Using Chromebook at Workshop

Worksheets, notes, videos, and web browsing has been a snap. I must admit that this was a daring move to use my new Samsung Chromebook as my only computing device at a week-long biology workshop offered by WestEd (wested.org) and sponsored by the Texas Regional Collaborative. The workshop is taking place at the Norris Conference Center in Austin, Texas. I've come to workshops here before and used both iPad and Macbooks. 

Could the Chromebook perform well enough to lessen the paranoia we often have when using a new device. I took a chance that the Chromebook might falter, but instead some of the iPads weren't able to bring up videos. Even better than that is that by the end of the day, I still had 77% battery charge left. I know that it claims to have a 9 hour battery life, but the way it works makes a big difference. When not in use, all I do is close the screen and when needed again it powers right up. My Macbook takes about a minute or even more to come back on line, losing battery life as it goes through the motion of waking up. The iPad doesn't have the battery life of the Chromebook and it requires some wake up time to boot. A drawback of the iPad is that even with a keypad it doesn't feel comfortable and the keyboard loses charge.

I've been able to take pictures with my phone and quickly upload them to an album for this workshop. I'll continue to add photos and write about the workshop in another post. For now, it seems that I've been happy with the results and have a full feel of the device after the whole five days.

Update on Chrome 64 Plugin

Since my last update on my Chromebook experience, I played around with the Chrome 64 plugin. I tested the browser and was pleased to discover that previously visited links were accessible. The reason was that Google has made the upgrade with some limitations. Below is the statement on the help line that explains the limitations. For more information click HERE.

Chrome 64-bit supports only 64-bit NPAPI plugins

The 64-bit version of Chrome supports only 64-bit NPAPI plugins.

We have tested the following 64-bit NPAPI plugins and confirmed that they work with Chrome 64-bit:

• Oracle Java (64-bit)
• Microsoft Silverlight (64-bit)

The following Google NPAPI plugins will not work with Chrome 64-bit:

• Google Voice Plugin
• Google Earth Plugin

Note: Google Hangouts works fully on Chrome 64-bit.

If you want to use these or other NPAPI plugins, you should use the 32-bit Chrome channel. To switch channels visit theChrome download page.

Please note that NPAPI will be removed from Chrome soon. You can contact the vendor of your NPAPI plugin and ask them to provide a replacement Chrome extension or app.

My Chromebook Experience

Chromebook on my desk.

Last week I made the decision to purchase a Chromebook so that I could understand the workings of the equipment and the Google Chrome operating systems. The equipment I'm experimenting with will be provided to participants through a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board teacher quality grant. The "Retooling Science Education through Technology" grant provides training on how to use Google apps to teach science. We're getting close to getting the equipment in to the hands of participating science teachers. The requisition is being processed, but that for the instructional team is going to take time, so I made the decision to purchase my own.

Over the week, I've had an opportunity to write blog posts and work documents, create tutorials, and update webpages. All of this with ease! To work with a Chromebook a good Internet connection is essential, but I can tell that the connection is quick. What else is quick is the speed at which the Chromebook loads up. I'm up an running within eight seconds of opening up the screen.

After set up, operating the Chromebook requires that you use a Google account. I found that it was very easy to set security settings. Every time you open the laptop, you need to use your Google account password to get in, making the Chromebook a very personal device.

If you've used Google apps, then the rest is pretty familiar. Even if you have used Microsoft or Mac OS, the applications are similar and learning to use them is quick. The apps that I've used so far on the Chromebook include Google Drive, Gmail, Google Plus, Google Slides, Google Search, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Keep, Google Maps, YouTube, and several extensions like Screencastify and Zoom Scheduler. All of these applications have been easy to use.

The Chromebook does have some issues, but I believe their minor. For one, you have to have an Internet connection. Now that sounds like it can be a big thing, but many of the Google applications can be used in an offline environment. I have found a possible issue with the 34 bit Chrome browser. Some applications require 64 bits, but Google claims to be developing a 64 bit Chrome browser. My bill pay application does better with Safari than with Chrome, but I can live with that since I can still check my bank information with it.

This is only the first week of using the Chromebook and I'll get more familiar with the good and bad of it with more experience.