350 Chromebooks Going Out to All Grade 8 Students From Jan 4 to 6

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Chromebook student by Jeff Billings 912-28-16 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PVUSD_student_using_GoogleApps.jpg

Photo by Jeff Billings, IT Director, Paradise Valley Unified School District

A student with a Chromebook laptop at the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 2011.

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Darien Public Schools will be distributing Chromebooks to all Middlesex eighth graders in early January as part of the district’s 4-year technology plan.

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— This article is a slightly edited version of  a Dec. 19 announcement to parents of Grade 8 students from Darien Public Schools.

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As part of the plan, Darien Public Schools started issuing Chromebooks for home-school use to Grade 6 & 7 Middlesex students. Through a district-wide redistribution of Chromebooks, a complete set of devices became available for Grade 8.

Given the benefits, a decision was made to move forward with assigning these devices to Grade 8 students for home and school use.

A Grade 8 Parent Workshop is being planned for January 2017 at Middlesex Middle School; date and time to be confirmed.

The upcoming 8th Grade roll-out will involve the distribution of more than 350 Chromebooks over three days — January 4, 5, and 6, 2017.

Chromebook student by Jeff Billings 912-28-16 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PVUSD_student_using_GoogleApps.jpg

Photo by Jeff Billings, IT Director, Paradise Valley Unified School District

A student with a Chromebook laptop at the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Scottsdale, Ariz. in 2011.

Teams will be assigned a distribution day prior to the holiday break. The current plan is to collect the Chromebooks at the end of the school year. […]

 

Students will be issued a Chromebook, color-coded sleeve, and charger. The sleeve is color-coded by grade level and is meant to be personalized by the student — markers, stickers, etc. The device itself, however, should not be personalized in this way.

Students will be shown the basic care and maintenance of a Chromebook. A new, critical responsibility will be to ensure the device is properly charged for learning.

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Battery life is approximately 7 hours. While extra chargers will be available, the general rule is that students without a charged Chromebook will need to use paper and pencil for the day. […]

During a 1:1 Spring 2016 pilot with 150 students, Chromebooks overall proved reliable with low incidence of repairs and replacement.

Given the tight timeline for Grade 8 distribution, the Darien 1:1 Course on Digital Citizenship will be done in January and February. The Common Sense Media curriculum on Digital Citizenship will be used to teach ethical and responsible use of technology.

If you have questions about the Chromebook, please share first with the classroom teacher and team leaders. Depending on the question, feedback can be gathered at the building level by teaching staff and library media specialists, or by the Darien IT Support team.

Our collective commitment is to a smooth roll-out and proper support for staff, families, students, and devices. More information will be shared in the new year and at the Grade 8 Parent Workshop. For now, best wishes for the holiday season.

Sincerely,

— Shelley Somers, Principal, Middlesex Middle School

— Marc Marin, Director of Instructional Technology

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