Time For Technology

Olathe North students finally get their laptops.

Felicia Georgiou, Staff Writer|November 8, 2018

Andrea Martin

An Olathe North student’s school issued laptop

The wait is over. During the first week of October, each Olathe North student received a brand-new Dell laptop. Technology staff from the Olathe district distributed devic- es to each student in the main gym.

Long since middle school, the seniors were told that they would be given their own iPad, then throughout high school, students were informed every year that they would be receiving a laptop. Olathe North students watched from afar, while Olathe West distributed MacBook Airs to their students. Delina Kessaye, a student at Olathe North, exclaimed “the school district is very flakey, and I never thought they would follow through [with] giving us laptops.”

The Dell devices allow a flip of the screen to transform it into a tablet, making it smaller and easier to trans- port. Kessaye stated “Dells with the touch screen and tablet feature are as good, if not better than a MacBook.” According to Lifewire, the Window 2-in-1 touchscreen laptops are very convenient. The touch screen feature makes navigating the computer simpler.

Students might be able to navi- gate their laptops easily, but students are faced with the ability to be productive or hinder their education with their devices. Kessaye say, “If there is a student looking to waste time or not pay attention in class, they will play games on it all the time.” Some kids will take their extra time given by a teacher to work on an assignment and head straight to Netflix, which displays that their individual device is harming their education. In a Teaching Center Study, 75% of students acknowledged that bringing their laptops to class increased the amount of time they spent on activities unrelated to learning, such as checking email and social networking.

When Olathe North students were questioned about their usage of their laptops, it revealed that almost every student uses their laptop from a type of personal enjoyment, rang- ing from online shopping to poker. Another detrimental factor of laptops in the classroom was touched on in the Washington Examiner, which explained that typing notes impedes the brain’s ability to process information. A student cannot comprehend as much by clicking away at the keyboard because the information travels too fast from their ears to their fingers.

While laptops have negative effects, they can also enhance students learning. Eric Purtion, the Olathe North Building Tech, proclaimed “anytime you have that kind of information at your fingertips is pretty powerful.” He also stated teachers and students are going to be able to collaborate easier with the aspect of chat futures, such as Microsoft Teams. Students now, can pull out their laptops to look up the answer to their question. When a student wants to shoot a teacher an email they can send them a chat instead, which would be a quicker process.

Conversation.com declared that providing every student with a school laptop will create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children. Now, a student who once sat in class wondering if they could make it to the library to work on their essay due the next day can go have that kind of information at your fingertips is pretty powerful.” The Conversation went on to say that a one-to-one laptop assignment will help enhance students’ 21st century skills, such as collaborative learning and the ability to search through and locate information from internet sources. Students’ electronic devices help connect them to people and resources that they would have never had access to before.

Next time you pull out your laptops, think about if you are helping or harming your education. With the accumulation of time throughout high school, students and teachers, will be able to tell for themselves, if laptops enhance or interfere with students’ learning.