Edina Kids Buy Cheap Best Buy Computers in Trailblazing Partnership

A partnership between Edina Public Schools and Best Buy, which has allowed more than 500 sixth- and ninth-graders to buy laptops and tablets at dramatic discount from an online store, is gaining attention around the nation, with more than 200 school districts clamoring for a similar arrangement with Best Buy.

“We consider this another tool in the toolbox: It’s just like a pencil and paper,” said Tim Berndt, the district’s technology specialist. “These devices are becoming less and less expensive and gaining a bigger place in how we function and are productive.”

Edina launched a pilot program for its eLearning2 initiative late last year, offering all 650 ninth graders a chance to purchase a Samsung, Acer and Toshiba computer for as little as $29.99. About 400 students bought devices—a Samsung Chromebook available for $99.99 was the most popular choice—at the cost to the district of about $210 each. (Free Chromebooks are given to qualifying students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program.)

On Monday, July 15, the district expanded the program, opening it to the 2013-14 class of ninth-graders and to sixth-graders.

“There was so much traffic Monday night that we crashed their website,” Berndt said. “The amount of webhits to the store was significantly more than last year.”

The website soon went back online, and so far 106 students purchased devices.

Berndt said the aim of the program is to complement the district’s “Bring Your Own Device” policy, which aims to incorporate modern technology into the classroom.

The district has been working with ninth-grade teachers, whose classrooms have suddenly gained a lot more screens, to design “device-neutral” curriculum that can be completed on any device—or with pen and paper.

“Ten or 15 years ago the teacher would say, ‘Everybody make a PowerPoint,’ and that’s that, whereas today there are so many free web resources and programs and apps that can be used on any device, and there’s a lot of power in having choice,” Berndt said. “If a student prefers taking notes pencil and paper—that’s great—but if they prefer to take notes in a Google Doc, that’s great too.”

The district’s deal with Best Buy also includes a partnership with the store’s tech support staff, or “Geek Squad.” This spring, Geek Squad agents came to the district’s two middle schools—South View and Valley View—about twice a week to help students and teachers learn to use their new high-tech gadgetry. Classes for parents taught by Geek Squad agents are planned in the fall, and eventually the district hopes to introduce a mentoring program that would appoint students as junior agents.

Computers in classrooms are nothing new, but with a wave of assumed extracurricular access to the Internet, some teachers are finding new ways to approach instruction, asking students to watch, for instance, a video demonstration of a math problem the night before and then discussing it in class.

“The teacher kind of shifts from a teacher to more of a facilitator,” Berndt said.

Berndt said the program has mostly been a success, recalling one veteran ninth-grade teacher’s comments during a staff meeting.