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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Bay Area high schools use iPads, laptops to educate

Technology usage in schools has become the foundation of education in multiple schools. The Urban School of San Francisco and Lick Wilmerding High School have caught onto this trend.

The Urban School of San Francisco junior Leah Schummer said at The Urban School each student receives a Macbook at the beginning of freshmen year and uses it throughout their time at Urban. Students and teachers use an online email data base called First class, connecting each student with their classes and schedules.

“All class notes and homework are uploaded on Firstclass and is used to communicate between students and teachers. FirstClass is the place to go for anything school-related, announcements, club conferences, class information, homework, friends, literally anything,” Schummer said.

Because technology is incorporated heavily at Urban High School, Schummer said she cannot imagine school without it.

“Everything is so easy, you can email a teacher your essay, [saving paper]. You can ask for help on math homework at 11pm. People are always online,” Schummer said, “I think it just raises the standard of education because of the technology that we use. Having your laptop lets you do anything, you have all your essays and homework assignments in one place, people can communicate and find you, and everyone is linked through technology. ”

Schummer said the only disadvantage of technology in school is not using internet usage for educational purposes.

“ Honestly, people should not be shopping online during class and it can serve as a really big distraction. Also, people tend to get addicted to using computers and really reliant on technology – it’s important to know when to take breaks from starting at your screen,” Schummer said.

Lick Wilmerding High School junior Giulia Iaconi- Stewart brings her laptop to school every day. While most students take notes on their computers, she does not.

“I have found, particularly this year, that almost all of my homework is done on my computer,” Iaconi-Stewart said, “Relevant handouts and resources are posted on our school’s website for access, and I rarely handwrite assignments anymore.”

Iaconi-Stewart said at Lick Wilmerding there are two computer labs, each with approximately 20 to 30 computers, computers in the library, as well as a roaming laptop cart.         Iaconi-Stewart said her favorite thing about the access to technology is how much more quickly assignments can be completed on the computer. However, a negeative is that she prefers to read physical papers and books, not on the computer.

“I almost always mark up my paper with notes. That is harder to do on my computer, and it’s a lot easier to get distracted while reading on my computer,” Iaconi-Stewart said.

Iaconi-Stewart said Lick Wilmerding has a website where the teachers post all of their homework and that is probably the most helpful aspect of their school’s central technology system.

“This year in math, technology has allowed me to watch lectures for homework and learn units at my own pace. My teacher sometimes assigns us to watch a video of her teaching us how to perform a certain operation,” Iaconi-Stewart said, “That way we can learn at our own pace and then review in class the next day. Technology in school increases my productivity when I’m taking notes on my laptop because it’s a lot quicker to write down relevant information. Since I write faster on the computer, I get things done faster.”

Iaconi-Stewart said she does get distracted easily with the easy access to the internet in school.

I would be lying if I said I never got distracted in class on random websites because it is really easy to pretend like you are doing work when you are actually spacing out online,” Iaconi-Stewart said.

The Urban School of San Francisco junior Max McCready said that he can do everything from his laptop, because most of the time textbooks are stored on FirstClass.

“I can be very efficient with little time between different tasks and steps. There is a sense of universal compatibility, and the idea that we are becoming adept in a very crucial skill,” McCready said. “Everything is at your finger tips. Once you get used to it, everything is so much faster on a computer.”

McCready said 
as opposed to being efficient, it can be very easy to do absolutely nothing but listen to music, watch TV, and use Facebook.

“With everything you need to work easily accessible, everything you need to goof off is just as accessible. It takes me four well-memorized motions to open Facebook from anywhere on my computer, [which] takes about a second,” McCready said. “When it is that easy to lose focus, it can become a habit.
”

At Urban, there is a tech office with staff that can replace, sometimes repair, and troubleshoot nearly all Apple technology, McCready said. However, when this support is not available, during the weekend or sometimes during class, it slows things down.

“If there is a hiccup or bug in the technology when quick and easy tech support is not readily available, progress can completely stop as the teacher has prepared most things through technology, or everything you need to do homework is thought to be accessed online, not physically,” McCready said. “This does not happen often but when it does it can set you back a little bit.”

McCready said technology in school makes communicating with others easy.

“If I need help, it takes about 5 minutes to find a student in the same class online and get what I need,” McCready said. “With the proper technology, you get work done as fast as your brain can process it, there is hardly time wasted in-between tasks or doing menial and tedious work. 
 You accomplish things as fast as your fingers can move to each key, which is almost always much faster than the physical/real world equivalent. ”

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