Lachine

One-to-One program at Lakeside Academy

Redaction - TC Media

8 novembre 2013 à 12h15 2 minutes de lecture

There were a lot of cheers at the launch of the One-to-One program at Lakeside Academy in Lachine when eighty-two Sec. 1 students received their much-awaited Chromebook laptops.

“It’s very exciting,” said 12-year-old Attasi Pilurtuut just before getting his first-ever Chromebook. “This means I can work at school with the laptop instead of writing down notes in class and then bringing them home to put into my desktop.”

Students, parents, teachers and officials from the Lester B. Pearson School Board got together Thursday, Nov. 7 for the launch of the program, a first at the school board.

“It’s not just the students in the enriched program who get the laptops, it’s every Sec. 1 student,” said Lakeside Academy Principal Michelle Harper. Michael Chechile, Head of Educational Services at the LBPSB, told students and parents that this is the first such program at the school board. “We haven’t done anything like this at a whole grade level,” he said.

Dora Pullan, whose daughter Mackenzie was among the Sec. 1 students in the One-to-One Chromebook Program, said both she and her daughter were pleased with the idea of everyone in class starting off with the same technology.

“It’s a unifier,” she said. “As a parent, I like the idea that class projects can be shared and that the students can chat with each other, all under school supervision.”

Patrick Jobin said his daughter, Rachel, has been talking about the Chromebook program for months. “She’s so glad the time has finally come – my daughter and the other students will be learning the technology they will need for life.”

The One-to-One Chromebook launch did not take place at the very beginning of the school year because the school had to wait to wired for wifi, Harper said. More than 2,000 wifi access points are being installed throughout the LBPSB’s 59 schools, adult, vocational and international language centres.

LBPSB Regional Director David Meloche told the students how he looked forward to seeing the “amazing things they will be learning and creating” with their |Chromebooks.

Tanya Avrith, the LBPSB’s Educational Technology and Digital Citizenship Lead Teacher, told the Sec. 1 students they are paving the way for the future.

“You are pioneers,” she said. “One day, all students will be equipped as you are today.”