Streamlining communication thanks to Acer Chromebooks: the No 4 High School success story

First established 27 years ago, No 4 Nicolai Copernicus Memorial High School in Rybnik experienced a rapid growth over the last few years, and now it offers instruction to roughly 350 students.
This result has been achieved also thanks to its management’s foresight, that has taken great care to organize a number of programs and projects for the young people, including trips abroad or participation in prestigious competitions.

A clear goal: breaking through language and cultural barriers

Furthermore, the school team has also developed an independent project “MIT Labs: Teach Outside the Box. Motivation, Innovation, and Technology as the Key Elements in the Teaching Process” aimed at enhance student motivation to study hard through employing innovative teaching techniques. “We hope to transform our school into an institution where teaching passion translates into learning passion; a place where both teachers and students develop an attitude open to and welcoming international contacts and cooperation, breaking through the language and cultural barriers”, says the Rybnik school Principal. “This novel teaching approach will produce better results at the graduation exams and thus make it easier for the student to begin adult life”.

How to overtake an inadequate IT infrastructure

Focusing on young people’s intellectual development by involving them in international projects and creating new opportunities, the School realized that the existing IT infrastructure proved inadequate in the everyday work:

• school administration used private email addresses and phones;
• contacts among teachers and students’ parents was limited to traditional correspondence and face-to-face meetings;
• the electronic class register was added barely five years earlier;
• the students worked individually, each on their own computer in the computer lab, with no server to log in and share files

To make matters worse, the school did not have its own IT administrator, so the IT teacher had to handle all such situations. So the Principal started looking for a solution that would not only streamline cooperation and information flow but – at the same time – not require advanced IT knowledge or experience to operate the equipment.

A new way to learn, thanks to Acer Chromebooks

Along with Seiloc Enterprise Solutions and Acer, No 4 High School has found in Acer Chromebooks – and in Google technology overall – the essential communication and cooperation tools to boost its strategy.
Here are some examples of how Google technologies helped teachers and administration to overcome the unsuitableness of the previous IT infrastructure:

• Gmail, integrated with Calendar and a shared disk, has made it possible for the administration personnel and the teaching staff to communicate safely and smoothly, with personal messages clearly separated from the business ones;
• Hangouts Meet, a new solution for video chats and video conferencing, provides smooth, problem-free contact with their peers in other countries;
• G Suite for Education apps for creating documents and presentations have proved very handy both for the students and teachers, simplifying group works on shared projects and reports, while also teaching team work at the same time.

Moreover, new language labs have now acquired Acer Chromebooks and the mobile devices have made it possible for teachers to use them during other classes.

The main benefits from Acer Chromebooks in the internal communication

The introduction of Chromebooks and G Suite for Education tools has contributed to strongly streamlining communication between teachers and students. Chromebooks have successfully solved the tangled problem of complicated computer administration: now, any teacher can easily do it. Google Documents, Presentations, and Forms make class or school project evaluation easy and simple, while Calendar simplifies the planning of school activities, with ready access for all the users.
The new technology has also provided an opportune impulse for the teaching staff to further improve their technical skills. Contacts with the students have been made easier, accompanied by a new option of remote homework and remote testing, so that students can now submit their assignments to teachers using the Google Disk.
The desire to improve the teaching process by incorporating brand new technologies was the driving force behind the implementation of the new technology. Chrome Technology and G Suite for Education have well served the purpose, allowing for successful completion of all the outlined objectives. Today, teachers and students discover new areas of the new technology application, developing their creativity and enjoying the new opportunities opening before them.