By LAUREN SMITH

Teens are always interested in the latest technology, but during the school day they aren’t allowed much “tech time.”

That all changed when Dowagiac Union High School purchased new Chromebooks for students to use in class.

Chromebooks are small laptop computers that connect to Google’s online suite of services. They can be used as a classroom or for individual work, making them quite versatile for schools.

“Chromebooks are a great tool because more teachers are able to use Google Classroom,” said junior Emma Sovine.

Google Classroom is a virtual online classroom that teachers can post assignments and due dates in. It can also be used by students to turn assignments, essays and other projects in online.

Sovine also spoke about how the utilization of the Chromebooks has already made a difference in the atmosphere of the classroom.

“I can see the high school benefitting from the Chromebooks because they have already changed the way the teachers teach, in a good way,” Sovine said.

Chromebooks bring new options for school projects and provide a variety to the school day instead of taking notes or listening to a lecture all hour. Dowagiac Union High School uses Google, or Gmail, for school email making Chromebooks a serious improvement because staff and students can be connected in a convenient way without disrupting the existing system.

As the Internet becomes more incorporated into everyone’s daily lives, the use of technology is vital especially in a school system to keep up with the ever-changing technological advances. Dowagiac has made an important step towards bettering the classroom environment for their students.