Integrating technology into the classroom

(Lebanon) — High-tech devices once banished from the classroom are now being encouraged in many midstate school districts.

For instance, the Carlisle Area School District has implemented a bring-your-own device policy for grades nine through 12.

Susquenita School District is providing iPads to students in the eighth through tenth grades, and Cedar Crest High School is issuing laptops to all incoming freshmen.

Cedar Crest Principal Nicole Malinoski says the school has been at the forefront of technology integration for years. “Students having their own laptop is not going to be a new thing for our teachers,” she explains. “They already have those skills necessary to integrate this technology effectively into the lessons.”

Malinoski says integrating technology into the classroom helps teach students the digital literacy skills they need.

She says the district decided against a bring-your-own device policy — similar to what other schools in the region are implementing — because they did not want to widen the so-called “digital divide” among their students.

More than 350 Cedar Crest freshmen are receiving laptops that cost about $500 each. Students are allowed to take the laptops home if they purchase an insurance policy for them.