Parents and students, please CLICK HERE to get help with BPSD Chromebooks; the remainder of this webpage is devoted to supporting STAFF use of Chromebooks.
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Chromebooks (BPSCHROMEBOOK.ORG)
Grammarly extension available
The Grammarly Chrome extension can be installed on any district Chromebook to assist with spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The extension is NOT force-installed on devices since some folks find it annoying and sometimes teachers might want to have students disable it since the extension is not available on state tests or in the LockDown Browser used by secondary students for secure Canvas quizzes. |  |
Chromebook battery and safety tips
The Student Tech Support Team has created a Google Slideshow and video providing tips on saving the Chromebook batteries and safely using the devices. Tyler Salvatori created this video: Gavin Pendergraff created a slideshow of battery-saving tips:  |
SketchUp for Schools available on district Chromebooks
We have enabled the SketchUp for Schools app on our district domain. This free online app is available through our G Suite for Education license and allows users to create, edit, and view 3D models.
 To initially install it, visit https://edu.sketchup.com/app
and accept the permissions it requires.
 We also have district licenses for free installation of the Windows desktop version of SketchUp Pro.  The software is similarly used for 3D modeling and its LayOut can be used for plans, elevations, details, title blocks, and more. Have someone at your site file a Help Desk ticket if you need it installed on a desktop system. | Google Drawings available too The simple and free Google Drawings app is also available for use in any Chrome web browser. It is embedded in Google Docs but can also be independently invoked as a stand-alone app. Sketchpad app for Chromebooks, etc. Another free online app: Chrome Art & Creativity Extensions There are also some other relevant Chrome extensions which Google features on its online store which can be used on Chromebooks as well as the Chrome browser on desktops, etc.: |
Kung Fu Canvas now available to 6-12 certified staff
All teachers, counselors, and administrators in grades 6-12 are now eligible to enroll in Kung Fu Canvas to:
Kung Fu Canvas was offered to all 9-12 teachers beginning in August 2017. Originally it was not slated to open to 6-8 teachers until August 2018, but with the unanticipated grant that allowed us to deploy staff Chromebooks in 6-8, we decided to open up Kung Fu Canvas for those teachers now. Go to KUNGFUCANVAS.ORG to learn more! |  |
Chromebook Tips & Links
All certified staff members should now have a Chromebook, charger, and case. The items are yours to use at school and elsewhere so long as you remain in district employment. You do NOT have to check them in when changing sites. If you leave district employment, you must submit the items to your site supervisor so they can later be used by others.
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Chromebooks will be tied to district accounts on February 1, 2018
To improve account security and device management, all district-issued Chromebooks will be restricted to district G Suite for Education accounts as of February 1, 2018.
Students and staff will no longer be able to login to a district-issued Chromebook using a personal Google account. They will need to always login with a district bps-ok.org account.
Staff members can still manually share files across personal and district accounts. However, files stored in a student's personal Google account, rather than in the student's district account, will no longer be available on district-issued Chromebooks.
Google Drive Files
If staff members have stored files in a personal Google Drive which they wish to copy to their district MyDrive for direct access on a Chromebook, rather than sharing them from their personal account, see these instructions on moving Drive files from a personal to a district account.
Students must use the above instructions to retain Chromebook access to any files they have stored in personal accounts.
Email, Contacts, and Calendar
Staff members will still use the Outlook Web App to access their email on a Chromebook and can set up Exchange Server accounts on other mobile devices. See these instructions.
