Just when we thought kids couldn’t get anymore tech savvy, they did.
Last week, Lakeville Elementary School received two portable computer labs, also known as Wireless on Wheels (WOW), in an effort to help students use computers more.
The two carts contain about 15 Gateway laptops, have a wireless internet connection and a printer and can travel from room to room without messy wires and plugs.
Maryann Swadick, who works for Oxford school’s technology department, said each elementary school in Oxford received two carts each. The middle school and high school already had WOW and have three carts each.
Swadick said the elementary WOW’s were one of the last purchases made from a school bond totaling $61.75 million approved in September 2001.
‘For one computer lab, or two carts, they (cost) about $32,000,? Swadick said. ‘They are expensive, but (students) are being very careful with them and they know how lucky they are to have them.?
Swadick said grades 2-5 have been taught how to use the laptops and that there are many benefits to having a portable lab.
‘It’s hard for the teachers to take the kids down to the lab,? she said. ‘It’s a very nice convenience and it allows us to have more than one lab in the school now.?
Lakeville Principal Sharon Karpinski said she likes the WOW’s a lot and that it will help reinforce computers as a tool and not a subject.’We’re trying to move away from the lab where kids go to learn computers and bring it into their classrooms where they can just use technology.?