Tag Archives: Chromebooks

Find ideas and activities on the new Chromebook App Hub

Editor’s note:This week our Google for Education team will be meeting up with educators, developers, and EdTech enthusiasts at SXSW EDU in Austin, Texas. If you’re attending, join us to learn more about building apps for Chromebooks at the Hilton in Room 406. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook for news and updates.

Teachers:How much time do you spend searching the web to find the perfect app or activity to bring a classroom lesson to life?

Curriculum specialists and IT administrators: How much time do you spend looking through app requests from teachers to make sure they’re effective tools for the classroom while also meeting the needs of your district policies?

EdTech developers:How much time do you spend trying to reach educators and help them understand the benefit of using your apps in their classrooms?

As you might imagine, we spend a lot of time talking to educators, school administrators and educational software developers about Chromebooks in the classroom. We’ve listened to your feedback, and today we’re announcing the Chromebook App Hub from Google for Education—an online resource to help educators, administrators and developers work together to learn about Chromebook apps and activity ideas for schools.

Chromebook App Hub Idea Sparks

A new hub that brings transparency to EdTech developers

We’ve gotten early feedback on the App Hub from developers and educators who helped consult on it. Dan Amos, the CEO of Book Creator, says that, “By being part of the App Hub we can showcase how Book Creator brings creativity to Chromebook classrooms, and demonstrate transparency around our data policies and product accessibility. We’re thrilled to be a part of this fantastic new resource that empowers educators to discover apps for their classroom.”

James Francis, the CEO of Screencastify, told us that, “Edtech is one of the few industries where each stakeholder wants the same result - improved outcomes for all students. With the App Hub, it’s clear that Google for Education is making strides to facilitate greater collaboration around this shared goal, and we’re thrilled to be a part of it. Chromebooks have totally revolutionized the accessibility, flexibility and safety of digital learning, and building our products on their platform was the best decision we’ve ever made.”

We also worked closely with policy partners, including the non-profit Student Data Privacy Consortium (SPDC), that sees the App Hub as a great way to assist developers in considering the student privacy implications of their products in use with learners.  Larry Fruth, the CEO of Access 4 Learning (A4L), the non-profit group behind the SPDC, says, “The App Hub will also be a great tool for schools and states as they look for resources like the SDPC to address changing privacy policies. Districts can align the information in the App Hub to their local resource approval processes, which will greatly improve the on-boarding of new apps and the transparency in their usage for districts.”

Chromebook App Hub Apps page

A new resource for educators to share and find idea sparks

Although apps are great, ideas from fellow educators for how to use them in the classroom are even better inspiration. We’re working with EdTechTeam and educators in the community to author idea sparks for how to use apps in the classroom, with tips for success, differentiated instruction strategies and links to additional resources such as videos, activities, and websites. Kate Petty, the Director of Educational Learning at EdTechTeam, says, “One of the best things about App Hub is the idea sparks that go with them. In my experience, teachers learn about applications in two ways: learning about a new lesson idea that has the app integrated into it, or hearing about an app that sounds awesome and want to get ideas about how to use it. Idea Sparks give teachers an opportunity to learn about new idea sparks and, even better, will provide an opportunity for teachers to share what they have created. As an idea contributor, it is an amazing experience to share what I am successfully doing in my classroom with educators around the world.”

And Dr. Roland Rios, President of TCEA in Texas and Director of Technology for Ft. Sam Houston ISD in San Antonio, who helped give early feedback on App Hub from a practitioner perspective, says, “The new Chromebook App Hub gives us just what we need—a network of passionate and dedicated developers building for education creating for educators who are eager to mindfully integrate technology into the classroom. With the App Hub, we will find new tools to engage students and we will connect to other teachers who are using these tools and providing lesson ideas. And as an administrator, the transparency around data policies and accessibility is helpful for decision-making.”

Stay tuned for the availability of the Chromebook App Hub later this year. In the meantime, educators can express interest in submitting idea sparks, and we encourage developers to tell us if they are interested in being part of the App Hub community. Don’t forget to sign up to get notified when it becomes available.

