Venturing into the EdTech market can be pretty scary for many districts. Luckily, a recent roundup of lessons learned from early K-12 Chromebook adopters have been released to help other schools nationwide prep for a possible adaption in their own classrooms.

Google Chromebooks have been among one of the biggest selling EdTech tools. Some districts nationwide might still be holding off on adopting them as a part of their classrooms but early adopters have made the decision much easier.

“During the spring 2011 semester, a group of students and faculty there were among the first people in the world to get their hands on the notebook computers<’ said Wylie Wong of Ed Tech Magazine.

“They loved them so much that Council Bluffs district leaders spent the ensuing years purchasing Chromebooks for every student in grades 3 through 12.”

“We were moving toward a one-to-one strategic plan and starting to evaluate devices, and it was serendipity that the Chromebooks came out at the same time and Google chose us as one of the beta sites,” Council Bluffs Chief Technology Officer David Fringer said in according to the article.

Wong says that one of the main reasons Chromebooks are increasingly popular in classrooms is the affordability. They range between $200 and $400 making it easier on the administrations when budgeting rolls around. As for educators, they are already starting to see other positive aspects of Chromesbooks in the classroom.

“Many teachers also embraced Google Classroom, a free workflow management system that allows them to set up class pages and create assignments with due dates,” said Wong.

“Students can work on the assignments using Google Apps and turn them in digitally.”

“If your productivity environment is Google Apps, there is very little you can’t do on a Chromebook,” said Council Bluff’s David Fringer.

It’s important to bear in mind that the transition to Chromebooks is one of the hardest parts of adopting the new tech tool. In order for the transition to work smooth and successfully, Wong says that faculty must work closely with the curriculum department, parents and students on which device will work better in their favor.

Every tool takes time to mesh with its users and user's task demnds but Chromebooks are showing some serious progress and benefits in the classroom.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor