A Handy Chrombook Apps List for Teachers

May 10, 2015
Chrome store is teeming with all kinds  of educational apps to use on your Chromebook. However, searching for relevant apps can be a real arduous and time-consuming task. For those of you who are not conversant with how Chrome search works,  Google has this excellent video tutorial to walk you through the process of searching for and locating chrome apps.

Chromebook users looking for some very good apps to start with, Google has these handy lists of carefully selected apps. The apps are arranged into four main categories: pre-installed, everyday, school and work.  You may want to book mark the page for later reference. Here is a snapshot of the apps listed in the school and work categories. Check the entire lists from this page.

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

10 Must Watch Video Tutorials for Chromebook Users

March 18, 2015
Chromebooks are making gigantic inroads in the education sector. Several school districts here in Canada and the States are adopting them as teaching tools within classrooms. Their growing popularity among the education community is attributable not only to their reasonably cheap price but also to a host of excellent features that you can not find in other devices. Chromebooks are easier to handle, faster and more secure. They are also " instantly personalizable by each student or teacher, and easy to manage, making them an ideal solution for bringing the power of the web to your classrooms".

If your school is integrating Chromebooks or if you are planning to use them with your students, the video tutorials below, curated from Chrome YouTube channel, are definitely something a must watch.

1- How to Add an App

2- How to create and share a document

3- Open and edit a presentation

4- How to create and edit a spreadsheet

5- How to find a file

6- How to edit a photo

7- Quick Search

8- Video Chat with Google+ Hangouts

9- How to change your wallpaper

10- How to manage and listen to music

Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Useful Tools Students Can Use to Create 3D Models (Work on Chromebooks too)

January 21, 2015
Below are two useful tools you  can use with your students to create 3D models on the cloud. You do not need to download any software, the tools are web-based and, best of all, work on Chromebooks so those of you teaching with Chromebooks will find them handy.

1- Design Something
This is an application for 3D modeling which works on both Chrome and Firefox. Design Something allows students to easily build 3D model using pre-defined shapes. They can also use tools such as extrude and sweep to create shapes from 2D sketching. Other features supported by the app include: ability to design parts first then assemble them; design offline, and export of finished design to STL for 3D printing.

Watch this video to learn more about this app

2- 3DTin
3DTin is a 3D modeller that allows you to  design models by placing cubes of different colors on top of each other. Finished products can be saved in the clouds or be exported in standard 3D file formats such as STL and OBJ.

Watch this video to learn more about 3DTin

Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Terrific Timeline Creation Tool for Students (Works on Chromebooks Too)

January, 2015
Timeline, as its name indicate, is a very good tool from Read Write Think that you can use  to create web based timelines. The tool is very simple and students can use it to graphically represent a sequence of data (events, facts..,etc) along a chronological line. These timelines can be arranged by by date, time or event.

To start creating a timeline, head over to this page. Type in your name and project title then hit “start”. Now click anywhere on the timeline to add an item at that location. To edit an item, double click it. You can then customize the content and placement of your items as you like. Drag to adjust positions, click on the bin icon to delete  and when you are done click on “finish” to save your work to your computer or share it with others.

Timeline works on both computer and Chromebooks.

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .

Excellent Science Apps to Use on Chromebooks

January 6, 2015
Chromebook Classroom Livebinder is a very good page packed full of chrome book resources including apps, guides, tutorials, presentations and several other materials. Wading through it I came across these two science apps that you can use in class with your students. Please share with us if you have other suggestions to add to this list.

1-  ChemReference

 ChemReference is a detailed and powerful periodic table of the elements and chemistry reference tool designed with a fast workflow in mind. Some of its features include:

• Auto-scaling periodic table 
•  Fully searchable with real-time highlighting of matched elements 
• Very quickly navigable with keyboard shortcuts for common actions
•  Trend highlighting for all properties of elements with color-weighted trends
•  Quick links to Wikipedia, WebElements, and Wolfram|Alpha for further element information

2- The BioDigital Human 

The BioDigital Human is a free 3D platform that simplifies the understanding of anatomy, disease, and treatments.Choose from 1000’s of interactive visualizations to build your own custom library of models. Interactive tools combined with detailed medical descriptions provide an unprecedented new visual format to learn about your body.

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .