At Ipswich High School, the topic of Chromebook charger thievery is common. From the middle schoolers to the high schoolers, students misplace their chargers all the time. This may seem like a small concern, but is a common occurrence everyday. What if there was a stationary solution in the school? If each classroom had one charger locked into the wall by a device bought on Amazon, students would then be able to access them easily.
This idea would not only aim to help students that forget their Chromebook, but cut out the missed class time. When a student forgets their chromebook, they now have to create a pass, go to the library and sign one out. Nine times out of ten, a student will take their Chromebook out when it’s time to start something new. If it dies, they now have to miss all of what the class went over. If the chargers were in the class, students would be more likely to stay engaged with the information offered to them in class and not have to worry about their Chromebook possibly dying.
While discussing the topic with our school librarian, Ms.Chang, she expressed that there are 20 extra Chromebook chargers for both the high school and middle school to share. If a student loses their own personal charger and a borrowed charger from the library, they no longer receive another one until the lost charger is paid for. On top of this, they are also emailed daily about the missing charger. The chargers are $25 to replace if a student loses one. This usually happens often amongst high schoolers and middle schoolers. When I pitched the idea of having a charger in each classroom, Chang stated, “I think it’s a great idea; it would make a lot of lives easier mine, techs, Mick.”
In terms of the security of the chargers in the classrooms, there will be a lock on all of them. The lock makes it unable for someone to pull the charger out. Students would be unable to misplace a charger borrowed from a friend or a teacher anymore. It would allow students to efficiently find a charger and keep work going. The locks cost around $10 each and would be placed within the highschool and middle school classrooms.
When the tech department was asked this question, they had a different view on it. Mr. Borgen explained how the 20 extra chargers would not be enough to fill all the rooms of the high school and middle school. Along with this, the purchase of the $10 charger locks would be multiplied by 100. This is obviously a big expense for the school. The purchase would go well over a thousand dollars for an issue that could be solved by the students themselves.
Mr.Borgen also stated another good point; “We are also trying to build a level of responsibility. We lend students these tools and all we are asking is that they return them and take care of them.” The idea of putting in chargers everywhere might enable kids to forget their chargers more often. Then, if you have multiple people in a class that are missing chargers, it goes back to square one. It’s not only howling a level of responsibility, but it would build better habits for being prepared in activities outside of school.
Overall, while the practicality of the idea might seem like a good idea, it won’t be able to work with the schools expenses. With how expensive it can possibly be, it is not a necessity and won’t necessarily fix the problem at hand. The way the chromebook chargers work for students now is a way to hold them accountable. It might seem like a small thing, but it is another way to instill some responsibility in students before they leave school.
