By JULIE ALPAUGH – Photography Editor
For the 2015-2016 school year, Clarke County School District students in seventh through tenth grade were given new Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e Chromebooks.
At the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, Clarke County School District students grades three through nine received Personal Learning Devices. This year the PLDs were also distributed to tenth graders, but students grades seven through ten were given new Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 11e Chromebooks.
Last year it became apparent there was a need for additional for laptops for students.
‘‘We knew looking ahead that the devices we had were not going to be sufficient enough to continue through, so I would say probably a year ago we started putting plans in place to purchase additional devices,” Clarke County School District director of Instructional Technology Djemal Balbed said.
It was a multistep process to decide what type of computer to purchase, that began with putting out a Request for Proposal (RFP) which allowed different vendors to submit their bids.
“It wasn’t just a device, it was kind of a partnership we were looking for so the RFP was more for a partnership with a vendor that would provide a device, provide service, provide set up services and that we could continue working with and not just to supply a device but to continue working with,” Balbed said.
After evaluating different options, meeting face to face with vendors and getting student and teacher feedback, the Lenovo Chromebooks were chosen.
“We took several of those devices that they were recommending and we had open sessions here at the board office and we also put them in a basket a brought them to a couple schools to let teachers and students actually hold and play with them,” Balbed said. “Based on that feedback we were able to narrow it down to which device we felt was appropriate for use based on what we saw but also based on student and teacher feedback.”
Last year there were problems with damage to PLDs, so the Chromebooks were chosen in part because of their durability.
“We chose a device that was rugged, so it has the Dragontrail glass which is similar to Gorilla glass it has a ruggedized exterior case,’ Balbed said. “But the biggest feature of it that a lot of our students and teachers liked it that it flips over so you can use it as a stand up tent, or you can use it as a table or a traditional laptop and its touch screen.”
According to students, among the new benefits of the laptops is the fact they have they have a longer battery life.
“Last year the PLDs, they would run out of battery really quick and there was always the issue of kids having to take up outlets for charging and this year I can go at least two days on my battery without even having to recharging it,” sophomore Maxwell Sinclair said.