Using Google for Education tools to create community at Lundavra Primary

Editor’s note: Today’s post is by Harriet Ogilvie, a teacher at Lundavra Primary School in Fort William, Scotland. Harriet was one of the many teachers who recently joined us at BETT 2019 to share stories about using technology that engages students and transforms learning. Below, Harriet explains how she and other Lundavra teachers help students build communication skills and create online portfolios using G Suite for Education.

At Lundavra Primary School, students and teachers encourage parents and other local residents to visit our schools and learn about what’s happening in our classrooms. It’s important to us that we connect the Fort William community to the life of the school. To make this happen, we invite everyone in the area to “Community Cafes,” once-a-month social events featuring student singing, homemade baked goods and a book exchange.

After the Community Cafes, students with Chromebooks in hand ask people if they enjoyed attending, and what they’d like to see at future Cafes. The students enter responses into Google Forms, which is helpful for us teachers as we plan our future community events—plus, it’s much easier to keep track of than paper forms that wouldn’t be returned. When students are getting this feedback using Google Forms, they can connect and communicate with fellow students, teachers and people in the community. Students learn language and communication skills as they formulate questions to ask attendees and start conversations with adults.

Community Cafe at Lundavra Primary

Check out the Community Cafe at Lundavra Primary School!

I like talking with my granny and her friends and helping her use the Chromebook. Neo
Primary 6 student about the Community Cafe

For students, gaining digital skills and building confidence often starts in the Community Cafes, but continues through students’ development of learning portfolios, which are records of their classroom projects and their accomplishments. The portfolios help pupils take ownership of their learning and show what they've accomplished to peers and parents.

These portfolios used to be on paper. When we switched to online portfolios, students could be more creative in telling stories about their academic careers—for instance, by creating video book reports and adding photos of themselves and their classmates. They build portfolios using Google Sites—a much more flexible and engaging tool than paper portfolios that weren't easy to share and frequently misplaced. Students use the Padlet app with their Chromebooks to write regular reflections about their work, and embed the Padlet pages into their Google Sites. Using YouTube, students work with their peers to create vlogs about stories they write themselves. By the time students reach Year 7, they can teach their younger classmates how to build online portfolios—a confidence-building exercise for those about to move on to secondary school.

I am better at talking to people I don’t know. I enjoyed looking at the data we collected from our Google Forms survey. I made it into bar graphs and pie charts to make it easier to understand. Kirsty
Primary 6 student

Teachers and students need tools that encourage students to leave their comfort zones. In our case, the tools in the background are from Google: Videos, portfolios, surveys, documents and online research that inspire students to choose how they want to learn and create. Every time students use Google tools, they learn skills that go beyond the lesson at hand. When they build their online portfolios, students learn how to organize content; when they teach younger students how to use Google Sites, they learn about leadership. And when teachers create assignments in Google Classroom and provide comments while students are working, students learn to give and receive feedback and collaborate with others. We’re excited to find new ways to use Google to help our students become confident, engaged learners.

Source: Google Chrome


Accessing the web on Chromebooks without a Wi-Fi access point

Chromebooks are built to deliver a consistently fast, easy-to-use and secure experience. And when you’re using a Chromebook, you should be able to access the internet quickly and effortlessly, no matter where you are. But the availability of an internet-enabled Wi-Fi access point isn’t always a guarantee. Starting today, Instant Tethering is available on more Chromebooks—this means that you can connect to the internet via a paired Android phone’s cellular network connection, as long as tethering is enabled on your mobile data plan.

Normally, connecting to your phone’s hotspot is a multistep process—one that involves switching on the hotspot on your phone, specifying a network SSID and password, opening the other device's settings to connect to the hotspot, then disabling the hotspot manually when you no longer need it. Phew! But with Instant Tethering, you can pair your Android phone with your Chromebook during an initial set-up process, then accessing the internet only takes a single click.

When your Chromebook detects that it has no Wi-Fi access point, it provides a notification that a data connection is available through your mobile device. Instant Tethering is activated once you click the “Connect” button on that notification. Additionally, Instant Tethering will automatically disconnect if it detects 10 minutes of no activity to save you power and data.

chromebookIT

Before today, Instant Tethering was available on only a few devices, including Pixelbooks and Pixel Slates paired with either Pixel or Nexus phones. But now, Instant Tethering is available on 15 additional Chromebook models and over 30 cell phone models. And we’ll be bringing Instant Tethering to even more Chromebook and phones in the coming months.

