Vedruna schools will save up to €600,000 in the next 4 years due to the elimination of maintenance and licensing costs.

With the introduction of Chromebooks in classes we sought to increase our pupils' motivation and, at the same time, their learning ability. Also, we wanted to lead the way for teachers to a much more competency-based form of teaching which in turn will help to boost the inter-relationship between pupils and teachers, thereby also facilitating group work both in the classroom and out of class.

Pere Viñas, Primary teacher at Vedruna School in Ripoll.

Challenge

Although there have previously been Vedruna schools that used the Google Apps for Education environment, they did not have the support of Chromebooks. In 2013 a pilot trial was begun with Chromebooks in a determined effort to take the digital education of the pupils a step further, and it was found that the system offered certain real advantages in the learning environment over the previous system, which was based on a computer studies classroom subject to severe limitations of usage.

Solution

There was already a precedent in several centres that already used the Google Apps for Education environment, but without the support of Google Chromebooks. It was in September 2013 when the first complete experiment was conducted using Chromebooks in compulsory secondary education courses at the Vedruna secondary school in the district of Gracia, Barcelona. In this first phase 150 Chromebooks were used, with which the pupils and teaching staff began to come into contact, assessing their capabilities and features. After three months it was found that the system offers real advantages over the previous system, and the Vedruna's board of management decided to take this to the next level.