Every single day, discoveries are made that make the world more advanced than it ever has been before. It is essential that as these advancements are made, they are distributed to the youth of the nation, which is arguably the most important generation. As technology becomes a bigger and bigger part of everyday life, the school system needs to be tailored to these new innovations. The initiative to encourage students to bring their own devices to school is how district 834 is planning to incorporate more technology in the classroom.

Asking students to bring in their laptops or iPads is the easy part. The hard part is providing for students who do not have their own devices due to financial difficulties. There are three types of students that the administration needs to consider. The first have their own devices that they can bring in, the second will be loaned devices from the school for a payment that corresponds with their financial needs, and the final group will rely on the school completely to provide them with their technology.

The initiative plans to save the school thousands of dollars that are currently invested in providing, updating and repairing technology for the students.

“It’s about kids owning their technology,” said assistant principal Bill Howlett. “Each kid is responsible for their own device.”

The plan has come a long way. It was presented to the school board on March 6.

“We are hopeful that it will be put into action next year,” said Howlett.

Students who do not have the means to bring their own devices to school do not have to worry. The school will come up with a way to provide a device that they can use all year long.

“We will set a low level lease at $75 for students who need us to provide them with devices,” said Ryan Laager, Executive Director of Curriculum and Secondary Education.

It is not just at the high school level. Even kindergartners are using iPads in the classroom for simple tasks like playing games and writing haikus.

“Our goal is to have this be district-wide,” said Howlett.

The initiative is not quite ready to be put into action yet. There are still several decisions that have to be made and kinks that have to be worked out.

“The debate is over what will be the device provided,” said Howlett.

Since kids are going to have a variety of devices, from Apple iPads to Samsung laptops to Google Chromebooks, the school has to decide which device they will be leasing. They have recently made the switch from Apple products to Google Chromebooks, so technology professionals will have to decide what will be the best product for the students to use.

With this big change in how technology is provided, there will be an increased use of technology in the classroom. This would help students and teachers stay up-to-date and educated on the latest technology. It will help the schools to decrease paper use and encourage the use of electronic resources in all subjects.