OVERVIEW

    Wild Rose School Division (WRSD) serves the communities of Rocky Mountain House, Drayton Valley, Caroline, Leslieville, Condor and Breton in Alberta, Canada. WRSD have 19 schools that serve around 5,000 K-12 students. They are a strong professional learning community committed to providing top level education for their students. WRSD operates on the belief that student success depends on a shared effort between the schools, home and community. Involving parents and community stakeholders and using the latest technology is integral to their educational philosophy.

    WRSD MISSION

    To create powerful learning environments that inspires excellence in learning and support the wellbeing of all students.

    Schools

    • Aurora Elementary School
    • École Rocky Elementary School
    • Evergreen Elementary School
    • Breton Elementary School
    • Eldorado Elementary School
    • Lochearn Elementary School
    • Pioneer Middle School
    • Visions West Outreach School
    • David Thompson High School
    • H.W. Pickup Jr. High School
    • West Central High Schoo
    • Caroline School
    • Condor School
    • Drayton Christian School
    • Drayton Valley Community Outreach School
    • Kootenay School c/o West Central
    • Leslieville School • Nordegg Education Centre
    • Rockey Christian School
    • Breton High School
    • Frank Maddock High School

    EVALUATING THEIR OPTIONS

    From the get-go WRSD knew they wanted to be at the forefront of education technology. With two of their tenets focusing on literacy and providing the latest technology in their instruction they had a direction but a few factors came into play. Being price conscious, the IT team at WRSD was able to select cloud managed Google ChromeOS running on outstanding Asus hardware. ASUS’ Self-Maintainer program, which allows customers access to parts and service training to service its devices, is just one of many ways ASUS can help reduce costs with its Chromebook devices.

    Working with CDW Canada to evaluate multiple Chromebook manufacturers, including ASUS, WRSD also knew that they needed a model large enough to suit their older students, a touch screen, lightweight high performing Chromebook for their teachers, and warranty coverage to get the most out of their budget. In addition to the size of the devices they also needed a minimum of 4GB of RAM to ensure that they weren’t just providing students and teachers with any device and fulfilling their technology tenet. They needed to ensure that the device was powerful enough to perform everyday tasks like note-taking, running productivity apps, and tasks that required a little more performance.


    The ASUS Chromebook C202 is not only spill proof up to 66CC of liquid and has a best-in-class drop test of up to 3.9’ but it also has an easy grip design so that it is proactive in avoiding damage.


    “ASUS develops products engineered and developed for K12 that are easy to service and maintain, getting them back in the classroom in the event that there is something wrong.”
    - Jaymon Lefebvre Director, Information Technology Services Wild Rose School Division

    THE SOLUTION

    With all the options available for Google Chrome, the selection process was not easy. In the end it came down to the ASUS Chromebook C202 for the students; a ruggedized, small form-factor device that was built by ASUS for the classroom. The other solution was the ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 for the teachers; a larger yet more portable device with more computing power and a flippable design.

    The ASUS Chromebook C202 is not only spill proof, up to 66CC of liquid, and has a best-in-class drop test of up to 3.9’ but it also has an easy grip design so that it is proactive in avoiding damage. According to Jaymon Lefebvre (Director, Information Technology Services at Wild Rose School Division) “these devices hold up better” and are “engineered for K-12.” ASUS also designed the Chromebook C202 with a modular component build so that the device can be quickly and easily maintained on-site. As Mr. Lefebvre so aptly stated; “ ASUS develops products engineered and developed for K12 that are easy to service and maintain, getting them back in the classroom in the event that there is something wrong.”

    The ASUS Chromebook Flip C302 on the other hand may not be ruggedized for the classroom but was developed with teachers in mind. Because teachers require more computing power to run different programs, mark, and build report cards, ASUS built the Chromebook Flip C302 with an Intel® Core™ m3 processor and 64GB of storage.

    Taking it one step beyond performance the C302 was also designed with a 360-degree hinge so that teachers can use it to teach in multiple modes. The Google Chrome OS which is included on both devices allows each teacher to interact with their students who can access shared files and folders from their C202 devices at school and at home.

    ABOUT ASUS

    Founded in 1989, ASUS is a leading innovator in personal computing products and a preferred supplier of technology products to the commercial sector. The company offers a brand portfolio of products that include laptops, Chromebook, tablets, motherboards, graphics cards, displays, servers, multimedia, wireless solutions, and networking devices. With a global staff of over 15,000 people and a world class R&D team of 5,000 engineers, the company is a $14.75 billion dollar brand. The most important surveys in the industry regularly rank ASUS as the most reliable Windows-based PC brand. ASUS is also strongly committed to environmentally sustainable computing. In 2000 the company-wide suitability computing initiative, Green ASUS, was launched. Since then most of ASUS products are EPEAT certified and ASUS is the first leading notebook brand to be awarded with the UE flower certification.


    *Battery life varies depending on usage and environmental conditions. Actual battery life may be less than benchmark testing. Battery life decreases over time. © ASUS Computer International. All Rights Reserved. ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer. All specifications are subject to change without notice and features are only in select models. Products may not be available in all markets. Brand and product names mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.