A Chromebook on every desk in Manatee County

From Chromebooks to Promethean boards to desktops and tablets, students and teachers are using technology more than ever in the classroom and at home.

Facing that reality, the School District of Manatee County is working toward having a device for each of its nearly 50,000 students.

By the end of April, the district will have about 32,000 Chromebooks, getting closer to its goal.

The goal is part of the district’s five-year technology plan, which was approved by the School Board of Manatee County in December. The district is in its early stages of implementing the plan.

Genelle Zoratti Yost, the deputy superintendent of instructional services, said it’s important each student has a device in the future, especially with the possibility e-learning might become more utilized. For example, if a hurricane hit or students had surgery that would force them to be home for a few weeks, they could continue to log in from home and attend classes virtually.

Zoratti Yost said a positive that has arisen from the pandemic has been that teachers and staff members have adapted to using more technology in class.

“I want to believe that our instructors will continue to grow and that we can provide the training and the knowledge so they can implement technology as much as possible in their classrooms,” she said. “With all educators that’s going to vary to a degree depending on your content and your technology knowledge.”

Students from pre-K through senior year of high school have been learning how to navigate Schoology, the district’s online learning platform, and other online resources.

“Many of these children are so accustomed to technology,” Zoratti Yost said. “Sometimes they have the upper hand, if you will, and they’re teaching us at times, but even our 4-year-olds are capable of utilizing technology for instruction.”

Students already are able to access online textbooks to work on assignments in class and at home, but physical copies of the textbooks will continue to be available at the schools.

More teachers are asking students to submit their assignments online as well.

Zoratti Yost said the increase of integration of technology into the classroom won’t happen overnight, but the district hopes it will become more regular as teachers learn more and find engaging ways to use it in their classrooms.

Teachers already have been able to start finding unique ways to use technology with the help of the Promethean boards or Samsung displays, which replace the typical chalkboard.

“The Promethean boards provide an opportunity to open the classroom to the world,” Zoratti Yost said. “You can take virtual field trips, you can speak with another school in the same county or across the nation. I think the sky’s the limit with Promethean boards as long as the teacher is educated on the many uses.”

Although students will have more access to technology, Zoratti Yost said it won’t distract or take away from the experience of interacting with teachers and classmates.

“That face-to-face communication and instruction is critical to the learning process,” she said. “We would not want to take that away, and because many of us have different learning styles … we need to provide multimodality approaches within our classrooms.”

To offset the overuse of technology in the classroom, Zoratti Yost said teachers will need to focus on social emotional learning and find ways to bring students together for conversations and interaction within small or large groups.

“We know that those conversations are important to the learning process and the health and welfare of all of our students,” Zoratti Yost said. “It’s not just math, science and English language arts. We have to balance that with the social emotional content that looks at the whole child so we have well balanced individuals.”