Becoming a “Google school”

After increasing the use of various Google technologies this year, library media teacher Laura Utile believes that MVHS is essentially becoming a “Google School”. Each student has been issued a specialized Google email account, with the primary goal being to provide students with a way to do academic work and share documents in a secure environment. Students have the opportunity to utilize these new accounts with the mini chromebooks that have recently been implemented into mostly history and literature classrooms.

“It’s a way of just doing your professional work here at campus,” Utile said. “You want to use your personal email for personal stuff.”

Mini chromebooks are arranged and plugged into the built-in chargers on a shelf inside of a chromebook cart. The implementation of these technologies is a contributing factor as to why MVHS has become a “Google school”. Photo by Neha Patchipala

These accounts are separate from students personal email accounts and allow access to special applications such as the Google Classroom App. This application helps save paper by digitalizing worksheets and other paper materials. Students are also able to better organize their work and do certain assignments online.

English teacher Jackie Corso uses Google Drive to digitalize worksheets and handouts which allows for the conservation of paper. She finds that she doesn’t have as many stacks of papers on her desk since everything can simply be accessed online.

Also, the transition from taking hand-written notes to digital notes has made it easier for her students to collaborate with each other.

“[Students] will all be on the same Google Doc, and they will be able to add and adjust things,” Corso said. “It’s all real time.”

Corso’s goal is to incorporate the Google Classroom App into her curriculum as it will be easier for her to collect assignments digitally in comparison to Google Drive.

Coming from a student’s perspective, junior Meredith Young Ng says that the Google Classroom App allows her to annotate documents and do other homework assignments. This new application of technology enables her to actively use the Internet as a resource during her literature class.

“Even during discussions, we can use the chromebooks,” Young Ng said. “You can just go and look something up and you don’t have to ask somebody.”