1:1 computing has often been seen as a "nirvana" of teaching. We all want it. The big question that still needs to be answered (at least in my eyes) is whether or not we can make a difference in student engagement and progress using this technology. I want to believe that it can. The next two years will be proof of that.
While each student in my classroom will have a Chromebook, most of them have either a smartphone or iPod and many of them have a personal tablet. Rather than restrict my students just to a Chromebook, I'm encouraging that they continue to use their other devices in conjunction with the Chromebook.
In my own teaching I continue to use multiple devices throughout the course of a day. I'm not necessarily a fan of a laptop style computer for when I'm involved in active teaching or assessing with students. I find the laptop to be almost a "barrier" to the conversation that we're having. The kids are so interested in what I'm typing that they cannot focus on the task at hand.
When I work with my students, I'll often show up at their table (I have five tables in my room with six students around each table) and roll my chair right in to be a part of the crowd. For this, I find my phone (an iPhone 6 Plus that has the most gorgeous big screen!) or an iPad suits my needs. These devices do what I need them to do - capture work and discussions at the point of creation. A laptop would get in the way of that. My phone or tablet is perfect for snapping photographs and annotating those photos with voice recordings or ink. My dream device would be a Microsoft Surface 3 for this purpose. It's portable and you can yank off the keyboard and use that fantastic pen to conduct your annotations. However, if you learn how to sync up your iOS devices with Google then it's almost as effective.
When I teach (remember that I'm a math teacher and you cannot get away from showing kids effective algorithms and direct teaching), I simply connect my iPad to an Apple TV which is connected to my eighty inch (!) TV. I use a JOT pen with the iPad and OneNote to ink. This allows me the flexibility to move around my room and teach. I'm not fixed at the front of the room.
Where does a Chromebook or laptop fall into this? After the students are gone and I'm left to planning and assessment, I can take the notes that I made "on the fly" and I put those into a published piece. That requires a keyboard. Again, the Surface is a good choice because you can simply add a keyboard. While I can do that with my iPad, and there is a fantastic Google Drive, Classroom, and Docs app for this device, I'd rather work in the "pure" Google environment. The Chromebook works great as it runs Google Chrome and has the keyboard. The best part - it's the best $200 out there! That's one area where Surface can't compete (at least not yet).
So, my plan for my students is for them to almost be "platform agnostic". It's not about having an iOS device or a Google device or a Microsoft device. It's about them choosing the right tool for the job. You wouldn't hammer a picture nail with a sledge hammer would you (....OK, maybe you would if you're desperate but you sure as heck would be inefficient!). Sometimes you have to choose what's more effective for the job.
Our journey begins this week. On deck for 7S and 7P is self-assessment using Google Drive apps. We'll see which devices the students use most often during that process.
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