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Post date: Jun 18, 2015 10:14:15 PM
Another way we have found to personalise the devices is to change the 'themes' and backgrounds, this is something they are unable to do on shared school managed devices due to the way the image would be stored on a shared drive.
The pilot has taken small steps with all these factors, and it is playing dividends in the way pupils perceive their chromebooks. How we are doing this is to ensure they can personalise the exterior with the transparent hard shell cases and the layout and theme of the desktop / browser itself. The cases are bright, attractive and instantly recognisable, especially helpful if they are in the class being charged rather than just names. It also prevents case cracks and corner scuffs, these are wear and tear type issues we know that can happen over time.
This week in our journey with the pupils and chrome we took a few more steps in personalising the Chromebooks.
Two vitally important aspects we have learned are that - firstly, the pupils from the outset understand that the Chromebooks are for their learning and secondly, they feel a sense of ownership to the devices. A sense of ownership can make the difference to a device being treated carefully and responsibly, pride in having the device itself and also ensuring it is used effectively for learning. This is all preparation for when they are ready to take them home.
However, they can do this on their devices by going into their Chrome settings and choosing themes. They can change some basic colours add their pictures and they can also chose from hundreds of themes from the Chrome Web Store for free.
Feedback from a Kingussie High School Teacher this week, which starts to show how the Chromebooks are being used in the High School unprompted. The interactive periodic table app has been added to them recently.
All themes are added to the browser rather than pics saved on a drive or downloaded profile so it will be there on the browser of any device they use. We did see a Star Wars theme being added and some very nice Paris themes. Left is the Minions theme, it was also pretty popular!
"Feeling good ......after an enjoyable lunch in the school canteen today with some of my Higher guys, I popped back to my class room to find 22 kids working! This 22 consisted of Higher and National 5 guys finishing their respective outcome one experiment write-ups and a bunch of guys from my two S2 classes who were engrossed in polishing their periodic table research presentations which they are doing on their swanky new chrome books. Amazing work ethic from my seniors and amazing engagement from my S2's. It is also great to get so much of the SQA assessment out of the way early........." Al Kendall, Chemistry Teacher.
Pupil's feedback continues to positive and in the words of Kyle and Ewan (P7) themselves "The p7s have chromebooks which help a lot with our learning. The Chromebooks come with touch screens which all kids love. And also the kids get a bit more freedom,as we can use them during wet play times, they also come with cases Chromebooks are also very helpful with our projects, and we are also working on internet safety right now"
Updated September, the High School through a project in Graphic Communication have personalised their Chromebooks, the brief, it must contain your name, tutor group and the school logo! We all think they look very smart.
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