Tips and Tricks

This page has been designed to show our learning throughout the pilot in terms of the things we have found useful and also the suggestions we will make to Google! Here you may find the Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Using Chromebooks

Chromebook Shortcuts - Thanks to Charlie Love and Dave Gilmour for these. Shortcut Keys explained here and Touch Pad Tips explained here by Charlie in Aberdeen City Council.

Using Google Apps for Education

Creating Users - If you are creating users at a bulk level remember that the admin who is a primary domain level is the only one who can do this. Bulk uploaded accounts appear at your primary GAFE domain, you can then manually select them and move to them to your additional domains and organisations.

To add users to a group or organisation you select your users in the GAFE Console click on their image so it shows a tick. Using the shift button you could select multiple users. However, it would be really handy if there was a 'select all' function to the left of the Name. Example below.

Contact Sharing

Contact sharing is disabled in our GAFE (there is no global address book). But users can create their own contacts. In preparation for staff using GAFE it is important that they have the usernames for pupils, this is very simple and really easily done by staff internally sharing the CSV file of pupil / staff email addresses and then uploading to their contacts. We found that this is a really important step, and initially confused staff when using Google Classroom. To be able to invite pupils to a Google Classroom, you can use the class 'code' or invite them by sending them an invite, this only works if the pupil is in the member of staff's contacts. Groups can be created too very easily, only those with admin rights can create a group which is in essence a class distribution list.

Enrolling Chromebooks

The Chromebooks are very easy to set up 'out the box', with our Enrollment licences we firstly enroll them into our GAFE domain. When they are enrolled they are ready for use for pupils who login with their GAFE account. One of the lessons we have learned is that the Chromebooks should not only be enrolled before use, but also logged into with any account. When they are logged into for the first time, that is when the Chromebook updates to the latest version of the browser. Effectively this means that this point will be the time the Chromebook will be at its slowest ever. After this point the updates happen over time but in a trickle fashion that causes no disruption to the user. The learners also having Chromebooks that not been updated also means they have a different experience (layout and links) so will also cause confusion.

So to ensure that you have a fully functioning and up to speed set when allowing a group or class to use them for the very first, it is incredibly advantageous to have have them enrolled and logged into already (for the main update). You are then all systems go!

First time users and logging on

Following on from above, when a first time user logs into their account on their new Chromebook chances are high they will get a captcha verification code, you know..those really annoying swirly character things that can work out whether you are a bot or indeed a human. This is really unhelpful in a class where some will get this and some wont, there doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to it. Imagine a pupil in a class who gets this, of course help is on hand from the teacher etc, but it is really unhelpful. Some also have to add a 3 digit code from a wee pic too, another inconsistency. To have clarity around this and to have the ability to remove the captcha from groups would be really helpful. UPDATE This has been resolved, but will still be there for un-updated browsers.

If you have a class logging on for the first time and they need help, it might be a good idea to have learners from another school (say secondary pupils helping a neighbouring primary) as digital leaders, little things like entering the password, signing in for the first time is tricky if you have a whole class new to it.

First time users and apps

Keep the apps you have pre-installed to a minimum for new pupils logging in for the first time, it can be confusing as the apps or extensions automatically pop up, keeping initially to a few core choices and ones pinned to the bottom is very useful.

Offline Functionality

Chromebooks do offer offline functionality, there are some simple steps for both Admins and for the user. To be helpful we worked with a colleague via a Google Group for GAFE admins and created some guidance. It can be accessed here.

Navigating the Console

Scheduling Updates!

Even though updates take place so not disrupt the user experience (no unexpected you have updates installing screen!) As an admin you should ensure updates are released over a time period say 5 days, we discovered this when we had all 200 learners completing a survey at once, an update was also installing to all devices so the bandwidth was at maximum capacity. It was a really good learning point for our pilot.

Multi-point Extension Cables

Schools will need multi-point power extensions for charging, in primary schools this is a must for a static charging point, we really like the trolley box on wheels. The secondary schools will need these as they prepare to allow pupils to take them home. A base where the Chromebooks go back to is important.