MTS Community Council Proposal - BYOD Chromebooks

Proposal to transition from iPads to Chromebooks in the Mother Teresa School (MTS) Bring Your Own Device program in Years 4, 5 and 6 from 2023.

Why BYOD in the first place? Some history:

The purpose of the Bring Your Own Device program (BYOD) is about getting technology into the hands of all students and not relying on shared school devices. That all students in Years 4-6 would have access to a device that supports their learning and allows them to develop and apply Information Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge and skills, including digital citizenship, as per the ICT capability in the Australian Curriculum. The learning opportunities that technology promotes include:   

• communicating ideas in a variety of ways;
• problem solving and thinking critically;
• creativity and creating content;
• facilitating access to, management of, and sharing of information;
• collaboration among students and the global community.

When MTS began planning for and implementing a BYOD program in 2015/2016, iPads were chosen as the sole device due to their portability, functionality and features as a learning tool. The options for student appropriate devices were slim and iPads accomodated the purpose at the time. 

Since the inception of our BYOD program, a variety of devices have come onto the market and are better tailored to student learning needs. While these features and functions of iPads are still valuable and still have a place at Mother Teresa School, the feedback from teachers is that there are currently limitations on what can be achieved with iPads and more suitable devices should be explored and considered. 

The Years 3-6 teachers have noted the limitations of iPads: 

• Difficulty researching and switching between tabs.
• Recording information - while possible on an iPad, it’s not an ideal setup for students. 
• Not all websites and resources are compatible with iPads or best suited to iPad use, for example, Canva.
• Storage and accessibility of work.
• Students are not receiving the experience of typing on a full size keyboard which means students are going into high school without appropriate typing skills.

A set of 30 school laptops has been available to Years 4-6 for class use, but they are slow to load and log in. Chromebooks boot up in a matter of seconds, an attractive feature within the classroom setting, especially when compared to laptops.

Due to limited IT personnel to service and respond to technical issues and to streamline the classroom experience, MTS has restricted the number of device makes and types to one single device. Once the transition from iPad to Chromebook is complete, Chromebooks would be the only device for BYOD.

What are Chromebooks?

Chromebooks are light laptops that run Google-made software called ChromeOS. They do not have a hard drive, so everything is web-based, with a large amount of applications being available online. Student work is saved in Google Drive, in the cloud, which is accessible from home and school. 

Please note, we are not proposing to go with Chromebook tablets.

Chromebooks are currently being used in high schools as affordable BYOD devices. Students in ACT Government Schools are provided a Chromebook by the ACT Government for their high school years.

Most devices have a 3-5 year life span. Ideally these devices, if purchased new for Year 4, will see students through their primary school years and possibly into early high school.

The current Year 3 teachers will use a new set of school Chromebooks for classroom research and publishing purposes and thus will prepare students with Chromebook skills in preparation for Year 4.

Should the proposal to transition to Chromebooks be successful, Year 4, 5, 6 students would have access to shared banks of school iPads for tasks that require their features, for example, film making, animation, video recording, iMovies, Garage Band etc.

Comparison

How do Chromebooks compare to iPads?

Other Considerations - Local schools BYOD programs

Primary Schools

• Good Shepherd - BYOD iPad
• Holy Spirit - BYOD iPad

High schools

• JPC - BYOD iPad Years 7-9 then Mac or Windows laptop (not Chromebook)
• Daramalan - Mac or Windows laptop (not Chromebook)
• Merici - Mac or Windows laptop (not Chromebook) (BYOD or lease from school)
• ACT Government schools - Chromebook allocated to all students

So while our local Non-Government high schools are not currently utilising Chromebooks, the skills learnt by using a Chromebook are still valuable in preparation for using other laptops.

Moving Forward

We understand there will be a period of transition from iPads to Chromebooks. Families who currently have iPads available will still be able to use those in the BYOD program. We would ask if new devices were to be purchased, that it be a Chromebook.