Jack Brinker ’16: Of the many changes at Episcopal Academy over this past summer, including new teachers, new altar-conduct in chapel, and new classrooms in the Campus Center, the switch from labs with desktop computers to solely carts with laptops is one of the most noticeable.
The two computer labs in the Turner Upper School were renovated during summer break and made into regular teaching classrooms. In place of the Upper School desktops, the Episcopal tech department distributed Apple MacBook Airs to every student in the freshmen and sophomore classes. These laptops are also available for juniors and seniors to rent out, but there are currently not enough laptops to be individually assigned to every student in those classes as well.
These One to One laptops as well as those in the carts present the opportunity for using technology in a constructive way. Also the portability of the laptops allows for students to work in spaces they feel more comfortable in. Also since most of the laptops are wirelessly synced to printers in the upper school and the library students can more easily print assignments without the hassle of having to log in to one of the desktops and going through the time consuming process of trying to print their papers.
Overall underclassmen are responding well. Ben Castle ’18 is happy with the technology change, saying, “I love having a laptop just for school that I can keep until I graduate.” Sebastian Garrubbo ’18 added, “I’ve found it easier to use the laptops than it was to use the desktops last year. The laptop is always with me, and the laptop can do everything I need it to, for school.”
One of the main issues with the computer change is that the juniors and seniors did not receive laptops. Benjamin Valdes ’16 stated, “I think it’s unfair to older kids who don’t have their own laptops, since only freshman and sophomores got laptops.” However, when asked about the loss of the desktop computers, Phillip Humann ‘16 commented that, “Renting out a laptop instead of using a desktop in the computer labs isn’t a big deal.” Humann went on to say that he would only use the desktop computers about once a week, and now he’ll just rent out a laptop for an afternoon if he needs it.
Although the merits of its convenience and practicality are in contention, the transition to a completely laptop-based One-to-One system seems to be an overall boon for the student body. Credit must be given to the technology crew at Episcopal that made this transition so successful. They effectively equipped more than 250 students with laptops, while still making sure that those students who weren’t supplied with a laptop have access to them.
The transition from stationary, out-dated desktop computers to an all-laptop system is a great change for Episcopal Academy as it shows that we have both the resources and wherewithal to keep up with an ever-evolving technological world, even at the secondary-school academic level.