YUHSD incoming freshmen to get netbooks instead of textbooks

This fall's freshman class at Yuma Union High School District has something to look forward to: a new laptop for every student.

The Yuma Union High School District recently purchased 3,600 netbooks to feed the “digital natives” across the district, also known as the Class of 2015.

Officials say that these computers, which students will be able to carry with them all four years of high school, will aid teens as they transition into the “Ready Now Yuma” initiative and ultimately prepare them for what comes after high school, whether that be college or a career.

“All of the research shows that students, if they are going to be college and career ready without remediation, need 21st century skills, and many of our students don't have computers at home,” said superintendent Toni Badone.

She commented that whether a student goes on to work at an auto body shop, a biotechnology corporation or college after graduation, it is highly likely that they will need to operate a computer at some point during their day-to-day lives.

The ASUS Eee PCs were purchased with the remainder of the district's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal title grant dollars, allowing the district to buy netbooks for every incoming freshman in lieu of textbooks.

Badone reported that the district has not had any capital funds to purchase textbooks for some time and added they have not purchased new textbooks since the 2007-2008 school year.

Dean Farar, director of technology for the Yuma Educational Technology Consortium, explained that each netbook, case included, came in at under $300.

“Generally these netbooks cost approximately what 2-1/2 textbooks would normally cost,” Badone said.

Also with the purchase of these computers comes the possibility of potential savings to the maintenance and operation budget, she noted. Badone shared that students will be able to submit assignments electronically, eliminating the need for materials like copies, paper and toner.

“There's a lot of good reasons to do this. Not to mention with our new implementation of Ready Now Yuma and the Cambridge curriculum, there's quite a bit on the Cambridge website that's aimed at students.”

Evaluating the validity and authenticity of sources are important skills necessarily to succeed within the Cambridge curriculum, Badone shared, noting that students will gain valuable research techniques and skills through this venture.

There's a lot of upper level collegiate types of critical thinking that goes on with this curriculum, she said, that is really only possible through technology.

“However, I will say ... we still expect teachers to have a lesson plan for when the power goes out and the Internet is down,” Badone noted.

With the recent instillation of wireless Internet access at all YUHSD campuses, students can access the Web from class, Farar said, commenting that students will be expected to charge the machines while at home so that they can last throughout the entire school day.

Upon researching various machines to purchase, he commented that they also looked at Dell and ACER netbooks, but the ASUS model offered more features for a lower price.

The machines, installed with a Linux operating system, offer a word processor, Excel, a presentation feature as well as two different choices in e-readers so that multiple students can access the same book or textbook simultaneously.

Badone added that the students can access e-books from the Yuma County Library as well as at the district library campuses.

Farar said five summer school interns have been working with YETC district staff to ensure that all the machines have the correct software.

He noted that there are a lot of security features on the laptop allowing students to only access the software provided in addition to an Internet filter for various websites.

The computers won't be distributed during registration as textbooks normally would, she explained, but they will be given to the students during the first few weeks of the school year after each student and parent sign a “terms of use” contract agreement.

“If something breaks, they'll have to pay to replace it, just like textbooks,” Badone said, noting that she thinks the students will see the netbooks as a privilege. “I have the greatest respect and confidence in our students that they will use the potential of them to increase their learning.”

Freshman academy team teachers will receive professional development on how to orient the students on the machines during the beginning of the year, Farar added.

“It's going to be very natural for students to use this device, probably more so than some of our teachers... they are the digital era.”