Use of Technology in Secondary
Chromebook campaign
King's College is committed to the use of new technology in education and we are starting the campaign to purchase equipment for new students in Year 6 in this academic year. Students need to use a Chromebook to enable them to develop 21st century educational skills. With the use of technology, students are involved in the creation, manipulation, interpretation and application of information helping them to improve their learning environment and developing skills in critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity.
To facilitate the purchase of Chromebook, the school will continue to help families by contributing 150 euros per child to all Year 6 pupils and other new pupils starting Secondary (Year 6 to 13).
All Chromebooks include a premium protective bag and 3 year accidental breakage insurance (falls, bumps etc.) that covers all accidental problems with the Chromebook. The Chromebook is owned by the family and they, therefore, are responsible for managing equipment repairs as soon as possible to minimise the time without a device.
All pupils from Year 6 must bring their Chromebook fully charged to class every day without exception. Chromebooks are a mandatory work tool and tutors will discipline pupils who do not bring their device to school . The school has some devices available for loan but only as a temporary replacement when a computer is being repaired. No loan Chromebook will be issued to pupils that forget the device at home.
Why do we use Chromebooks in high school?
Chromebooks are the perfect tool for education. Chrome OS operating system is used on Chromebooks allowing the school to implement usage policies, applications and 24/7 monitoring of students’ web browsing and permitted social networking conversations. The Chromebook is based in the cloud and promotes collaboration, critical thinking and creativity in education. In addition, each student accesses their Chromebook using their school email account and they enjoy unlimited cloud space, this provides a way to store all their documents, assignments, resources and experiences they have throughout Secondary school.
These are the advantages of using a Chromebook at school:
The Chrome operating system is one of the safest.
Remote installation of user user policies and school applications..
Simple and easy integration with G Suite, enabling collaboration with multiple students and teachers in documents, presentations, spreadsheets, websites, etc.
The teacher can manage their digital classes and can assign resources, assignments and communicate with the student in a digital manner.
Devices are filtered with different policies at school and at home.
Parents can review the browsing history, create filters and block pages when the student is at home. For example, you can block the use at home of Instagram or Youtube.
Unlimited cloud space for all students at King's College.
Long battery that allows the student to use the device throughout the day.
Rugged device designed for education.
Chrome is a very secure operating system and so far virus free to date.
Chromebooks are fast computers, starting in just a few seconds.
Google Apps and many other apps can work without Internet connection.
Safety and Chromebooks: Netop + Securly
Chromebooks devices guarantee the correct use of technology both at school and at home, they allow us to define different user profiles and filtering policies according to the IP address where the computer is connected.
Our teachers use Netop to control and manage the digital classroom making teaching with technology easier and more effective. Netop offers powerful classroom management and teaching tools that create interest, focus attention and improve the learning outcomes. With NETOP the teacher can:
Block and filter the Web in your class
Monitor the screens of all students
Block the screen of the chromebooks request the attention of the students
Share the screen with the students
Send messages to students
Open web pages in students' chromebooks
What is Securly?
All King’s College schools use Securly to filter and keep our students safe. Securly provides cloud-based web filtering for students’ Chromebooks. Websites that students attempt to visit are checked against a list of categorised sites. If the website is found in a prohibited category, the student’s access to the website is blocked and an event is logged into a management console. The filter works not just at school but at home, fulfilling all filtering needs - offsite too
No content filtering solution should be seen as being 100% accurate or effective. Content filtering does not replace vigilant parents at home! Parents should still exercise caution and use normal vigilance in monitoring their child’s use of Internet resources.
Securly offer parents weekly e-mail reports of their child’s online activity on school owned devices. Detailed activity can also be accessed through a parent portal.
Transforming the Classroom with Digital Tools
Technology comes alive with the applications we use. With G Suite for Education, pupils can organize documents, keep a calendar, write tasks, save presentations and share their work in multiple classrooms.
In recent years, we have implemented tools like Google Classroom that simplify the creation, distribution and classification of homework without paper; The schools uses a flexible progress reporting system that offers a wide range of teaching and assessment resources online to support the school curriculum; and PearDeck, which allows teachers and pupils to create engaging interactive presentations. All these tools encourage pupils to be active learners.
We still greatly value traditional of education, attention to detail, learning with books and handwriting, which we will continue promoting. We also have a duty to educate our children in the use of digital technology and to give them the opportunity to harness its power to enrich their own learning. Technology is another valuable tool, complementing books and enhancing our proven traditional methods.
These are few of the resources used at school:
Pupil's Dashboard
Each time a student opens their Chromebook, the Pupil's Dashboard directs them to the most common resources and programs used in their school.
The student can also request the installation of Apps and educational extensions in the Chromebooks.
Google Apps for Education
G Suite for Education is a package of safe productivity tools. With these tools our students can create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations in a collaborative way and in real time.
With Gmail and Calendar students can be organised and in constant contact with other students and teachers, offering a secure messaging service controlled by the school where they can not contact or be contacted by users outside King's Group.
In some occasions the school can allow a external company or institution to contact the students if this is required for an educational purpose.
Google Classroom
Google Classroom is an application that allows students and teachers to communicate more easily in a digital classroom environment. Teachers can create classes, distribute assignments and send comments from one place. It's instantaneous, it's easy and it does not require paper.
Google Classroom can be used as virtual support during class time or as a supplement outside of class hours accessible outside the classroom or the school.
It also acts as a communication channel (between students but especially from students to teacher), a repository of complementary material offered in class, a channel for creating and evaluating tasks and an extension of the agenda to remember important dates.
Kahoot
Kahoot is a mixed learning platform based on the game, allowing teachers and students to research, create, collaborate and share knowledge.
Teachers and students can create questionnaires, discussions or surveys, which are called Kahoots, which can also have images and videos that complement the academic content.
TinkerCad
The use of the Chromebook for creation is essential. Tinkercad is an online software created by the company Autodesk, one of the leading companies in 3D design software in the hands of its flagship program, Inventor.
The objective when using Tinkercad is a first immersion in the world of 3D design in a simple and attractive way, since the working interface is simple and very attractive initially.
Its advantages are clear: it is easy to use, its appearance is attractive and with a few hours of training students can acquire a lot of skill in its use.
