Councillors plan to give Chrome book to every Fife school pupil
and live on Freeview channel 276
At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic last summer Fife purchased nearly 5,500 Chromebooks - low-cost laptops running Google software - and 1,152 mobile broadband devices with unlimited data.
It used a £1.775 million grant from the Scottish Government to support children with little access to technology at home.
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Hide AdSince then, the council has been given a further £3.363m by ministers that it aims to use to buy another 5,000 laptops and to support refreshes of these devices as they become redundant over time.
Education chiefs say digital learning has been rapidly prioritised in the wake of Covid-19. Post-pandemic, they anticipate children using digital resources to learn more often, alongside traditional lessons.
"The changes to all our lives through Covid-19 are ongoing and necessitate a re-think of effective engagement with learning and teaching," a report being presented to councillors tomorrow reads.
"There is a need to build upon recent progress, working with staff, learners and families to embed a culture of digital learning and teaching across the curriculum."
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Hide AdThe council is drawing up plans for a long-term "digital learning culture" strategy to be published later this year - and says it could move towards a "full one-to-one device strategy" where every pupil receives a Chromebook regardless of need.
This plan would see all pupils being given a laptop in P4 which they would use until S2, at which point they would receive a refreshed up-to-date device.