During the 2007-2008 school year, Maine Township High School District 207 contacted Google about using the Google Apps for Education suite. As a result of this, District 207 became Google’s first K-12 partner and has worked closely with Google on the development of G Suite ever since, providing incredibly useful online learning and collaboration tools for students and staff in District 207 and for millions of additional students and teachers around the world. As Google moved from providing its online software products to supporting hardware with Android and Chrome OS, District 207 continued to examine these solutions alongside hardware solutions from other companies.
Since the 2013-2014 school year, students in District 207 have had their own Chromebooks. Key benefits of having Chromebooks in the hands of each student include:
- Information in students’ hands – Students now have direct access to the world’s information, and they can be charged with the higher-level tasks of finding information, evaluating this information, and synthesizing this information in order to solve complex problems.
- Shift to electronic books – Even with the cost of Chromebooks included, the shift to electronic instructional resources on average saves students and families hundreds of dollars annually and provides access to far more up-to-date and diverse resources.
- Real-time feedback to improve learning – With Chromebooks in the hands of all students, teachers create and use online assessment tools to quickly collect information on what students know and can do and to make quick adjustments to learning based on this information.
- Opportunities to learn & practice workplace skills – Using real, 21st Century tools, students have opportunities to learn and practice real life skills that will be used far beyond the classroom. Ranging from managing one’s time and tasks and organizing digital resources, students learn strategies on critical workplace skills.
- Each school maintains a ChromeDepot, which is technology service center staffed by voluntary student technicians and members of the District 207 Technology Team. In this environment, students and staff benefit from the additional support, and student workers benefit from learning critical customer service and technical skills.
- For more information please visit your school’s ChromeDepot page:
More information about Chromebooks in District 207