The best Google Chrome extensions for teachers are here to make life easier. Since  most are free, work within the Chrome browser, and are in many cases, specifically designed for educational needs, these can serve classroom use perfectly.

Chrome is not only available across devices but is designed to work very well with Chrome devices, commonly used in schools. The idea is to get app-style services right there within the browser -- so you won't need a powerful computer to enjoy all the functionality.

From marking work to creating presentations for the class to assessing progress, there are lots of apps built to support the teaching process. Crucially, these extensions are helpful for both teachers and students to save time, enhance learning, and make the digital space more engaging.

This guide aims to lay out some of the best Google Chrome extensions for teachers right now.

• Google Classroom Review
• Google Classroom Clean-up Tips

Best Google Chrome Extensions for Teachers: Grammarly

Grammarly is a great Chrome extension for students and teachers to use. The basic version is free, with a few premium options, and it works really well. It will check spelling and grammar anywhere that typing happens in Chrome.

That includes typing in a search bar, writing in a document in Docs, composing an email, or even working within other Chrome extensions. Errors get underlined in red so the student can see the mistake and how to correct it.

A really helpful feature here is that Grammarly will email the students a list of their most common mistakes for that week, along with writing statistics and areas of focus. Also useful for teachers to get a view on the week gone by.

Best Chrome Extensions: Kami

Kami is a great Chrome extension for any teacher who wants to go paperless. This allows you to upload PDFs from your desktop or via Google Drive, for editing digitally.

Annotate, mark, and highlight the PDF using a virtual pen before easily having it saved, ready to return to students digitally. A really useful system for use within the Google Classroom ecosystem.

Kami also allows you to setup a blank PDF that can be used as a virtual whiteboard – ideal for remote learning as it can be presented via Zoom or Google Meet, live.

Best Chrome Extensions: Dualless

Dualless is one of the best Chrome extensions for teachers as it's built for presentations. It allows you to split your screen into two, with one half for the presentation that's being seen by others, and one half for your eyes only.

Dualless is a great way to present to a classroom remotely while still keeping an eye on the class by having the video chat windows open in the other section. Of course, the bigger the screen here, the better.

Best Chrome Extensions: Mote

Add voice notes and vocal feedback to student documents and notes with Mote. Rather than editing digitally, or even physically, you can simply add audio to student work submissions for them to listen to.

Mote is a great way to provide a more personal touch to student work feedback. It also allows for a more clear explanation that can be laid out quickly for students. Mote works on Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Classroom, and can transcribe audio with more than 15 languages supported.

Best Chrome Extensions: Screencastify

If you could benefit from recording your screen, then Screencastify is the Chrome extension for you. This works on a computer but can also be used in app from on smartphones. It lets you record the screen for up to five minutes, in Chrome extension form, while being saved automatically to your Google Drive.

This is a great way to provide guidance for students navigating a task. You can just record it and send that video, using a quick link, rather than having to write an explanation. Since it's recorded, the student can refer back to it as often as needed.

Best Chrome Extensions: Reactions

Reactions is one of the best Chrome extensions for teachers who run remote learning with Google Meet. It allows you to keep students muted but still get feedback in the form of emojis.

You can then get some more interactivity without slowing down instruction pacing by going off topic. Students can use a simple thumbs-up, for example, if you want to get them to check-in so you know they're following along.

Best Chrome Extensions: Random Student Generator

The Random Student Generator for Google Classroom is a nice way to pick students to answer questions, in an unbiased way. Ideal for use in virtual classrooms in which perhaps layout can change, unlike in a physical room.

Since this is built for Google Classroom, the integration is seamless, allowing it to work with the roster of your class. You don't have to input any information as this will just work to pick out students, at random.

Best Chrome Extensions: Diigo

Diigo is a good tool for highlighting and annotating online text. Not only does it allow you to do that on a webpage, with it remaining when you come back later, but it also saves all your work to an online account for access when needed.

This is useful both for students and teachers. Bookmark for reading later, archive highlights and stickies, screenshot to share pages, and markup all through this one extension that works across devices. So if you later revisit on your phone, all the notes you made on your laptop will still be there.

Best Google Chrome Extensions for Teachers: InsertLearning

The InsertLearning Google Chrome extension offers a great way to make websites more interactive. Crucially, teachers can add questions to a webpage as well as discussions to help get students actively engaged. 

So not only does this offer a way to go beyond simple reading of a webpage, but also represents a way of helping students learn in a more long-term way.

Usefully, this lets students answer your questions on a site, but also highlight and make notes, so that they can better use the resource in their own ways. 

• Google Classroom Review
• Google Classroom Clean-up Tips

If anyone tells you that you can’t get a school computer in a small and inexpensive package, point them to the Asus Chromebox 3. At $284, the Asus Chromebox 3-N017U not only can handle a host of typical classroom tasks and display 4K video, but can be easily attached to the back of a display.

The black-and-gray Asus Chromebox 3 case may be small at 1.6-by-5.9-by-5.9 inches but it doesn’t stint on performance. The model I looked at was powered by a dual-core Intel Celeron 3865U that runs at 1.8 Ghz, which provided plenty of power for most classroom uses, from email and image editing to essay writing and spreadsheet work. Its design uses 4 GB of fast DDR4 memory modules and 32 GB of solid-state storage.

Not enough? Asus makes it easy to upgrade the Chromebox 3 with extra RAM or an SSD module of up to 256GB. The company also has several Chromebox 3 models that top out with a Core i7 processor and sell for more than $800 – about what you’d expect to pay for a PC desktop.

Flat or On a Display's Back

Like the CTL CBX1C, the Asus Chromebox 3 can sit flat on a table or upright. It comes with the mounting hardware plate for attaching it to the back of a display or screwed in under a table.

