Depending on district assigned rules, students may opt to use their own personal laptops instead of district-provided chromebooks. Even though chromebooks are provided to every student for free, many share that using personal ones are better as one can access far more than what typical chromebooks can give.
School chromebooks make it so that learning is accessible to everyone, especially for those who do not have access to technology at home. However, issues still arise depending on the quality of the device. Reports of damaged mousepads, slow loading screens, lack of access to some forms of media and more makes it so that students find it difficult to learn effectively. Senior Jolie Yin shares some of the issues she experiences, saying, “The trackpad sensing thing is delayed for my new school-issued Chromebook.” Even though you are able to replace your school Chromebook at any time, chances of getting a completely fresh one is low as the district reuses old Chromebooks from previous owners. Therefore, many prefer to use their own devices instead for better efficiency, accessibility, download digital items faster, have a bigger storage space and more, as explained by Senior Chloe Cao who uses her own personal computer in order to, “…have more access to websites and videos.”
But despite that, the district doesn’t entirely encourage students to use their own computers. This is because only school-assigned Chromebooks can gain access to the AUSD internet, whereas personal ones cannot. This results in slower-than-usual computers among students who prefer personal computers as hotspots from phones are heavily relied on. Personal computers also cannot access state testing websites or online quizzes that require Secure Browser as easily as school-assigned Chromebooks, which forces students to take either both or one over the other. Nevertheless, personal ones still prove to be superior in other cases, especially in quality, efficiency, and effectiveness when used for learning.