Google Explains How to Prep Chromebooks for Home Use

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 03/18/20
kid using laptop

As district IT teams prepare their Chromebooks to go home with students during school closures due to coronavirus, Google has developed some text resources to help them make the changes needed to those devices.

For example, administrators can restrict device access to only being used with managed student accounts and set "off hours" when students can sign in with their personal accounts. They can also use blacklists to set content limitations on websites and ensure students stay within the parameters of the responsible-use policies they have to follow on campus. And they can enable programs for various activities that might be useful for schoolwork, including "podcasting, video editing, book publishing, drawing [and] screencasting."

For students who lack WiFi access, they can work from their Google Drive and edit and save homework offline if the right settings have been configured while the devices are online. They can also access those previously mentioned tools while offline, including the camera for photo capture, recording videos and making screencasts, and Google Docs, Sheets and Drive files for other work.

If teachers have offline access, they can read and write e-mails, which will be sent to the students when the students are back online.

Learn more about how to set up Chromebooks for COVID-19-induced home use on the Google blog.

Find more resources for schools during the COVID-19 crisis here.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • a cloud, an AI chip, and a padlock interconnected by circuit-like lines

    CrowdStrike Report: Attackers Increasingly Targeting Cloud, AI Systems

    According to the 2025 Threat Hunting Report from CrowdStrike, adversaries are not just using AI to supercharge attacks — they are actively targeting the AI systems organizations deploy in production. Combined with a surge in cloud exploitation, this shift marks a significant change in the threat landscape for enterprises.

  • digital learning resources including a document, video tutorial, quiz checklist, pie chart, and AI cloud icon

    Quizizz Rebrands as Wayground, Announces New AI Features

    Learning platform Quizizz has become Wayground, in a rebranding meant to reflect "the platform's evolution from a quiz tool into a more versatile supplemental learning platform that's supported by AI," according to a news announcement.

  • Schoolchildren Work on Personal Computers

    Code.org Reinvents Hour of Code as Hour of AI

    Education nonprofit Code.org has partnered with CSforALL to launch the Hour of AI, a global initiative providing learning activities for AI education.

  • student holding a smartphone with thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons, surrounded by abstract digital media symbols and interface elements

    Teaching Media Literacy? Start by Teaching Decision-Making

    Decision-making is a skill that must be developed — not assumed. Students need opportunities to learn the tools and practices of effective decision-making so they can apply what they know in meaningful, real-world contexts.