A big bonus is the Asus Chromebox 3’s HD Graphics 610 video. Unlike its peers, it can feed images to two individual displays and work with 4K video with up to 4096 by 2160 resolution. In addition to HDMI video and a USB-C port, the system’s back has two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.1 connectors. Up front, the Chromebox 3 can connect with up to other two USB 3.1 devices as well as headphones or external speakers. Its flash card reader can work with data on micro SD cards and can expand the system’s storage potential up to 256GB.

The Chromebox 3 is well connected with a wired Ethernet connector in the back as well as 802.11ac Wi-Fi. There’s also Bluetooth 4.2 for connecting accessories, like keyboards, mice and speakers. It worked well connecting to my wired and wireless LANs as well as a Bluetooth keyboard, optical mouse and speakers.

Petite Powerhouse

The computer starts up quickly after pressing the power button on the device’s front corner, yielding more than enough performance to for typical classroom tasks. Over the course of a month, I used it every day to create and edit a variety of Google Docs, view YouTube videos, and use classroom apps like the Desmos graphic calculator and SketchPad. In fact, it’s just as good connected to an Acer 21-inch desktop display on a teacher’s desk as feeding lessons to an Epson PowerLite 700U projector.

With a 482 score on Geekbench 5.0’s Single-Core processor tests, the Chromebox 3 is slightly more powerful than a similarly configured CTL CBX1C. It was, however, off the CBX1C when it came to the Multi-Core tests with a 859 score; the CBX1C had a slightly higher score of 916.

The big surprise was that the Chromebox 3 doesn’t use much power. It consumed 6.3 watts of power when being used and 1.3 watts at idle. If it is on for 8 hours every school day and asleep the rest of the time, the typical school can expect it to add about $2.50 to its power bill, assuming that the school pays the national average of 13 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity.

At $284 with a one-year warranty, Asus proves that good things can come in small packages. Its ability to replace most big and clunky PCs with a small yet powerful Chrome desktop shows it can take a prominent place in today’s classroom.

More: Asus

Looking for The Chrome ecosystem is not just for Chromebooks anymore with tablets, desktops and all-in-one systems available for the classroom. The Acer Chromebase 24 ($400) stands head and shoulders above the crowd when it comes to delivering value at school.

At 15.8 by 22.9 by 1.5 inches, the Acer Chromebase 24 has a two-tone black and silver design and rounded corners that make it look a lot like an Apple iMac. It takes up 24- by-12 inches of desk space and is 18.4 inches tall. It came with a wired keyboard and mouse set that fit well under the Chromebase 24’s screen.  

It weighs in at a modest 20-pounds and should fit nicely on everything from a computer lab or library table to a physics lab bench or the school’s front office. The stand looks great and has a place for snaking wires, but the system can also be hung on a wall with a standard VESA mounting bracket.

The system is powered by a small external power adapter like those used on notebooks, although it requires a three-prong grounded outlet. Inside, the Chromebase 24 has a dual-core Celeron processor that runs at 1.7GHz but doesn’t vary its speed based on the task at hand. It comes with 4GB of RAM and a scant 16GB of solid-state storage space that falls short of the 128- or 256GB that most Chromebox desktop systems like the CTL CBX1C or Asus Chromebox 3 include. It should be fine for most school uses and there are ways to augment its storage potential.

Power Ports

On the display’s left side is a cut out for the SD card reader that makes adding up to a 256GB card for extra storage a snap. There’s also a headphone jack and a USB 3.1 port. In the back, the Acer Chromebase 24 has two USB 3.1 one USB 2.0 ports and a gigabit wired LAN connection. The HDMI port works well for sending video to a projector, but it can’t be used as an input for viewing an external video source on the system’s display.

The Acer Chromebase 24 does just as well with wireless data as with cables with built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It quickly connected to my network and later I used a wireless speaker, keyboard and mouse.

With a pair of speakers under the screen and four microphones above, the system has surprisingly strong audio. This makes it appropriate for video conferencing, creating podcasts or interactive online curriculum. Its screen measures a comfortable 23.8-inches (diagonally), shows 1920 by 1080 resolution and was more than bright enough to use in a sunlight room. It, however, does without touch sensitivity.

Tilt-O-Matic Display

The Acer Chromebase 24’s display is adjustable to suit a variety of kids and adults, with the screen tilting from 5-degrees forward and 30-degrees back; it can’t be moved up or down, though. By the same token, the system’s 1280-by-720 resolution Web cam has a lever behind it to aim the camera up or down 30-degrees.

All this adds up to a system that’s just as good for researching a social studies paper or viewing YouTube videos as for taking assessments or videoconferencing with a parent. It scored a 15,854 on the Octane benchmark that includes key tasks like math processes, encryption, memory and storage operations. That puts it 15 percent ahead of the Acer Chromebox 3’s 13,770, but 28 percent behind the HP X2 Chromebook’s 20,366.

Security Plus

The Acer Chromebase 24 is a secure system with a Trusted Platform Module to encrypt data. The system easily handled a month of daily use that included everything from recording and viewing videos and listening to podcasts, writing and editing Google Docs as well as drawing with Sketchpad and using the Desmos graphic calculator.

Still, the Chromebase isn’t a power hog. When it was being used, it consumed just 15.3 watts, including its display; when it was idle, that drops to 1.3 watts. If the school pays the national average of 13 cents per kilowatt-hour and uses the system for 8 hours per day, every school day, it will cost less than $4 a year to operate.

Of course, there’s a lot more to Acer’s Chromebase 24 than numbers and specs. It comes with a one-year warranty and is not only powerful and economical enough for most schools but its design and finish are surprisingly high-end for a computer that costs $400. The Chromebase 24 is one of the best buys in school computers you can get today.

A-

More: Acer

Capture, record, edit, and share screen content with versatile tool

Pros: Multiple options for recording and capturing all or parts of your screen open up different avenues for creative use and sharing.

Cons: Not all features are intuitive, and upgrade messages pop up often for videos.

