless access points...
“The goal is that once these devices are deployed the technology becomes transparent, so that the conversation will be entirely focused on education and instruction.” ~Joshua Koen
Again, the reason we like the Chromebook is that not a lot of pieces can fail. They're connected to cloud accounts. If the device breaks, gets lost or stolen, the most important data is locked away on the cloud. So we loan the student another one, and they're up and running again just by logging in.
Do you have any criticisms of Chrome OS? Anything Google needs to do to increase the mind-share of Chromebooks in schools?
Joshua Koen: I think they're doing a nice job of advertising. One of the things I'd recommend they continue to focus on is the ease of management. The great thing about that management console is...we're able to deploy an app that we find to 1 or 5000 devices with a single click of a button.
The only suggestion I'd have is for Google to improve the user interface and provide more options in the management console. But it's understandable considering how new this product is. They're improving it and making changes on a daily basis.
Is there a cost to parents for the Chromebook deployment?
Dr. Lawrence Everett: There's going to be a minimum cost to parents. And that's to garner their support for the project and defray some of the insurance costs.
Joshua Koen: It goes back to us calling Chromebooks a right time technology. The PARCC assessments that are coming will require that every student take standardized tests on a computer. A lot of districts are very concerned that they're going to have the devices and infrastructure to support that. An even more critical item is ensuring students are prepared to be successful with those exams. And Chromebooks came out at the just the right time.
Joshua Koen
Joshua Koen is director for information technology at Passaic Public Schools District, Passaic, New Jersey. Koen also provides direction and leadership on the effective use of technology in the curriculum, including the use of 5,000 student computing devices. Follow Koen on Twitter @JoshuaKoen.
Dr. Lawrence E. Everett is interim superintendent of schools at Passaic Public Schools District, Passaic, New Jersey. Dr. Everett has worked for the district for more than 35 years, which he believes prepared him for the challenges of his current assignment. Follow the district on Twitter @PassaicSchools.