This is our latest feature that allows Chromebooks to work better together with Android devices. You can read more about Instant Tethering, how to enable it, and find out if it works with your devices here.

Source: Google Chrome


Accessing the web on Chromebooks without a Wi-Fi access point

Chromebooks are built to deliver a consistently fast, easy-to-use and secure experience. And when you’re using a Chromebook, you should be able to access the internet quickly and effortlessly, no matter where you are. But the availability of an internet-enabled Wi-Fi access point isn’t always a guarantee. Starting today, Instant Tethering is available on more Chromebooks—this means that you can connect to the internet via a paired Android phone’s cellular network connection, as long as tethering is enabled on your mobile data plan.

Normally, connecting to your phone’s hotspot is a multistep process—one that involves switching on the hotspot on your phone, specifying a network SSID and password, opening the other device's settings to connect to the hotspot, then disabling the hotspot manually when you no longer need it. Phew! But with Instant Tethering, you can pair your Android phone with your Chromebook during an initial set-up process, then accessing the internet only takes a single click.

When your Chromebook detects that it has no Wi-Fi access point, it provides a notification that a data connection is available through your mobile device. Instant Tethering is activated once you click the “Connect” button on that notification. Additionally, Instant Tethering will automatically disconnect if it detects 10 minutes of no activity to save you power and data.

chromebookIT

Before today, Instant Tethering was available on only a few devices, including Pixelbooks and Pixel Slates paired with either Pixel or Nexus phones. But now, Instant Tethering is available on 15 additional Chromebook models and over 30 cell phone models. And we’ll be bringing Instant Tethering to even more Chromebook and phones in the coming months.

This is our latest feature that allows Chromebooks to work better together with Android devices. You can read more about Instant Tethering, how to enable it, and find out if it works with your devices here.

Adapting to the needs of learners, educators and schools with Chromebooks

Editor’s note: This week, we’re joining thousands of educators and students at BETT in London. Visit us at booth C230, where you can demo a range of Chromebooks designed for education, including the brand new Chrome OS tablet. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates.


We aim to build products that help educators, school staff and students thrive in and out of the classroom. Ever-evolving education standards and students’ diverse learning needs means teachers need adaptable devices that can keep up with these changes. For administrators, it’s about the ability to manage large groups of students and educators while protecting their data. For students, intuitive and easy-to-use devices help them learn in a way that’s conducive to their needs. For these reasons and more, our latest lineup of Chromebooks feature a wide range of devices from laptops to tablets, admin management, deployment options, accessibility features, input options, and a growing number of quality apps. Whether you’re a student mastering your times tables or a teacher deploying a 1:1 device program to thousands of users, there’s a Chromebook for everyone.

Adapting to the needs of learners

To adapt to different student learning needs, Chromebook’s tools have built-in accessibility features. Accessibility settings sync across any Chrome OS device, so as students switch between shared devices or log in at home with their G Suite for Education account, their settings automatically update. This means no additional instruction time wasted setting up assistive technology, and inclusion of students who might otherwise require an additional device or aide. With visual aids, stylus support, voice typing, audio support, input capabilities beyond typing and trackpad and an entire world of Chrome extensions and partners, we’re adapting to support the ever-changing needs of learners.

Chromebook accessibility features

Adapting to the needs of educators

Educators shape the minds of the next generation of leaders, thinkers, activists and creators. As the classroom changes, educators turn to digital tools, like Google Classroom, G Suite and Expeditions and third party apps to engage students and teach efficiently and effectively. In the hands of creative teachers, these tools help bring learning to life for millions of students. Plus, we support a wide ecosystem of developers, so there will never be a lack of quality educational apps for Chromebooks. A few partners building apps we love include:

  • Sphero incorporates STEAM and robotics into coding and every day classroom lessons. Look for their latest lesson plans on Workbench.

  • GeoGebra is an AR app on the Acer Chromebook Tab 10, letting students toggle between 2D and 3D shapes, graphs and more.