Students can use these Gmail import instructions to import email, contacts, or calendar events into their district Gmail accounts. |  |
More staff Chromebooks coming on January inservice day
On the January 15, 2018 inservice day additional staff Chromebooks will be deployed. CURRENT DEPLOYMENT Currently all high school teachers have a Chromebook. Districtwide, all administrators, Instructional Technology Assistants, and secondary department chairs and core building coordinators have received Chromebooks. SECONDARY ROLLOUT One goal is to familiarize staff members with this technology as part of the Student Computing Initiative, helping them learn how to harness it for student use as dedicated student Chromebooks extend from freshmen in 2017-18 to all high school students in 2018-19 and all middle and high school students in 2020-21. So we can confirm that all middle school certified staff members will receive a new Chromebook on January 15, 2018. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS For the elementary schools, PLTW Launch iPad carts are the focus for student use in 2017-18 and 2018-19, but after that district Chromebooks for student use are expected to start appearing at those schools as well, in whatever roles are determined to be most appropriate. THE CASE FOR EQUIPPING ALL CERTIFIED STAFF  Providing agendas, handouts, minutes, and other records via the online G Suite for Education apps like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides will allow them to be readily searchable and accessible. Moving to cloud-based G Suite documents also allows for easy collaboration and review. Eliminating paper documents also reduces production and storage costs. THE FUTURE OF TEXTBOOKS  Consequently the district is considering how to incorporate student Chromebooks into its textbook adoption process. Math is the subject area under adoption in 2018 in the state's six-year textbook cycle. So it seems likely we'll begin shifting from physical to electronic textbooks. Chromebook carts currently deployed in 10-12 ELA classrooms could be shifted to 6-8 Math classrooms in 2018-19 to help support the use of electronic textbooks since middle school students won't receive Chromebooks until 2019-20. | CURRENTLY DEPLOYED DEVICES
STAFF: DELL 3120
 CLASS OF 2021: DELL 3180
In August 2017 all 9th grade students were issued Dell Model 3180 Chromebooks. These also have the traditional laptop configuration of a keyboard with a tilting non-touch screen that pivots up to 180 degrees. The devices were supplied with always-on carrying cases.
 The freshmen are slated to keep their Dell 3180s throughout their high school career. The district will likely decide in January on what device it will deploy to the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2022 (the students who will be in grades 9, 11, and 12 in 2018-19). FUTURE STAFF DEVICES One technology goal of the 2016 bond issue was to provide teachers with mobile instructional devices that could be used while circulating through the classroom. An iPad is handy as a tablet, but cumbersome as a productivity tool, and still considerably more expensive than a Chromebook.
Google is working on adding support for Android apps to the Chrome operating system that runs Chromebooks. A convertible Chromebook with a touchscreen that rotates a full 360 degrees can be used in a variety of configurations. They could be useful classroom-carry devices used in tablet mode if there is sufficient improvement in operating system support and Android app availability.
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G Suite Training Extension
The district has pushed out to district-managed devices and accounts the G Suite Training Chrome extension. This should help students and staff learn to use the many Google apps available to them.  Clicking that icon will provide interactive training and walkthroughs, where you are clearly shown and told what to do, including audio instructions.  | 
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Team Drives are useful alternative for workgroups
The district has deployed "Team Drives" within Google Drive as an alternative to the usual "MyDrive". Team Drives allow a group of district users to easily store, search, access, and edit shared files. This service is targeted toward groups of district staff members; it is NOT suitable for sharing files with non-employees. A big advantage to this approach, versus having one person create a file or folder and then share items with the other team members, is that Team Drive files belong to the team instead of an individual. So they won’t disappear when their creator leaves the district. Some things to bear in mind about Team Drives: Everyone on a team might be able to edit the files in that Team Drive. So think before you put documents into a Team Drive or add users to a Team Drive, since everyone with access to that drive could have editing rights to everything in there. However, when adding users to a Team Drive, you can choose to limit them to viewing or commenting access. Make a copy if you don't want to edit the master version of a document. If you want to customize your own copy of a file in a Team Drive, open it and use File > Make a copy… to create your own version to edit. You can then use File > Move to shift that copied file around, including relocating it into your own MyDrive so that you can share it differently or with no one at all. You can share files in a Team Drive beyond that team, but only to district users. You can still share viewing and editing rights to documents in a Team Drive beyond the users assigned to the team. HOWEVER, such shares are limited to district Google accounts. You can't share the files with the general public nor with accounts not associated with the district. So for files you want to make public, use your MyDrive. |  |
Google Cast for Education Deployed
We have deployed Google Cast for Education to all district Chrome devices and accounts. So when staff members or students use their district account to log into a Chromebook or log into the Chrome web browser on a desktop or laptop computer, they will automatically have it available. Google Cast for Education allows you to wirelessly mirror your desktop screen or a tab in your Chrome browser to any other Chrome browser you are also logged into. This means:
Here's a link to a document with detailed instructions and screenshots for setting up and using this feature: |  |
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