Bottom Line: Easy-to-use options for uploading and sharing content make this a useful addition to any teacher's toolbox.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

We’ve all been there. You just finished putting together a great instructional lesson or unit. Kids are gonna love it. They’re working together. Doing research. Creating stuff, not just consuming it. The historical thinking will be off the charts.

Then you realize . . . you haven’t created the rubric yet.

You know that clear expectations and feedback are critically important to the learning process. You know that rubrics can help you in assessing what students know and are able to do. So you sit back down and eventually decide to use four scoring columns instead of five. Six rows of criteria instead of three. Clear descriptors. Nine point font all crammed into your matrix so that it fits on one page. Definitely tons of feedback gonna happen from this beauty.

But it’s worth it, right?

Mmm . . . using a great rubric can speed up the grading and assessment process but they can also create other issues besides the amount of time it takes to create them. A student shows creativity way beyond what the rubric asks for in a way that you hadn’t anticipated and your columns and rows aren’t able to reward that. Or a kid spells everything correctly but the grammar and punctuation is terrible. Maybe she nails the document analysis but fails to use evidence in her claims and your rubric has those two things together.

And is there any way – other than individual conferences – to really know whether students actually go deeper into your scored rubric than to look at the final grade circled in the bottom left hand corner?

Yes, analytic rubrics are useful. I’m not saying rubrics shouldn’t be part of your assessment toolkit. They can help you develop and create assignments that are aligned to your end in mind. They can provide clear expectations for students and a way to share feedback. But they can also be difficult to design correctlyand may seem so overwhelming to students that the expected feedback we want never really sinks in.

And, sure, holistic versions are much quicker to create and use. So that’s nice. But they fail to provide specific and targeted feedback. You get a kid who wants to know why they got a two instead of a three or worse, he won’t ask at all. Missing the whole point of providing feedback in the first place.

So . . . why not look at a third way to the rubric game? And use some tech to make it even better?

This third way, called a single-point rubric, is a lot like an analytic rubric listing the different required component parts of an assignment. Like the KSDE version below, you would still have Focus, Evidence, Argument, and Conventions as rows. But instead of four columns of four, three, two, and one across the top, you have just three columns.

And here’s the kicker, only the middle column actually contains descriptors. Essentially, the single-point rubric simply describes what successful work looks like using the criteria for proficiency. One of the remaining columns is used to highlight things in the student work that are amazing and go beyond proficient. The other can be used to highlight ways to improve the work.

Let’s use the KSDE historical argument rubric as an example. Nothing wrong with the rubric, especially since someone else created it for us. But it can still have some of the baggage that all analytic rubrics carry with them.

So we take the second column, the Three column, and isolate it.

Using these descriptors, we can create our single-point rubric: 

This is basically copy and paste to show a quick sample. So you might want to tweak the Focus section or clarify more what grade appropriate strategies looks like in the Argument section. The idea is to make your life easier and student work better. So a single-point rubric doesn’t try to anticipate ways that a kid might exceed our expectations. It doesn’t try to describe ways that a kid failed. It just says . . . here ya go, this is what I want – leaving lots of room for student creativity and expression. It also allows you to be specific about ways student work can improve. 

 Quick review – why use a single-point rubric? 

• Simple to create
• Clear, specific, higher quality, and individualized feedback
• Focus is on feedback and improvement, not just a grade. (Great if you’re moving to standards-based assessments or away from traditional grading.)
• Allows for flexibility in teacher feedback without losing clear expectations
• Supports student performance and creativity beyond proficient
• Encourages students to actually read and internalize our feedback

Need some research-based evidence? Feel free to head over to this 2010 research project by Jarene Fluckiger highlighting rationale, impact, usage, and examples. And Jennifer Gonzalez has two nice articles here and here.

But. I can hear the buts.

 I like the idea but doesn’t using a single-point rubric mean I have to write more feedback? Instead of just circling cells on a rubric?  

Perhaps. But . . .  it’s more specific and more impactful than circling cells on a rubric. And with the Google Interwebs, there’s a quick and relatively painless way to make providing feedback a bit easier.

You’ll need to be using the Google Chrome browser and Google Docs for this to work – most of you are doing that already. First thing? Go to the Google Web Store and install the Chrome browser extension called Checkmark.

Once installed, Checkmark makes leaving comments on Google Docs super easy. Highlighting any text in a Google Doc opens a simple popup window that has a list of generic comments that every teacher might make on a student work. Spelling, grammar, repetitive language, passive voice, needs more evidence. Simple check the boxes with the comments you want to leave and Checkmark will insert those along the right hand side of the document.

The beauty of Checkmark is that you can create specific comment menus and add specific criteria to each menu. 

Using Google Classroom would make this even easier. Paste in your rubric into the assignment, share it with students via Classroom. When kids submit their work, you have the option to use Checkmark both on the rubric and throughout the work is you want.

No. Checkmark won’t work for every comment you’ll need, (one of the selling points of a single-point rubric is to deliver student specific feedback) you’re going to have to actually type some stuff in now and again. But Checkmark will help with the basics, giving you more time to do that.

And isn’t that the idea? So give single-point rubrics a try. Together with Checkmark, your kids are gonna walk away smarter. 

cross posted at glennwiebe.org

Glenn Wiebe is an education and technology consultant with 15 years' experience teaching history and social studies. He is a curriculum consultant forESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, blogs frequently at History Tech and maintains Social Studies Central, a repository of resources targeted at K-12 educators. Visit glennwiebe.org to learn more about his speaking and presentation on education technology, innovative instruction and social studies.

There are many excellent screen recording tools available, but one of my favorites is the Screencastify Chrome extension. It is simple to use, has lots of nice features, works on Chromebooks, and is free for videos up to 10 minutes long. (See my earlier post about "7 Super Screencasting Activities for School" for more details and ideas.)

Recently Screencastify updated the Chrome extension with a new convenient feature. When you record a video, you now have the option to add a comment (or comments) to the video, including text and links. When people view the video in Google Drive they will be able to see your comment, and leave their own if you have given permission. This can open up many opportunities to provide additional resources, get feedback, and spark a class discussion on your screen recordings.

