General Chromebook Use and Care

Each Chromebook has unique identification numbers and is assigned to a specific person. The names and numbers on the Chromebook and case are registered to the Bradley County Schools District. STUDENTS MAY NOT REMOVE ANY ID/BARCODE/SERIAL NUMBERS FROM THE DEVICE.

Devices should never be left unattended or in insecure areas (e.g., unlocked locker or classroom), and should never be stored in vehicles either on school grounds or away from school.

Handling:

• Use a soft, clean cloth to clean the screen, and never use any sort of cleanser.

• Do not expose the Chromebook to extreme heat or cold.

• Keep food and beverages away from the device and wash hands prior to use.

• Be careful inserting cords or cables into the Chromebook and remove them carefully as well.

• The charging cable must be treated gently, and should not be tightly wound, crimped, or pulled on. Rough handling of the cord will damage it to the point where it will no longer charge the device. Ideally, the charger will stay in a single location where the device will be plugged in for overnight charging.

• Bring a fully charged Chromebook to school every day.

• Do not mark the Chromebook, Smartcase, or carrying case with pens, markers, stickers, or anything else.

• Chromebook screens are made of glass and are particularly sensitive to damage from impact and pressure. If the screen chips or cracks, don’t attempt to fix it but bring it to the attention of the school's Point of contact, Building administrator, or IT.

Expectations for Student Learning:

• Come to school with a fully charged and working Chromebook.

• Keep the operating system (ChromeOS) and apps up to date.

• Bring it to all classes unless told specifically not to do so by a teacher, or by a member of the tech staff or administration.

• Students are responsible for getting coursework completed even if they have left their device at home.

• Use the Chromebook to accomplish tasks assigned by teachers, and refrain from using it in any way that violates the terms of the AUP, including playing games, and watching movies during the school day.

Report issues/concerns/questions to IT: techhelp@bradleyschools.org. If any of the above requirements become problems, the student will be referred to the administration and the technology director.

Basic Troubleshooting:

Many problems can be resolved fairly easily. Some Common problems are discussed below. You can also email techhelp@bradleyschools.org and someone will respond to you as soon as possible.

• Page not loading? Try the refresh key!

• Power off or sign out and sign in again. This may take more than one attempt. Most problems resolve with this step.

• Delete files in your downloads (located in your Google Drive).

• Adding too many extensions will slow your browser and cause pages to close. Disable extensions through the Chrome toolbar under More Tools > Extensions or use the Extensity extension to turn extensions on and off.

• Charge your Chromebook each night. Power off your Chromebook between classes or extended times of non-use.

• When charging, check to see if the charging light is powered on. If not, remove the charger and re-plug it securely.

Chromebook Simple Troubleshooting

• If someone has changed the keyboard settings. Click SHIFT-ALT to set it back to US keyboard. Check to make sure the language wasn't changed: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1059490?hl=en

• If the image on the home screen is rotated: Ctrl-shift-reload/refresh will rotate the entire screen by 90 degrees each time it is pressed.

• If you need to remove a user from a Chromebook, do not login. At the login screen, click on the upper right corner of that user's login icon and remove the user. https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1059260?hl=en

• If a Chromebook is having issues, turn it off and then on again. (Resetting a device is only done by a technician.)

• Opening PDFs in Chrome: Open settings > Privacy & Security > Site Settings > Content > Additional Content Settings > PDF document > Open PDFs in Chrome.

• No sound on headphones:

  • Make sure headphones are plugged in properly and there is no dirt in the plug.

  • Make sure the mute button isn't pushed

  • Click the Taskbar icon in the bottom right corner, and then adjust the volume using the slider.

• Device running sluggishly in the Chrome browser: Clear the cache and then reboot. https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/183083?hl=en.

  • Delete all browsing history (clears cache and cookies - great for fixing errors with the website)

  • Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar (Three dots upper right-hand corner).

  • Select Tools.

  • Select Clear browsing data.

  • Browsing history and download history are unable to be cleared by the student. This is managed on the district level.

• Updating Chrome OS - Chrome OS gets updates quite often and an update only takes a minute to do. If you see this up arrow in the lower right corner of the screen, near the time, click on it and click Upgrade.

  • To manually check for updates:

    1. Click the status area in the lower-right corner, where your account picture appears.

    2. Select Settings.

    3. Click on Help on the left.

• Colored Boxes appearing on screen - This happens the Switch Access accessibility feature is enabled.

  • To turn this feature off:

1. First, log into your Chromebook.

2. Open Settings.

3. Select Advanced and then Accessibility and then Manage accessibility features.

4. Under “Keyboard and text input,” select Switch Access to turn the toggle bar off.

• • More info on updates: https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/177889?hl=en

• Additional links:

  • Fix Chromebook Problems - https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/4514391?hl=en

  • Fix hardware and system issues - https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6309225

  • Fix connection issues (for home use) - https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6318213

Lost, Missing, or Stolen Chromebook

From the time the Chromebook is issued to the student until it is returned to the school, the student is responsible for it. If the device is not recovered, the student will be charged for replacement. If the student has purchased insurance, the expense may be covered. If insurance has been purchased, please refer to the insurance policy or contact your insurance representative.

If the Chromebook is lost, missing, or stolen, the student must report it to the school immediately. The school/student should contact techhelp@bradleyschools.org.

If a device is stolen, the parent/guardian/student must report it to the school AND file a police report. A copy of the report must be provided to the school.