  • Scratch 3.0 is a popular coding app that has a new touch version (Scratch 3.0) optimized to work seamlessly on Chromebooks.

  • Soundtrap is an app that can nurture student voice through music, podcasts, language, literacy training Plus, teachers can assign lessons through Google Classroom.

  • Kamilets you annotate Docs and PDFs, making note taking using a stylus and the web much smoother.

  • Book Creatorhelps you create ebooks in a snap. Try the Classroom integration to share published books and showcase student learning.

  • Texthelp's Read&Write is a literacy toolbar that offers additional support for English as a new language learners and dyslexic students by reading out loud, researching assignments and proofing written work.

Chromebooks and Expeditions bringing learning to life

Adapting to the needs of schools

With the Chrome Education License, administrators can deploy technology at any pace, while having the flexibility to manage their fleet of devices in a number of environments. Schools can start with a 10:1 student to Chromebook ratio, zoom ahead to a 1:1 model, or add different types of devices over time, depending on the needs and budget. As schools add rugged Chromebooks and then tablets, or add more of the same trusted device type, administrators can do so with a single interface that supports all of them.

Chrome OS devices are shareable, meaning multiple students can log into their individual profiles on the same device. Without assigning a particular device to each and every student, transitions become smoother and slow startup time doesn’t eat into instruction time.. Since Chrome devices only take ten seconds to boot up and administrators can schedule system updates on their own timeframe (not during the middle of a lesson or a test), many schools and organizations have chosen to use Chromebooks in their classrooms.

We’d love to hear how you’re using tools to support all learners, so come visit us at BETT or reach out on Twitter.

Choose your own adventure with 13 Google for Education tools

Editor’s note: This week, we’re joining thousands of educators and students at BETT in London. Visit us at booth C230, where you can demo a range of Chromebooks designed for education, including the brand new Chrome OS tablet. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates.

Power up a Chromebook and watch as it transports students to the Taj Mahal, the Great Barrier Reef or a state-of-the-art science lab. It’s like magic, except the magicians are the teachers who inspire engaged and focused learning. As the leaders of these journeys, teachers give students the opportunity to explore the limits of their imagination—all on a device that’s simple to use and easy to navigate. While we’re here at BETT, we’re exploring more ways to bring magic moments to the classroom. So open up a Chromebook, and try out a few of the things it can do.

Secure and accessible, out of the box

1. Learn with adaptable Chromebooks:We’re launching more devices for education, with 25+ new devices in 2019. Choose from tablets like the Asus Chromebook Tablet CT100, convertibles like the Acer Chromebook Spin 512 with a 3:2 screen ratio for a taller display to see more content, the Lenovo 300e Chromebook, and clamshells like the Dell Chromebook 3400. Chromebooks aren’t just for students—educators are turning to high performance devices like the Google Pixel Slate, Pixelbook and HP Chromebook x360 14.

2. Explore built-in security and accessibility features:When you customize your security settings with multi-layered security, automatic updates, individual profiles and data protection, they’ll follow you no matter what device you log into. Learn more about customizing settings in G Suite and on Chromebooks to support all learners—including those with visual aids, auditory aids and more.

3. Become an Internet Legend:With our online safety program developed in partnership with the experts at Parent Zone, all Key Stage 2 primary school teachers can now order the Be Internet Legends curriculum pack for free. It’s available in new languages, including Arabic, Belgian, Italian, Polish and will soon be available in Turkish.

Chromebook accessibility features

Plan with efficiency, collaborate & explore, check for understanding

4. Plan with Classroom and Course Kit:In addition to the new Classwork page, Classroom has a refreshed look and feel. And if you love G Suite but use a different LMS, you can now use Course Kit, a free toolkit that incorporates G Suite into your existing LMS.

5. Collaborate with Jamboard: Create, edit, and view Jams (a “Jam” is a collaborative whiteboard space) on your Chromebook or from a Chrome browser with Jamboard or the Jamboard app. You can now modify frames, switch quickly from selection to drawing and use familiar keyboard shortcuts when jamming. Soon, you’ll also be able to add images. Head over to Workbench for a new course on student agency and engagement using Jamboard.