See below for how to use this helpful new feature, as well as ideas on how this might be used in school.

Adding Comments to a Screencastify Video

The ability to add comments to a video (or any file) is actually a feature provided by Google Drive. What Screencastify has done is make it even easier to quickly add a comment to a recording you have created. Here's how: 

• First, record your video as normal with the Screencastify extension.
• Note: If you need details on the basic usage if Screencastify see my earlier post and training video.
• When you are done recording the video, you will be taken to the normal Screencastify window to preview your video.
• In the top right corner you will now find a "Comments" section.
• You can click "New Comment" to add a comment, and then click "Post" when done.
• You can add as many comments as needed by clicking the "New Comment" button.
• Optional: If you want other people to be able to leave comments on the video as well, you can check the box for "Allow others to comment".

By default you video will be private, so people will not be able to view your comments unless you have shared the video. You can do this through the sharing settings in Google Drive, but it is easier to make this change while still in Screencastify. 

• On the right side of the preview window, locate the "Uploaded To" section.
• Click the "Copy Link" option.
• This will change the sharing so that anyone with the link will be able to view the video, as well as view the comments you have left.

[What's New in Google - October 2018]

Viewing Comments on a Screencastify Video

Now that you have added a comment to your video, how will people be able to view it? All you need to do is provide people with the Google Drive link to your video.

• If you clicked "Copy Link" (as described above) you can simply provide that link to others.
• Alternately you can copy the shareable link directly from the sharing settings in Google Drive for the video. You will find the video files in the "Screencastify" folder in Drive.

When someone clicks the link you have provided, it will open up the video in the Google Drive preview window. 

• Any comments you have added will show up to the right of the video.
• If you have added links to the comments, viewers will be able to click on the links to access the sites.
• If you gave permission for others to add comments, viewers will be able to click the comment button at the top to leave a new comment, or click on one of your comments to leave a reply.

To see an actual example, check out this demo screen recording I did, along with a sample comment:

Demo Video - Google Drive link

Uses for Comments on a Screencastify Video

So how can we use this commenting feature in a school setting? There are many creative ways this could be used in education, such as:

• You can provide additional clarifying information for the video. This could be especially helpful for information that you did not include in the original video and did not want to have to record an entire new video.
• You can add questions for the students to consider when viewing the video.
• You can add a link out to a related website with additional instruction or content.
• You can add a link to a Google Document with questions for the student to complete based on the video.
• You can add a link to another video in a series of instructional videos, so the student can click through them in the correct order.
• Students could add comments linking to multiple videos to create a choose-your-own-adventure story using screen recordings.
• You can allow students to leave their own comments as brainstorming feedback on the video and/or questions you have posed in the video.
• Students can allow classmates to leave comments on their videos to collect feedback from their classmates.

What other ideas do you have for how this commenting features could be used with Screencastify videos?

cross posted at www.controlaltachieve.com

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow him on Google+ and @ericcurts on Twitter.

 Here’s a trick that will come in handy for innovative educators who have times when it becomes helpful to have lots of tabs easily accessible.  For example, say you are having several students present one day and you don’t want to have to click open each presentation or connect and disconnect various devices from the display station.  Or, maybe there are tabs that you use each time you conduct a particular class.  And, everybody has the usual tabs that they need each day. 
Using Chrome bookmarks, you can put all those tabs in a folder, then have them instantly open at your command. 

Now you don’t have to worry about what device you are on or if your computer restarts or if someone accidentally closes a window.  You have a tool to quickly and easily open all the tabs you want.

Your Turn

What do you think? How could you see using this strategy to streamline the work you do? 

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.  

Launching today at ISTE in Chicago, TechPilot labs launches ChromeTools after months of public beta. ChromeTools is a cloud-based classroom management solution providing a variety of tools that allow teachers to monitor and keep students on-task when using Chromebooks in the classroom. Tools include:

Class View: View thumbnail screens of entire class at a glance

Screen View: See detailed view of individual student screen

Screen Lock: Get class attention with “heads-up!” message

Tab Control: View list of all open tabs and remotely close

Open Sites: Remotely open one or more sites for entire class

Site Lock: Lock students into one or more specific sites

ChromeTools synchronizes with the district’s Google Admin account to automatically sync Google Classroom Classes and import teacher accounts. Teachers access the system using their regular school Google login account.

TechPilot Labs is pricing ChromeTools at $3 per device per year. Districts may choose an add-on product, FindMyChromebooks, that is accessible through the same interface and helps admins locate and recover lost or missing Chromebooks. The system also integrates with SchoolMDM, TechPilot’s MDM for iPads and other Apple devices to allow management of all platforms through a single interface.

TechPilot’s products are in use in hundreds of schools and districts across the U.S. and worldwide. For more information or to schedule a live demo visit techpilotlabs.com.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica Group today announced Britannica Insights, a free Chrome browser extension.

Britannica Insights works with major search engines – Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others – on the Chrome browser and is available for download at http://britannica.com/insights. Watch the video here.

[Annotate, Bookmark, Cite & Highlight With One Tool]

Another recently launched initiative, Demystified, provides engaging and revealing answers to commonly asked questions such as: What’s the difference between veins and arteries? Does listening to Mozart in the womb really make babies smarter? Britannica also makes it easier for young learners and non-native English speakers to look up word definitions without leaving the page by linking hard words to definitions from Merriam-Webster, a sister company.

Weava

Chrome extension helps organize web-based research

Pros: All-in-one tool for highlighting, annotating, organizing, citing, and exporting website and PDFs research.

Cons: Highlighting colors are easily mixed up. No built-in plagiarism info.

Bottom Line: For Chrome users and mostly digital classrooms, this is a fairly intuitive tool that'll help students wrangle their research.

