WOODBURY — There are three types of students in any class: those on task, those pretending to be paying attention, and those on their computers.
The students on the computers seem to be doing work on their computers, but more times than not, they are on something completely different.
And for many teachers at Nonnewaug, unnecessary Chromebook use pushes them over the edge.
“There is no benefit to [Chromebooks],” says Nonnewaug history teacher Michael Sturges. “Kids use them to play games, watch sports, and use VPNs to get around the various blocks. They are a failed experiment as far as I’m concerned, and I will never use them again. Like next year is starting [with] no Chromebooks.”
But Sturges didn’t start the year with an immediate Chromebook ban; first he had students spin their desks around and called it the “Period 6 shuffle.”
“It’s where they turn on all the desks so that they’re all facing a direction where I can observe what’s going on on their screens,” says Sturges.
Like Sturges, chemistry teacher Melissa Hodges also believes that Chromebooks are more of a harm than a help.
“I feel like they’re just going to be a distraction and kids aren’t gonna be doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” says Hodges. “They’re gonna be watching videos or not doing the work I want them to do, and I want chemistry to be a hands-on experience as much as I can make chemistry a hands-on experience.”
But for students at Nonnewaug these teacher-imposed bans aren’t always helpful.
“Teachers banning Chromebooks isn’t that effective,” says freshman Ashlynn Blum. “I mean, it’s just annoying that when we always have to write stuff or if it’s like an essay, we can’t type it, we have to write it.”
But for those in Sturges’ AP U.S. History class, Chromebooks were never banned “because it’s a college class,” he said.
Like Sturges, junior Katie Savulak believed that using a notebook would be more beneficial than a Chromebook.
“A lot of people did use [Chromebooks] for notes and stuff when he was talking just because it’s faster, too,” says Savulak. “It’s easier and faster to type it down as he’s talking instead of writing. I didn’t choose to use a Chromebook, but the majority of a class did.”
Sturges’ students have groaned about the ban, but he’s comfortable with his decision being in the students’ best academic interests and has just one response about the gripes.
“I don’t care,” Sturges said.
