Building our own ChromeBoxes

To benefit the math and science curricula at Our Lady of Tepeyac Elementary School, the Chicago Community Trust donated substantial funds toward the use of technology in those fields. Part of that implementation includes a mobile lab stocked with Google Chromebooks. Now, there is no shortage of ideas and resources for employing Chromebooks in math and science classrooms. But I have a slightly different personal challenge for this summer.

Thanks to the generosity of a neighboring school, we're replacing the computers in the classrooms. Next year, each classroom will have two shiny "new" Dell Optiplex 755s--a huge upgrade.

But what operating system will they run? I suppose I could leave them with their native Windows Vista. That would mean doing sysprep and entering in lots of activation keys--ugh. I could load them up with Linux--but that would likely just confuse a lot of people, no matter how I dressed it up to appear familiar.

What about ChromeOS? We're already planning to introduce Chromebooks to the third floor (the junior high). Wouldn't it be great if the classroom desktops ran the same OS as their laptops?

Easier said than done, unfortunately. Getting ChromiumOS (as its free cousin is called) working well on unsupported hardware is easier said than done. I have been advised that this project might be more trouble than it's worth. But if I could get a stable working ChromiumOS on a fleet of desktops, it might allow a seamless student experience.

I'll try it. If it doesn't work, I will load a custom Windows Vista image instead.

A Blog Born of an Eval

This blog will hold all reflections on the development of technology and curriculum at Our Lady of Tepeyac High School in Chicago, IL.

It was inspired in part by the Archdiocese of Chicago teacher evaluation, which states as a goal:

The staff member explicitly reflects on lessons and how he/she can improve them, making notes on the lesson plans or keeping a journal. The staff member then adjusts lessons to meet the needs of the students.

I felt that this was an easy enough goal to achieve, so here we are.