News Photo by Julie Goldberg Sixth-graders at Thunder Bay Junior High School use their Chromebooks on Friday. Alpena Public Schools went one-to-one with Chromebooks for all sixth- and ninth-graders in the project-based learning courses at Alpena High School.

ALPENA — Students are able to use technology now more than ever before, both in and out of the classroom, because of how fast technology is growing and building in popularity.

School districts in Northeast Michigan are noticing that desktop computers and dedicated computer labs are slowly becoming a thing of the past as administrators give students the ability to use different devices both at school and outside of school.

ALPENA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Every Alpena Public Schools student has access to a Chromebook, which is an affordable laptop computer from Google, during the school day. Paul Mancine, director of operational technology for APS, said a change in curriculum was a major reason why the district pushed to have more Chromebooks and fewer desktop computers.

“The push started about four to five years ago,” Mancine said.

Mancine said there are 3,900 Chromebooks and 700 desktop computers in the district for approximately 3,800 students. He said the Chromebooks are spread throughout the schools in carts.

Though there are still 700 desktop computers scattered throughout the district, Mancine said those are slowly going away.

“We’ve gone down a lot in desktops the past few years,” Mancine said. “Labs are slowly being taken out.”

All sixth-graders and ninth-graders who are in the high school’s project-based learning courses have the ability to take their Chromebooks home.

With so many Chromebooks and desktops throughout the district, the district’s WiFi has to be capable of accommodating many devices. Mancine said the district recently upgraded its WiFi infrastructure and there are now 175 WiFi access points throughout the district.

“We do a district-level analysis of the WiFi every year,” Mancine said.

Teachers in the district also have their own Chromebooks. Those have been spread out to teachers the past couple of years, Mancine said.

Mancine said classroom projectors vary in age still in use throughout the district. He said the district is moving away from teachers using smartboards –interactive white boards — to more who use Chromecast, a wireless way to show or share items between them and students.

The student’s Chromebooks have the ability to project items on a screen and share what they are presenting.

ALCONA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

At Alcona Community Schools, the 700 students have access to a Chromebook. Superintendent Dan O’Connor said the elementary school is one-to-two for Chromebooks, meaning one computer for every two students, with carts available for classes to use.

Every sixth- through eighth-grader has access to a Chromebook, O’Connor said. High school students have their own Chromebooks that they can take to each class. Students are also able to take their Chromebook home so they can continue learning.

Alcona graduating seniors have the option to keep their Chromebook.

“They can keep it and take it to college or use it in the workplace,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor said the Chromebook initiative has been going on for four years. He said the district is on a cycle of replacing the machines every four to six years, so the district can stay updated on software.

Students have access to WiFi at school, with a secured filter so school officials can monitor what students are doing on their Chromebooks.

O’Connor said the district improved its infrastructure so it can handle all the Chromebooks and desktop computers.

“We want to drive the learning for our students,” O’Connor said. “We’re going to continue working on it because technology is always a work in progress.”

A couple of Alcona’s school buses are also equipped with WiFi, so students can work on homework, do research, or work on school papers while they travel to and from school.

ATLANTA COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

At Atlanta Community Schools, Carl Seiter, superintendent of both Atlanta and Hillman Community Schools, said the estimated 230 students have access to both Chromebooks and desktops.

There are mobile carts of Chromebooks for the students to use. Seiter thinks the district isn’t looking at going one-to-one right now, but probably will in the next year.

Seiter said districts have to look hard at a rotation on devices to make sure that students and teachers don’t have any issues running software.

“Technology is a funny thing,” Seiter said. “When you talk five years’ worth of time on technology, you’re probably looking at outdated equipment. Even though it functions, software is constantly upgraded to demand more of the device running it.”

HILLMAN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

Hillman Community Schools, a district of around 430 students, has worked toward one-to-one computing for a number of years, Seiter said. He said the district’s infrastructure was upgraded this summer to be able to handle more devices.

Seiter wants to update Hillman’s computer labs, and he said the district just got rid of computers that had floppy discs –technology that was literally decades old.

There are three other computer labs that have to be upgraded.

Seiter said the plan is to go to one-to-one, but he needs to figure out which grades get devices first and when students can take devices home.

“My mindset is going sixth through 12 to allow them to take Chromebooks home and basically, upon graduation, they would be able to keep the device and we’ll just replace grade by grade,” he said.

At the elementary school, Seiter said the plan is looking at one-to-one, but not letting students take the Chromebooks home. He said that needs to be looked into further.

Seiter said the district is seeing older devices starting to falter, so a replacement schedule needs to be made.

With the infrastructure upgrade, wireless access points were increased in both buildings, from eight to 10 in each building to more than 20 in each.

“That also increases our capacity for testing in the springtime,” he said. “That was a huge improvement.”

Seiter said teacher workstations are something he wants upgraded. He wants to get the teachers laptops so they are able to take work home.

“Right now, they’re just stationary workstations,” Seiter said.

POSEN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS

Posen Consolidated Schools Superintendent Michelle Wesner said the district has Chromebooks, iPads, Kindles, laptops, and desktop computers for its 220 students to use. Students can write papers, make PowerPoint presentations, or do any other school work on the devices.

Wesner said the district recently received a donation of 19 Chromebooks and a cart. She said the district is fortunate to have support from the community.

Wesner said WiFi in the district is always available for students to use and can support all the devices used throughout the school day.

“We provide the most up-to-date and accurate items for students,” Wesner said. “To engage technology in education is important and giving them so many options is also important.”

ROGERS CITY AREA SCHOOLS

Around 540 students at Rogers City Area Schools have four mobile carts of laptops available for its use, Superintendent Nicholas Hein said.

In addition to the four carts, the district’s Board of Education recently purchased $78,000 worth of mobile laptops through a sinking fund, supported by property taxes. Hein said the district is fortunate to have the community support its focus on technology.

“We can do all of this through our sinking fund,” he said.

Hein said the district’s elementary school is fully equipped with smartboards, laptops, and carts, and classrooms are equipped with printers, which makes it convenient for teachers and students.

“We also have a complete Mac room, which is for the Yearbook students, because of the high resolution photos that they can create,” he said.

WiFi in the district is very reliable, Hein said, and there’s an in-house server that can support all the laptops.

Rogers City teachers all have brand-new laptops, Hein said.

“It’s important to continue to provide the classrooms with better equipment to help the students succeed,” Hein said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.