6. Explore the world in Augmented and Virtual reality:Now students can create VR tours using Tour Creator on their Chromebooks, and view them together through a guided experience using the Expeditions Android app (coming soon to iOS). We’re also translating our most popular VR and AR tours into Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

7. Sign up for the locked mode and Gradebook betas:On managed Chromebooks, locked mode prevents students from browsing away from the Quiz until they submit their answers. The new Gradebook in Google Classroom lets you check grades, see average grades by student or assignment, and choose to calculate grades by weighted average or total points-based.

Classroom 101

Bringing learning to life with STEAM

8. Code with CS First: We recently introduced CS First + Scratch 3.0, the latest version of the coding language designed for kids. The 3.0 version is complete with new videos and digital materials, plus lesson plans easily shareable in Google Docs. Check out the CS First Starter Guide and learn more about Scratch 3.0.

9. Prepare for the future with Applied Digital Skills: Students learn critical thinking, collaboration, communication, creativity and digital skills with new lessons mapped to the UK Essential Digital Skills Framework and the Computing National Curriculum in England, all on the new UK English Applied Digital Skills website.

10. Get hands on with Science Journal:Now, you can sign in with your G Suite for Education account to save and access your experiments across your devices using Google Drive. Check out new training modules and lessons on the Google for Education Teacher Center and Scholastic. For more hands-on science, order the new Science Kit from Arduino for middle school science classrooms, or try out Science Journal’s Android app with Vernier's new Go Direct line of classroom sensors.

11. Travel the globe with Google Earth:Bring the whole world to each desk in your classroom, no download required. Students can quiz their animal knowledge in Street View, learn about weather, volcanoes and sea surface temperature with map layers, measure area and distance, and see 3D views of buildings and landmarks.

Science Journal

Supporting educators through professional development


12. Learn with the Teacher Center:We’ve added new trainings on Jamboard, CS First, Applied Digital Skills and Science Journal. To support educators globally, the Teacher Center is now localized in 17 languages, with Italian coming later this year.

13. Engage with the education community:Looking for an expert? Coming soon, an updated Google for Education Directory can help you find a local expert to assist a school in any number of areas including teacher trainings, transformation support and advice from other schools. Looking for in-person interaction?  We just announced our 2019 Innovation Academies, with more locations including Stockholm and London, so apply now.

Visit us at BETT this week to check out the entire ecosystem of our tools, and if you’re not able to be with us in London, stay tuned on Twitter for more news.

Source: Google Chrome


Around the world and back with Google for Education

Editor’s note: This week, we’re joining thousands of educators and students at BETT in London. Visit us at booth C230, where you can demo a range of Chromebooks designed for education, including the brand new Chrome OS tablet. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news and updates.

It started with an idea in 2006: how might teaching and learning improve if we brought Google’s suite of productivity tools to schools? 13 years later, there are 80 million educators and students around the world using what has become G Suite for Education. 40 million students and educators rely on Google Classroom to stay organized and support creative teaching techniques. 30 million more use Chromebooks to open up a world of possibilities both inside and outside the classroom. We’ve introduced new devices to adapt to the needs of educators, schools and students, and created features that work across our products, like locked mode in Quizzes through Google Forms. As we kick off the week at BETT, let’s take a look at how classrooms have used Google for Education across the globe over the years.

Global growth of Chromebooks

Asia Pacific collaborates and prioritizes CS education on Chromebooks 

In Japan, public schools are using G Suite and Chromebooks to help meet the nationwide goal of teaching computer programming to all children by 2020. In all 139 high schools in Saitama Prefecture, Chromebooks aren’t just helping students learn programming—they’re also fostering better collaboration between students and teachers when combined with G Suite tools.

Down under in Australia and New Zealand, schools are also using Chromebooks in the classroom. All secondary students in Canberra were provided with Chromebooks in 2018. In New Zealand, Chromebooks have been the top choice for schools since 2017. To keep devices secure while saving teachers and IT administrators time and money, the Ministry of Education in New Zealand began providing Chrome Education licenses to all state and state-integrated schools in November 2018.

St. Thomas More School

Making technology more accessible in Latin America

Schools across Latin America are making technology more accessible to more people in the region. Recently, the Secretary of Education of Bahia, Brazil partnered with Google for Education to make computers accessible to all students and teachers in public schools across the state. Now, dozens of states and municipalities are following in Bahia’s footsteps. Brazil is also home to the first-ever Google reference University, UNIT, where 23,000 students are using G Suite and Chromebooks to build and learn.