Read more.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

STEAM education is a focal point of U.S. classrooms, fueled by rising demand for skilled workers with the computer programming and coding skills required to fill 21st-century careers. SAM Labs, an edtech startup that empowers teachers with the most engaging STEAM classroom solutions, is leading the movement to equip schools with modern instructional resources and technology. SAM Labs today launched SAM Blockly, a solution that enables students to progress from visual flow-based programming to block-based programming.

Created in partnership with Workbench, SAM Blockly is a complete classroom solution that allows users to access a combination of content, the SAM Blockly app and SAM blocks. The programming app contains a Blockly programming environment to interact with SAM blocks, which are wireless Bluetooth hardware blocks that are either inputs or outputs such as motors and light sensors.

SAM Blockly provides an important pathway for students. The solution enables progression from SAM Labs’ visual flow-based coding environment SAM Space, to the Blockly environment as a logical next step. Students are then prepared to later advance to script-based coding languages as they develop their skills.

For educators, SAM Blockly expands on their familiarity with Scratch and Blockly by adding blocks as a physical element for a stronger learning experience. The solution also integrates with other classroom components, such as 3D printers and LEGO, to help educators increase the value of their existing STEAM resources. With SAM Blockly, educators can share and discover projects from other teachers to make integration into the classroom quick and easy.

“We recognize the importance of educators clearly mapping their students’ progression,” said Joachim Horn, founder and CEO of SAM Labs. “SAM Blockly is the perfect bridge for students who have discovered the fun of coding and creating with SAM Space and want to progress to that next step."

“We’re always on the lookout for companies that are on the forefront of providing transformative learning solutions,” said Chris Sleat, founder and CEO of Workbench. “As pioneers in STEAM, SAM Labs embodies this idea. We’re proud to partner with them because they provide immensely engaging and powerful classroom experiences that benefit teachers and students of all levels.”

SAM Blockly is available now on Chromebooks and Mac OSX computers via the Chrome browser. To learn more, visit http://blockly.samlabs.com.

About SAM Labs

SAM Labs is an edtech company that empowers teachers with the most engaging STEAM solution including lesson plans, apps and electronics. Its goal is to inspire every student to discover the fun in coding and creating. With a focus on building products that capture every type of student’s imagination, SAM Labs is democratizing the edtech industry. By combining highly engaging software with intuitive, user friendly hardware, SAM Labs teaches coding and engineering to children of all skill sets and interests. Offering projects across a variety of subjects — from biology, to probability, to music — SAM Labs builds edtech products for the athlete, the artist and the engineer.

SAM Labs offers a coding solution for teachers, providing in-classroom support for both the early adopter and the tech-hesitant teacher by offering fully integrated and curriculum-based lesson plans and hands-on educator support. With partners like Intel Education and Microsoft Education, SAM Labs is bringing coding to every classroom around the world.

Founded in 2014, the company is headquartered in London. For more information, please visit https://www.samlabs.com/.

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BYOD-friendly

You can now use Book Creator in classrooms with a handful of different devices. Anytime I host a professional development session for schools more often than not, the teachers and students I work with have a variety of access. This might include a class set of one type of devices or the ability to borrow a mix of different devices for a class period or over the course of several days. Since Book Creator is now available on iPads and Chromebooks you can use this open-ended creation tool with a combination of devices in your classroom.

Google Image Search

If you’ve used Book Creator on iPads in the past you know how easy it is to snap a picture on the spot, import a picture from your Photos or add a screenshot from another app onto your page. Now Book Creator has added a Google Image Search feature so students can search for images using Google’s safe-search option and add pictures to their page. If you’d rather have students gather images from another place you have the option to disable this feature.

Increase Collaboration

Now that Book Creator is available for Chromebooks you take collaboration to the next level. Imagine your students are using Google Docs to draft a step-by-step guide for how to solve a math problem. Students might share their Google Doc with a peer so they can leave feedback on their draft or work within the same document to generate their step-by-step guide. In addition to this type of collaboration students can combine pages they create in Book Creator with other students to make a collaborative book as a whole class.

Elevate Student Voice

One of the reasons Book Creator is a go-to creation tool is because there are so many ways for students to tell the story of their learning. Kids can write in sentences, draw a picture, import a screenshot from another app, record their voice or even add a movie recording to their page. These options help level the playing filed for students who can demonstrate their understanding of a topic, persuade an audience, or tell a story in different ways.

Learn more about Book Creator and how to bring it to your classroom by visiting their website!

And don’t forget – you can sign up for live webinars and watch the recordings of past webinars by clicking here.

Download my list of favorite tech tools for readers by clicking here.

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

By now, the benefits of increasing student literacy are well understood to be a key factor in student success across a broad spectrum of subjects, from science to civics.

At a time when math and STEM concepts are finding their way into an increasing number of curricular subjects and career paths, math literacy in particular has assumed a vital importance in the 21st century.

The same cannot be said of math class technology. While language arts classes have benefited from the positive effects of technology in the classroom, including increased engagement, individualized learning, and more robust collaboration, math and other STEM subjects have been left behind.

For students that struggle with math, or simply dislike the subject, this lack of technology can further sink engagement and inhibit progress and interest in STEM disciplines. Frustrated students often end up adopting a fixed mindset, believing they’re just “not a math person.”

This technology gap is in part because modern tech tools such as Chromebooks, tablets and laptops often don’t have the necessary tools to help students translate their thoughts and ideas into screen-friendly math language. Digital programs have difficulty with simple notation symbols such as square root (√) or pi (π), not to mention the more complex formulas like the quadratic equation. And most equation editors require a high level of knowledge of math syntax to create these symbols and formulas.

Enter EquatIO™, a Google Chrome extension* from Texthelp® that is compatible with Google’s near ubiquitous suite of collaboration tools, including Docs, Forms, Slides Sheets, and Drawings. EquatIO makes it easier for students of all learning levels and styles to make math digital and benefit from the use of technology.

