Enjoy Your Chromebook More

 

If you're looking for ways to customize your Chromebook, check out this post from TECA. Keep in mind that students and staff cannot add stickers directly to their FISD Chromebooks. You can, however, purchase a thin case to cover with stickers if you'd like. Read more.

Chromebook App Hub

Google for Education has put together this awesome resource for educators: Chromebook App Hub. Filter ideas by idea category, age range, subject, and learning goal and filter apps by app category, age range, and language. I recommend you bookmark the site and visit often! 

How to use Chromebooks Offline

Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook recently posted about using Chromebooks offline. This comes in handy for students who do not have internet access at home and for the rare occasions that our network goes down. He includes information about how to set it up, apps to use, and some lesson planning ideas. Check it out! 
Read more.

Chrome Bookmarks Tip

Tony Vincent has a GREAT suggestion for how to get more of your most-used bookmarks on the bookmark bar in Chrome.

1. Make sure you're logged into Chrome (Settings)
2. Edit the bookmarks (right-click on the bookmarks or use the Bookmark Manager)
3. Remove (or severely shorten) the text
4. Save

Read more.

150 Chrome Apps & Extensions

Kasey Bell's Shake-Up Learning has compiled 150 of the most useful Chrome apps and extensions for the classroom. Scroll down on the page and use the filters to find what you're looking for!

21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

Check out this list of 21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs. There are several helpful Chrome extensions that you may want to investigate further. The list includes Test-to-Speech extensions, Readability extensions, Reading Comprehension extensions, Focus extensions, & Navigation extensions. 

Never Lose Work and Keep Kids Honest

When using Chrome (not just a Chromebook), using the keyboard shortcut <Ctrl><Shift>+T will open all recently closed tabs. This can not only help save yourself some work but can also let you know what your students were recently doing and closed as you walked by. Read more...

Chrome: Passwords, History, Incognito

From last week's email about Chrome... 

If you’re having trouble with passwords in Chrome, clear out the passwords that Chrome has saved for you.
 1) Click  then Settings.
 2) On the bottom click Show advanced settings…
 3) Under Privacy --> Passwords and forms, click Manage passwords (blue words)
 4) Evaluate and adjust the list of passwords that are saved for you in Chrome.


If you haven’t done so recently, it’s also recommended that you clear your Chrome browsing history.
 1) <Ctrl>+H (or Settings --> History) This list shows your browsing history on the current device as well as any other devices from which you have logged in to your Google Chrome account. To clear those histories, log in on those devices.
 2) Clear browsing data…
 3) Select which types of data to clear.
 4) Change the drop down to the beginning of time.
 5) Clear browsing data
If it’s been a while since you cleared this data, it may take a while.


Another way to keep your web activity out of your Chrome browsing history is to use an Incognito window.
Either <Ctrl>+<Shift>+N OR click on your name near the top right and select Go incognito.

Back to School with Google Chrome: The Complete Guide

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Chrome browser can be found here.

Bookmarking in Chrome

It looks like Chrome has changed its bookmarking system just a little bit.  It appears to be more like as a Bookmarking Resource (like Diigo, etc.) and less like simple “favorites” in your browsers.

When you ‘Star’ a website now from the Chrome address bar, you get a new pop-up that lets you pick a little preview image and more easily drop the bookmark in one of your folders.  You can also add a Note about the Bookmark, to remind you what it's about.

 

Also you now have a full Bookmarks site that lets you manage and share your Bookmarks much easier than you could through the previous, plain Bookmark Manager.

Chrome Extensions for Teachers

Here are a few handy Chrome extensions:

Time Warp kindly reminds you not to procrastinate when you need to get things done. 

SnagIt is a quick screen capture tool. With TechSmith SnagIt's Chrome App, you can screen capture, screen record, image edit and share. With TechSmith SnagIt's Google Chrome Extension, you can take screenshots or screen recordings of anything on your screen including your browser, desktop and applications you have running.  

For more ideas, check out this list: Chrome Extensions for Teachers

Chrome's Hidden Mute Feature

Don't you hate it when you have multiple tabs open and one of them starts playing music? Sometimes it can take a while to figure out which one you need to mute. This article explains how to activate Chrome's hidden mute feature, making it easy to mute tabs in the future.

Google Keep

Google Keep is basically post-its for your Google Account. You can color code them, mark items off, share them with others and more! 

Check it out:

On the web http://keep.google.com

On Android http://g.co.keep

In Chrome http://goo.gl/pQvKtH

3 Minute Tip: Bookmark Basics

From Amy Mayer: 3 Minute Tip: Bookmark Basics

Chrome without Internet

The next time you see this little dinosaur in Chrome, click the Spacebar. Enjoy.

To force Chrome to this page: Load a page.  Turn off internet.  Refresh page.  Click Spacebar.  Enjoy.