Chromebooks

Interactive Visual Novels on the Chromebook

Around this time last year, I was teaching in a school which was piloting 1:1 computing. Basically, each new Secondary 1 student would have access to a personalised learning device (PLD).

In our case the device on lease to each and every student was a Google Chromebook. I was pretty lucky as I had the chance to curate and design learning experiences and environments which made full use of the PLDs for the students' learning in Mathematics and English language lessons.

I noticed that the students quickly got acclimatised to their devices by personalising their home pages as well as by changing their colour and other preferences creatively. It was nice to know that with PLDs, all students would get access to a device regardless of their backgrounds or family circumstances. That is why I am excited to share about the latest Google chromebook App Hub and other new features launched at BETT 2020 in London.

Kahoot! touchscreen colours and happiness all around!

Embargoed until Tuesday, January 21st at 9am PST or Wednesday, January 22nd at 1.30am Singapore time (Official Google launch at BETT 2020 in London)

See how Chromebooks usage have grown...So, what's new?!

Flexible and scalable

One Chromebook, unlimited potential. Chromebooks open up a world of possibilities for learning. Explore ideas and apps to inspire budding digital citizens, scientists, and world explorers.

Introducing the Chromebook App Hub, an online resource to help educators, administrators and developers work together to learn about Chromebook apps and activity ideas for schools. The App Hub is dedicated to bringing transparency to developers’ data and accessibility policies, and to help decision makers find information about apps to meet the unique learning goals and policies of their school districts.

As you might imagine, Google spends a lot of time talking to educators, school administrators and educational software developers about Chromebooks in the classroom.

Teachers search all over the internet for suggestions regarding apps for the classroom, ways to engage students, and lesson plan ideas that leverage their Chromebooks. Curriculum specialists and IT administrators spend countless hours looking through app requests from teachers to ensure that the tools used in the classroom are effective for student learning while also meeting district policies. And finally, EdTech developers spend significant effort trying to reach educators and help them understand the benefits of using their apps in the classroom.

So Google is working with developers who are deeply committed to building for education and Chromebooks to create a community in the App Hub, showing off the best of their tools and apps for the classroom. And although apps are great, ideas from fellow educators for how to use them in the classroom are even better inspiration. Google is also 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.

The Chromebook App Hub is an online resource to help educators, administrators and developers work together to learn about Chromebook apps and activity ideas for schools. With new features including Search functionality you can search, share and save your favorite searches, use filter views for GDPR and COPPA compliant apps, and find 20+ apps optimized for Chromebook tablets. They also worked closely with policy partners, including the non-profit Student Data Privacy Consortium (SPDC), to assist developers considering the student privacy implications of their products.

Want to be a part of the App Hub? Google encourages educators to submit idea sparks on how to use apps in the classroom, and invite developers to submit their apps and how they’re supporting the education ecosystem.

Built for collaboration 

Moreover, rubrics are now generally available in Google Classroom and Assignments, to help improve student writing and transparency in the grading process, with new features including reusing a rubric, auto-saving a draft, importing and exporting rubrics, and automatically calculating a grade from a rubric.

Originality reports are going to general availability, to bring the power of Google Search into Classroom to help students and educators analyze coursework to make sure it is properly cited.

Note: Access limited originality reports for free with G Suite for Education, or upgrade to G Suite Enterprise for Education to access unlimited reports

Bonus Blog links

• G Suite blog: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/classroom-bett2020
• Chromebook App Hub blog: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/chromebookapphub-bett2020
• Creativity apps for Chromebooks and app licensing blog: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/education/creativityapps-chromebooks

Sadly, now in my new job I may not be able to use the abovementioned new features much but I'd definitely check them out and encourage others to do so too as it will definitely help make teaching and learning better in one way or another. Do shout out if you have tried some of the features and have thoughts about them.