The extension features a robust equation editor, which enables students to input math in the form they prefer. Students can speak into a device and watch as it translates their words into equations before their eyes. A predictive text feature suggests possible formulas and equations the student might be working toward. And on touchscreen laptops, such as the new generation of Chromebooks, a special tool digitizes handwritten math. Students can even use EquatIO to have problems accurately read back to them through Read&Write integration.

When students can focus their attention on concepts, not syntax, it opens a whole new world of excitement in the problems math can help solve in their everyday lives. Finally, every student can confidently, and accurately, say they are a math person, too.

Additional Resources:

Whitepaper: Giving Students a New Lease on Math
Despite the great strides education technology has made during the past decade, its impact on the math classroom has been limited. With a recent push toward advancing deeper learning, math experts look at how emerging technology is improving student engagement, allowing teachers to focus less on memorizing formulas and more on real-world applications for math that will serve them the rest of their lives.

*Availability of EquatIO within the Microsoft Windows environment is coming this Fall.

Making your own ebooks or want to get started? BookWidgets is a platforms that lets educators create interactive activities and engaging teaching material to be used on iPads, Android tablets, Chromebooks, Macs or PCs. It only takes a few minutes and is very easy to use. Teachers can create dynamic widgets – interactive content – for their iBook without needing a knowledge of how to code.

Initially, BookWidgets was developed to be used on iPad in conjunction with iBooks. But due to its popularity it is now available as a web-based service that works on other devices. Of course, teachers who use iBooks Author can still integrate it in their iBooks but it is now a tool you can use to create interactive digital lessons on different platforms.

How can you create interactive activities with BookWidgets?

With BookWidgets teachers can create interactive activities for digital lessons. This means you can design your very own embedded formative assessments like exit slips and quizzes. There are lots of other options including games like crossword puzzles or bingo. The video below provides a fantastic overview of how to use BookWidgets, including a demo of their super easy to use platform.

What kind of interactive activities can you create with BookWidgets?

Right now there are about 40 different types of activities available for teachers. This includes different kind of formative assessment options like quizzes, exit slips or flashcards, as well as pictures and video. In addition to the games I mentioned earlier, you can also create activities connected to a specific subject area like math. For math you can create charts and active plots. For other subject areas you can use forms, surveys and planners. Teachers can also integrate third parties elements like a YouTube video, a Google map, or a PDF. This opens lots of possibilities, so no matter what grade level you teach or what subject matter you focus on, there are tons of options that will work with your course content. The platform is pretty intuitive and there are many tutorials available on their website to guide you along the way.

How do your BookWidget creations get in the hands of students?

Teachers can easily create your own interactive activities or “widgets.” Each widget is attached to a link that you send to students or embed in an iBooks Author creation. Once students get the link, they can start working on the activity. It doesn’t matter what type of device they use since the link is browser based and can be opened up on any device connected to the Internet. Once a student completes his or her work, the teacher can see a breakdown of what was done. This means that even though the exercise is already graded automatically, the teacher gets useful insights on a part of the exercise that the whole class struggled to complete successfully.

BookWidgets’ website has resources broken down by different levels making it easy to see how this tool can totally transform teaching and learning in your classroom. There are examples for elementary school teachers, middle and high school teachers, university instructors, and educators who host professional trainings. You’ll find lots of examples on their website and plenty of resources to help you jump in and get started.

As an iBooks Author user I absolutely love the endless possibilities that BookWidgets provides teachers. You can completely customize the experience for your students and design meaningful, interactive content. When I visit schools and talk to teachers around the country I’m always highlighting the importance of finding a balance between content consumption and content creation on digital devices. When students are interacting with BookWidgets on their devices they are experiencing course content in hands-on learning activities that require them to think about what they’ve read or learned about a topic.

What’s extra special about BookWidgets is the ability to check for understanding with formative assessment options. The #FormativeTech tools within BookWidgets help teachers check for understanding in the context of learning activities. Whether you embed a widget into an iBook Author creation or send the link to your students, you’re able to peek into their thinking about a topic.

BookWidgets is always free for students to use so they can open it up on their device and get started with the activities you’ve created right away. As a teacher user you pay a yearly subscription that starts at $49 but this price is reduced for schools who purchase for at least 10 teachers.

You can try BookWidgets with a 30 day free trial available on BookWidgets’ website!

GIVEAWAY! In my newsletter this week I announced that BookWidgets has given me two, one-year subscription to giveaway to ClassTechTips.com readers. You can enter to win one of two subscriptions. The giveaway is open until 8PM EST on 11/19/16. The winners will be announced shortly after. After 11/19/16 the form will update for my next giveaway.

I received compensation in exchange for sharing this product. Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own :) Learn more

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Monica Burns is a fifth grade teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Visit her website at classtechtips.com for creative education technology tips and technology lesson plans aligned to the Common Core Standards.

Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks are very popular with education for many reasons, one of which is the ease of management and deployment. The Admin Console allows staff to manage apps, user settings, devices settings and much more. Here are some tips and best practices for settings in the Admin Console.

The Admin Console is relatively easy to use, although some settings can be hard to find. Remember to use the help features by clicking on the question marks throughout the console.

The icons on the console can be moved and arranged via drag-and-drop so you can put the ones you use most up front. Typically, Users, Device Management, and Apps are the most used.

Below are some of the main tips and settings to consider. Most of them are under Device Management. This is not a complete list, but one to help you get started.

Admin Accounts: ("Admin Roles")

You can designate users at different levels of admin access. There are preset roles and you can create your own. You should have at least two Super-Admins in case one is out. Help Desk admin can only reset passwords for non-administrators and are good to have in each school.

User Settings:

Organizational Units (set under Users) - you will want to have at least the following OUs setup: Admin, IT, Faculty, K-8 Students, High School students. This allows you to customize the settings for each one. K-8 students cannot use Google+, so you will want Google+ turned off for them. You can also turn off outside email for them.

