After growing up in California, Karin Bolinger knows what it's like to be a student in a rural community. She also knows technology beyond the average textbook is necessary for learning.
A first-year teacher at Russellville Middle School, where 90 Dell Chromebook computers are available for 148 students, access to technology for Bolinger's science and social studies classes was a challenge.
"I was wanting to use the Chromebooks, and we have a limited supply of Chromebooks at this school," Bolinger said.
At the beginning of the school year, she learned about Donors Choose, a fundraising website for public school teachers to get assistance with projects.
With permission from Principal Tina Kauffman and the Cole County R-1 School District, Bolinger submitted a proposal Oct. 1 to raise $2,341 for 10 computers for her classroom.
"There's a lot of online tools for science like online activities they can do, and it's a lot more hands on - they get to do virtual labs online for science," she said. "For social studies, all of our students have a seat for an online book, and they could actually do things for their book online if they had access and if we had enough computers for them to do that all the time."
Donors Choose assigns a time limit for projects; if funds are not fully collected by the deadline, the materials will not be awarded. Bolinger met her goal five days ahead of the Feb. 10 deadline.
"Whenever we are not able to provide the resources, we encourage teachers to use other outlets," Kauffman said. "We are continuously trying to do upgrades and find ways to get more technology; we would love to be a 1-to-1 (device-to-student) school. But right now we are just managing to do the best that we can."
Forty-six donors supported Bolinger's "To Think Like Scientist, We Need to Research" fundraiser.
"Technology is the base of many activities in our world today. My students' daily learning would be greatly enhanced through technology," Bolinger wrote on the site. "Our students' inability to access Chromebooks hinders them in so many ways."
She said the 10 additional computers will benefit not only her 100 students, but other teachers and students as well. Currently, if a teacher needs to use Chromebooks in the classroom, they submit a request on a shared calendar. The technology is often in high demand.
"A lot of the school districts around us are 1-to-1 Chromebooks," Bolinger said. "I've observed in different school districts, and I've seen a lot of programs that I feel like can be utilized really well if the resources are there."