Many different states in Mexico are choosing Google for Education’s tools for schools, too. @prende, an office in the Ministry of Education, chose to implement Chromebooks because of the Chrome Education license. The license gives teachers an easier time managing their classroom, thanks to features like the shared identity model (where multiple students can use the same device, while ensuring workspace and data isolation). Opting for a simple solution helped the Ministry make teacher training a priority.

Brian, #inovarparami

Improving engagement in European classrooms

In Europe, Filey Junior School and Leeds City College brought Chromebooks into the classroom as they were trying to improve student retention and engagement. Students at Leeds College, who range from being full-time parents to Olympic divers, balance their studies with outside of school commitments since they’re able to use their Chromebooks no matter where they are. To work on improving their writing skills, Filey Junior students used Google Docs to review one another’s work. They focused on peer editing, giving constructive criticism and experimented with writing styles—while also learning how to communicate in a new format.

Elsewhere in the UK, we’ve been working with London Grid for Learning to help over 90 percent of schools across the city bring technology to more students. The project includes free training in Classroom, G Suite and other tools to upskill teachers.

Chromebook popularity continues to grow in the Nordics—for instance, the city of Vantaa, Finland adopted 13,000 devices in March 2018. The Director of Education cited the user-friendliness as a reason why they implemented Chromebooks. And in Trondheim, Norway, the Trondheim Kommune adopted the new G Suite Enterprise for Education as a result of the additional security features offered, for all 40,000 students and educators.

Chris Lickold, Tring School

Preparing U.S. students for the future with 21st century skills

In North America, we’ve been improving our products and spending time in schools. Down in Texas, Burleson ISD has a vision for every learner to graduate with 21st century problem-solving and reasoning skills. This led them to redesign their learning spaces—they replaced traditional desks with work spaces to encourage the collaborative and self-directed ways students learn today. They also created makerspace areas, where students can learn about 3D printing, engineering and other STEM activities.

In South Carolina, students who recently graduated from Fairfield County School District feel that they have a competitive advantage in college and the workforce from having used G Suite and Chromebooks throughout middle and high school. Even at the college level, schools like Lafayette College are beginning to use the enterprise-grade capabilities within G Suite Enterprise for Education. And with the addition of Dartmouth, all eight Ivy League schools now use G Suite for Education as a productivity tool of choice for their faculty, staff and students.

Fairfield County School District

To teachers, administrators, and students around the world, thank you for continuing to inspire us, learn with us, and grow with us.

Helping families develop healthy digital habits with Chromebooks

Parents care deeply about helping their kids build a positive and healthy relationship with technology. Last year, we introduced the Family Link app to help parents stay in the loop with how their children are using Android devices. Laptops also play an important role at home, with just over 50% of kids between 6-12 sharing or owning a laptop device. Today we’re sharing more Family Link features that can help parents of kids who use Chromebooks, like setting time limits, managing the apps kids can download and more.

Chromebooks enable families to work, play, and learn on the same device. The Family Link app can help parents set some digital ground rules as their kids are exploring online on their Chromebooks.

iamge2

Child view of Family Link on a Chromebook, and Parent view of Family Link on an Android device.

Keep an eye on screen time

It’s up to parents to decide the right amount of screen time for their kids. Family Link supports you by making it easy to set screen time limits and establish bedtime hours. Family Link also offers activity reports to show parents and kids how much time is spent on their favorite apps.

Guide kids to good content

It’s not just about how much time kids spend on their devices, it’s about the quality of that time as well. Family Link allows parents to customize a list of websites that kids can visit, and review and approve the apps they can download from Google Play, such as YouTube Kids or Google Play Books. Parents can also hide individual apps when necessary, and manage in-app purchases within apps already installed on the Chromebook.

Manage Google Accounts and Chromebooks from anywhere

Parents can also manage settings for their child’s Google account, and remotely lock supervised accounts on the Chromebook if necessary. This holds true whether the Chromebook is shared by the whole family, or is used only by the child.