Under Apps, Click on Additional Google Services, click on the three vertical dots next to Google+ and click Turn Off or On for some Organizations and make sure it is off for K-8.

Device Management > Chrome Management > User Settings

These settings apply to the Chrome Browser also (when a user logs into it)

Force-Installed Apps and Extensions: you can push out apps and extensions to all users. There are a few I recommend, including Office Editing. Here is a list.

Allow or Block All Apps and Extensions: you can either allow users to install any apps except the ones that you block, or block all apps except the ones that you allow. It is a local decision on how to manage this. Blocking all means your IT staff have to handle requests from staff. Allowing all means that some students might find some unsavory apps to install, but you can block them as you find them.

If you want to allow all except the ones you block, here is a list of some that you should block.

Allowed Apps and Extensions: create a list here if you are blocking users from installing them. Here are some lists of app recommendations.

• Google Apps and Chromebooks Web App Recommendations - a whole lot!
• Chrome (Browser and Chromebook) Extensions - my favorites and recommendations

Make sure you are saving Browser History if you want to track what users are doing.

I recommend turning on Safe Browsing, but that is a local decision.

You can also set up web pages to auto-load when a user logs in. Most schools set it up so that the district or school home page loads.

Another nice feature is the ability to block websites by user OU. You can enter as many URLs as you like. This means that those users cannot get to the site, even if it is allowed through your filter. This can be useful for more granular control.

You can also push out managed bookmarks, which is a great feature. You can push the district homepage, Google Apps page, student SIS system, etc for quick access by your users.

Turning off Outside Email for K-8: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2640542?hl=en

Device Management > Chrome Management > Device Settings:

Definitely turn on Forced Re-Enrollment. This will prevent users from factory resetting the Chromebooks and then taking them out of your domain. Even if they do factory reset the device, it will force them to re-enroll it in your domain and not allow them to use it.

Guest Mode - allows a user to access the Chromebook without an account. I recommend against this if you have GAFE accounts for all of your users.

Sign-In Restriction: this allows you to restrict which accounts can be used to login to a Chromebook. Most schools do set this to restrict logins to their GAFE accounts only. It is one more feature that makes Chromebooks less attractive to thieves.

Kiosk Apps - this is where you would install testing apps for PARCC and SBAC. Kiosk apps run without a user needing to login to the Chromebook itself.

Auto-Updates - allow this unless you have concerns about a new version of Chrome OS causing an issue with an app. For example, SBAC is only setup for Chrome OS 41, so while auto updates are turned on, you can limit the version to 41 and it won't update to the latest version which is 42.

Device Reporting - enable this and user tracking so that you can see the device info when you select a device. You can also see who the last user was, which can be helpful in tracking a missing device.

Do Not Erase Local User Data - this will keep the user account on the Chromebook which speeds up logins. Shared Chromebooks can support a lot of users (I've seen up to 20 different users on a single Chromebook).

Disabled Device Return Instructions - if you disable a device, it will show a message on the screen asking for it to be returned. You put in the address and contact info.

• Track, Disable and Wipe a stolen/missing Chromebook

Device Management>Network:

Network Settings - you can, and should, put in your network settings here so that the Chromebooks automatically connect to your WiFi. You can even put in a hidden SSID and all of the security and passwords here.

Hopefully you find these tips useful.

Related:

Google for Education Resources (Google Apps, Chromebooks and more)

Chromebook Deployment Help Resources

Tips for Troubleshooting Chromebooks and some typical issues

Note: I oversaw the successful deployment of over 11,000 Chromebooks and 26,000 GAFE user accounts in my home district and have assisted over 25 school districts successfully deploy GAFE and Chromebooks. I use lessons learned from my own deployment experience, research and conversations with other administrators. Contact me if you would like help with deployment, setup or training in Google Apps and/or Chromebooks.

David Andrade is a Educator, Educational Technology Specialist and Education Administrator in CT. Before teaching, David was an Aerospace Engineer for 10 years.He is the author of theEducational Technology Guy blog, where he reviews free educational technology resources for teachers, discusses ways to use technology to improve teaching and learning, and discusses other issues in education. He is also a professional development trainer, educational technology consultant and presenter at conferences. Check out his blog at http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/ for more resources, tips, links, information and more. Follow him onTwitterandGoogle+.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of his employer.

Google recently announced the new version of it's flagship chromebook, the Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel has the best hardware, software and design and is a showpiece and test device to see what works and what can be done with Chrome OS. It has a great design, construction and specs.

It uses a USB Type C connector for charging and connections. This new connector allows for multi-device charging, high speed data and display connection and can work with all types of devices. The Pixel has two, one on each side. It has WiFi, Bluetooth and 2 regular USB 3 ports and an SD Card reader. Take that new Macbook.

The Pixel has an aluminum body, high-res touchscreen, smooth glass trackpad, a wide angle camera lens and some serious internal parts. It comes with an Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD. This is more powerful than my Windows Ultrabook (that cost more). There is also a higher level version, called the LS (for Ludicrous Speed - Google does have a sense of humor) that has a more powerful processor and more memory.

The battery life is also amazing, promising 12 hours on a single charge. It also has quick charging, allowing you to get 2 hours of battery life after only a 15 min charge.

All of this for $999. (The original Pixel was $1300).

All-in-all, this is an amazing device. However, many tech outlets are wondering who would want such a device? Me, that's who. And, I'm guessing many others would if they understand Chromebooks. Most of the articles seem to think that Chromebooks aren't as powerful or as useful as a Windows laptop or Macbook. But, I'm guessing that most people don't need Windows or a Mac. Chromebooks can do almost everything.

Think about it. Most people spend their day in their browser - email, internet, cloud based services. There isn't much you can't do online these days. Only a very small number of people need Computer Aided Design, full Photoshop and Video editing. There are online versions of all of this.

Many people still think you need to be online to do anything with a Chromebook. Not true. Many Google Apps work offline, as do other apps and some of the new Android apps that work on Chromebooks. like Evernote.

