Vivi, a wireless screen mirroring tool designed for improved education, was introduced to this school only a few years ago. At the time, it was presented as a solution to make teaching more effective and interactive. However, despite its promise, nearly everyone has experienced some sort of issue with it at some point. Whether it’s the technology struggling to connect or randomly crashing during a lesson, Vivi can often be unpredictable. While Vivi is a serviceable addition to education, its contribution is not significant enough to excuse its persistent issues.

To be fair, Vivi does offer certain benefits. It is especially handy when it comes to student presentations. It’s much easier when students can share their own screens and do presentations with their own Chromebooks rather than having a teacher click through each slide. Students can choose which screens to share and navigate through slideshows without awkward pauses waiting for the next slide.

Vivi is also useful for activities such as guided notetaking. Unlike using a traditional video projector, Vivi allows students to see the full paper without obstruction from a teacher’s arm. This can make notetaking go much faster. 

However, despite these benefits, Vivi has issues that the earlier projector technology didn’t have. Whenever Vivi crashes or glitches, it becomes incredibly difficult for teachers to teach. Attempting to connect to the technology when it’s glitching causes the class to slow down, wasting valuable instructional time and creating a negative experience. These disruptions are frustrating for teachers and students alike. For teachers, the technology may cause unnecessary stress; instead of focusing on giving quality instruction, teachers may find themselves acting as technical support instead.  While a few glitches with technology is inevitable, these issues have been springing up constantly as of late. Implementing technology such as this is likely no cheap endeavor. Beyond the initial installation, potential maintenance costs, updates and repairs bring into question the true value of Vivi.

So, with the issues that Vivi poses, what should have been done instead, and what can be done in the future? The finances the school puts into Vivi is certainly not cheap, and it is clear that money could be better spent elsewhere.

For example, in some bathrooms at this school, the sinks and hand dryers have been broken for multiple years. There are issues with squeaky stall doors, a lack of sanitary napkin bins and overall issues with bathroom upkeep. Some water fountains are sputtering messes. In classrooms, there are broken lights and temperature regulation issues that can take a long time to fix. 

A clean school atmosphere is vital to supporting students’ education. Our school isn’t just the technology used for teaching; it’s also the building itself. Taking care of the building and not just adding new technology should be a priority for the administration. So, instead of upgrading technology, this school should focus on building maintenance, thereby creating a more positive environment for students. 

Ultimately, while Vivi does have some benefits, the technological issues do not make this software worth it. There are other, more pressing issues at this school that could benefit from additional funding that instead went to upgrading technology. Prioritizing reliable facilities over unpredictable technology would create a more stable school environment and community. In the future, administrators should carefully evaluate whether technology truly enhances learning to its expected capacity.