These are just the latest features we’re rolling out to help families. As we continue to build new tools for families, please share your ideas and feedback with us, so we can learn how we can continue building features that matter to you.

Source: Google Chrome


Get quizzing with locked mode, and grade away with Classroom

Earlier this year, we announced locked mode—a new way to ensure students are distraction-free when taking Quizzes in Google Forms. We’ve also been working on a better grading experience in Classroom. We’re now opening up locked mode and Gradebook via a beta program, so sign up to express interest.

Show what you know with locked mode

For a lot of teachers, a day in the life might look like this: teach innovatively and creatively, quiz without distractions, grade efficiently, give thoughtful and constructive feedback, repeat. Teachers assess knowledge and check for understanding every single day, and many use Quizzes in Google Forms to do just that. But we’ve heard feedback from teachers that they want to ensure their students aren’t navigating to other browser tabs while taking quizzes. Available only on managed Chromebooks, locked mode prevents students from navigating away from the Quiz in their Chrome browser until they submit their answers. Teachers can enable locked mode with a simple checkbox in Google Forms, giving them full control over assessments.

Built-in Chrome OS accessibility tools such as ChromeVox, select-to-speak and visual aids— including high contrast mode and magnifiers—are all available when using locked mode. And to support students who use Chrome extensions during test taking, teachers can find out which extensions are available with locked mode. Introducing new tools means extra support: we’ve created a step-by-step guide, brief animated tutorial, and new Help Center instructions for Instructional Coaches, PD partners, and teachers to make learning how to use locked mode even easier. Don’t yet have Chromebooks and want to learn more? Get in touch.

To streamline the assignment process, we’ve also added the ability for all Classroom users to create a Quiz directly from Classroom. Instead of creating quizzes in a separate browser, you can create a quiz and assign it directly to your class, or multiple classes.

Locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms

Better grading in Classroom

Earlier this year, we introduced new grading tools and a comment bank for richer, better feedback. Today, we’re continuing to strengthen the grading process in Classroom with a beta for a new Gradebook to better enable teachers to keep their assignments and grades in one place, and keep this important task more organized. Here are a few things you can do with the new Gradebook:

  • View grades in one place:A new Grades page lets you can view a grid of submissions across assignments to easily enter grades, saving time and providing a holistic picture of a student’s progress.

  • Average grades:In the gradebook grid, you can view average grades per assignment and per student, and see the overall performance in your class. You can share progress with students, so they can track their grades and know where they need to improve.

  • Grade categories & settings:You can select how to calculate grades (weighted average or total points-based), add grade categories to classwork, and choose whether you’d like students to see their average grades. Access these from the Settings page.

Gradebook in Classroom

Sign up for the locked mode and Gradebook betas today

Locked mode is only available on managed Chromebooks, and you’ll need to make sure your Chromebooks are running operating system 68 or higher. We’ll be slowly phasing the rollout for locked mode and Gradebook. If you’re interested in the new features, all teachers and administrators can express interest in either of the betas.


We’d love to hear all of the ways you’re using locked mode in Quizzes and improving your grading experience during the beta period, so please send us feedback using the “send feedback” button.


Source: Google Chrome


Tools that aim to reach all types of learners, wherever they are

Editor’s note: Before joining Google’s Education team, Morgan Weisman was a kindergarten teacher. Today she is sharing how one of her students inspired her to help build products that aim to meet the needs of all types of learners.

The first time I met six-year-old Jeremiah, he clung to his mom’s leg as he peeked into my kindergarten classroom. Soon he came alive as he talked about his favorite superhero: Spiderman. He ran around the colorful classroom, touched everything in sight and chatted aimlessly. However, when he realized my attention had shifted to his mom, he threw himself on the floor in a tantrum. That’s when his mom told me that they suspected he had autism, but were hopeful that the routine of school would help him focus.

This began a year long journey of giving Jeremiah the educational support he needed, while also teaching 24 other students with 24 different learning styles. Seventy-two percent of classrooms have special education students, and teachers have to work to keep them all engaged and invested in school. For me,  I leveraged technology to create differentiated lessons and support each student, especially Jeremiah.