Chromebooks are awesome devices and this one is the best. I can just imagine how fast it is considering how fast my Acer C720 is. I was able to use the original Pixel for about 20 min at a conference and was amazed by it and that was two years ago. This one must be mind boggling.

Here are some more articles about why Chromebooks are awesome. Read them and then you should realize how incredible the new Pixel is and how it is an incredible device that is all most people need for a device.

What can you do on a Chromebook? Pretty much everything.

Google Apps and Chromebooks Web App Recommendations - a whole lot!

Chromebooks - definitely awesome for education

Tips and Resources for Using Chromebooks offline

Google Announces Android Apps for Chromebooks

Here's a video about the Chromebook Pixel:

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David Andrade is a Educator, Educational Technology Specialist and Education Administrator in CT. Before teaching, David was an Aerospace Engineer for 10 years.He is the author of theEducational Technology Guy blog, where he reviews free educational technology resources for teachers, discusses ways to use technology to improve teaching and learning, and discusses other issues in education. He is also a professional development trainer, educational technology consultant and presenter at conferences.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of his employer.

Check out his blog at

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/ for more resources, tips, links, information and more.

Look Toward Your Learning Network for Tips on Chromeboooks

While many schools are using Google Chromebooks to update their aging classroom technology, they might be missing out on key resources to assist in large-scale deployment.

1. Chromebook Edu (Google Community) The Google+ community for Chromebooks, Chrome OS, and Chrome browser in EDU.

2. Google Ed Groups (GEG) GEGs provide a geographically-based platform for educators who use Google and live in your area.

3. Intel Chromebook Support Community Intel Education’s community for Chromebooks, tablets, and 2-in-1 devices.

4. Twitter listsCheck out Chromebook Eds, a public list by Michael Podraza, or Chromebook Gurus, a list by Beth Still.

5. The Chromebook EDU Consortium The Chromebook EDU Consortium brings custom learning solutions to schools deploying Chromebooks and Google Apps.

Read more at: www.techlearning.com/august14

I've been using a Chromebook since getting a CR-48 from Google a few years ago, and I love it. I am currently using a Samsung Chromebook, and our district is deploying over 5000 of them.

The Chromebooks, and Chrome OS in general, are fast and work great, but every once in a while they can bog down when doing serious multitasking. Many only have 2GB of RAM and do not offer the ability to add more RAM physically. I found out about a great way to increase your memory by using zRam which uses swap space on your hard disk/SSD. Kevin C. Tofel shared this great resource that is very easy to do.

Here are the simple steps:

1. Open up a terminal tab with the CTRL + ALT + T keys.
2. Type “swap enable” (without the quotes).
3. Restart your Chromebook.

It's that easy. I did it and my Chromebook runs much smoother and faster and rarely bogs down, even with 15+ tabs open.

Disabling it is easy too. Do all of the steps but type "disable" instead of "enable".

Give it a try and see how it improves your Chromebook's performance.

Related:

Chromebooks in Education: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-chromebook-chromebox-and-updated.html

Cross posted at Educational Technology Guy and shared via Twitter and Google+

David Andrade is the Chief Information Officer for an urban school district in Connecticut. He spent 10 years as an engineer and then 10 years as a physics teacher and educational technology specialist before taking on his new job. He is the author of the Educational Technology Guy blog, where he reviews free educational technology resources for teachers, discusses ways to use technology to improve teaching and learning, and discusses other issues in education. He is also a professional development trainer and presenter at conferences, helping educators learn new and innovative ways to educate students.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of his employer.

As the person in our district that is ultimately responsible for technology, I often end up making the decision for what devices a student or staff member will be using on a daily basis. One of my common practices is to live with a device before purchasing it or recommending it for someone else. With the lead up to 1:1 and Chromebooks in our district this year I have been "living Chrome" for the past year and have been primarily Chrome since September 2012. This is what my desk looks like:

The Chromebox is my primary desktop device. I have it rocking dual 24" monitors with a webcam, speakers, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. It is awesome to just sit down and work each day when the day starts or to come back in from being out and about and jumping right back into whatever I was doing. I use cloud printing (when I must print) that allows me to access multiple copier/printers in the office.

On the desk you will notice two Chromebooks. One is the Samsung 550, which became my primary computing device last summer. I can make it though a full day's work on a single charge - and I push my computers. It has also become the computer I use when presenting outside of school. The other device is the $249 Samsung Chromebook, which is the computer nearly 4,000 freshman and sophomore students will be using next year in Maine 207. As I said, I try to live like I expect others will have to in the future.

Why not pick one of the two Chromebooks and live with it? I have been proving the fact that it doesn't matter which Chrome device you use. I randomly pick one and run with it and have the same computing experience no matter what. Next year when a student has an issue we will "hot swap" a spare and expect them to keep working. I do that everyday.

There are obviously some differences in the devices. The 550 is the fastest of the three, but you really don't notice until you are working with a massive spreadsheet or have dozens (yes dozens) of tabs open. The Chromebox has the advantage of the dual monitor set-up, which makes me much more productive. The $249 model is actually my favorite. It is lightweight and is perfect for taking off throughout the buildings.

I do still have a Windows laptop available, but I rarely use it now. Sometimes I have a legacy office document to retrieve (although I am moving most of my documents to drive now) or if I want to make a quality screencast (an area where Chromebooks are still lacking) that causes me to fire up the laptop. I usually have to do this several times, because as it is starting up I go back to work on a Chromebook. By the time I remember the laptop was starting up it has already gone back to sleep. Just as my students will next year, I am living Chrome. If someone in my role and running a technology department can live Chrome, I am confident my students can thrive in this environment as well.

cross-posted at henrythiele.blogspot.com.

Henry Thiele is the Chief Technology Officer for District 207 in Park Ridge, IL. Read more of his ideas on education and technology at henrythiele.blogspot.com.