Middle and high school students will have the opportunity to become certified Chromebook repair technicians through a new course from education technology company CTL.
The CTL Chromebook Care Course is designed for students in grades 8-12 and offers hands-on hardware repairs as well as training on professional competencies, including customer service, help desk systems, and student data privacy.
Students who complete the course will earn digital badges and certificates of achievement, CTL said.
The course will be free for CTL customers and focuses on CTL-manufactured devices.
“Our commitment at CTL has always been to the total lifecycle of technology in education,” CTL CEO Jason Mendenhall said in a statement. “By empowering students to become certified technicians, we are not just teaching a valuable trade; we are directly addressing several major challenges for districts: significantly reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through self-repair, ensuring faster device repair turnarounds for more learning uptime, and fostering sustainability by keeping thousands of Chromebooks in use longer to reduce e-waste.”
CTL said there are two levels of achievement that students can earn depending on how the course is offered, such as through an after-school program or Career and Technical Education (CTE) program.
Schools or districts running the program must own 50 or more CTL-brand Chromebooks, advisors must have completed the pre-authorization process with CTL, and the program must have sufficient space to run and store parts.
The repair aspect of the program comes from CTL’s focus on sustainable technology lifecycle management, the company said, explaining that by enabling students to repair devices at school, districts can maximize the longevity of their Chromebooks.
The program also supports rising demand for CTE careers, noting that students who participate in the program “not only gain marketable technical skills but also develop critical soft skills like problem-solving and collaboration, helping them develop workforce-ready skills.”