Jeremiah lit up when he had a computer in front of him and headphones on. He could listen, engage and learn without distractions. We had him fitted for glasses, and he learned how to use the screen magnifier to make the words pop on his screen. He learned sight words, numbers and simple addition through songs and videos. Best of all, his social skills developed as he learned to share and take turns with devices.

As I learned what worked for Jeremiah, I started using the same strategies with other students. As my instructional coach used to tell me: “What works for kids with special needs works for everyone. The strategies that work, just work.”

Since joining Google, I’ve seen even more ways that educators use technology to help students succeed. We strive to support teachers, and one of the ways we are doing that is through built-in accessibility features in our products that aim to support the diverse needs of all students.

Morgan's kindergarten classroom on graduation day

My students on kindergarten graduation day... all decked out in gear from my alma mater, our class' theme.

The ABC’s of Chromebook accessibility

Accessibility settings are built in to all Chromebooks, and more are available through Chrome extensions and apps. No need to change settings when you switch devices because they sync to each student by default. Here are a few useful accessibility settings to get you started:

  • Visual aids: Increase the size of browser content by pressing Ctrl + Plus to increase, Ctrl + Minus to decrease, Ctrl + 0 to reset. The rest of the desktop is unaffected. You can enable high contrast mode by pressing Ctrl + Search button + H on the Chromebook keyboard. Adjust your font face and size, and install Chrome extensions for custom color support.

  • Mono Audio:For users who have limited hearing in one ear, there's a Mono Audio option to play the same sound through both speakers. Turn this feature on in Accessibility settings.

  • Spoken feedback: For users who need synthesized speech on occasion, we offer Select-to-speak. When enabled, press and hold the Search key, then click or drag to select content to be read aloud, and press Ctrl to silence. Change the word-by-word highlight color in Select-to-speak settings. We also have the ChromeVox screen reader that reads all text aloud, a free, browser-based screen reader that users can access from any device and built directly for ChromeOS.

  • Acapela text-to-speech voices: Now you can purchase and use more than 100 Acapela voices to read aloud text in 30+ languages on Chromebooks, including a variety of childrens’ voices.

ChromeOS Accessibility Features

The 123’s of G Suite Accessibility

G Suite is a set of tools that help students and teachers collaborate in real time and give personalized feedback. It’s also paperless and accessible from anywhere. Built into our G Suite tools are many accessibility features:

  • Slides: Turn on closed captions in Slides to support students who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or ENL. Simply use  Ctrl + Shift + c in ChromeOS/Windows or⌘ + Shift + c in Mac.

  • Voice typing, editing and formatting: Use the mic and enable the feature to use voice typing in Docs and Slides to write and edit without a keyboard.

  • Visual aids:Enable high contrast themes in Gmail and browsing, and use powerful keyboard shortcuts for those who can’t or don’t want to use a mouse.

  • Collaboration:G Suite works on all different platforms including Windows, Android, iOS devices and even multiple devices at one time. You can all be on different devices and still collaborate in real time.

  • Braille: Use a Braille display to read and edit Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings.

  • Screen reader & magnifier:Turn on the features in accessibility settings to zoom in or use the screen reader in Docs, Calendar, Sites, Classroom and even in other browsers.

Braille in Docs Editors

What else is new?

We’re supporting teachers through our own tools as well as strong partnerships with organizations who share our mission. One such organization is Don Johnston, a company that builds tools for people with all types of learning styles and abilities. We’re excited to announce them as a Google for Education Premier Technology Partner, with new integrations using our Drive API, Classroom API and Google single sign-on. Try out their core products in Chrome, Co:Writer, for word prediction, translation, and speech recognition, Snap&Read for screen reading, & their newest product, automatic quiz generator Quizbot with Google Forms. See how one Indiana teacher uses Chromebooks and Don Johnston tools to improve reading independence in her classroom.

Quizbot

Ready to make your teaching more accessible for all learners?

We have many resources to find out what’s new, and how to turn on and use features included in our Chrome browser, Chromebook settings, and G Suite products:

At Google for Education, we're passionate about building tools that make teaching and learning better for everyone. We love hearing stories of how technology is changing students’ lives, so please share ways that you’re using accessibility tools to support all types of learners.

Source: Google Chrome