Chromebooks in Education
01/09/2014
To Chromebook or Not to Chromebook?
I recently purchased a Chromebook for the purposes of researching the capabilities and limitations of this new class of device that is beginning to gain a foothold in the education space. I purchased the Acer C720P Touchscreen Chromebook before the holiday break and have now had about one month of hands-on experience with it.
This blog series will explore my findings about using a Chromebook for educational purposes.
Chromebooks are a relatively recent phenomena having gained popularity over the past three years. A Chromebook is a laptop-style computer that runs Google’s Chrome Operating System known as Chrome OS. The idea behind Chrome OS is to simplify the computing experience to that of just using a browser for everything. A Chromebook is designed to work exclusively “in the cloud” and therefore requires an Internet connection at all times, for the most part - although there are exceptions.
The Google browser is also known as Chrome and should not be confused with the Chrome Operating System. Chrome OS is command and control for accessing all information on a Chromebook via the Chrome browser. Chrome OS is based on the open-source Linux operating system and has been stripped down to the bare minimum. Chromebooks do have a limited file manager and are designed to store, share, and access files from the cloud. This creates a streamlined user experience on the local device but there are many functional trade-offs in the approach. There are also benefits.
First, a Chromebook is essentially just a browser and therefore requires an Internet connection to be useful. There are some off-line capabilities but without an Internet connection the Chromebook is severely limited. In future posts I will explore some of these limitations and as well as workarounds.
Second, a Chromebook is designed to provide as much as possible a pure Google experience. The Chrome browser is the only browser that currently works on a Chromebook. You cannot use Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer as of the time of this writing.
Third, everything is done with the browser; word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, etc… If you already use Google apps then you will feel right at home with a Chromebook (as long as you have an Internet connection).
There is however a loophole in this pure Google experience of the Chromebook. Because you can use the Chrome browser you can also access other Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) applications available on the Internet. Most notably, the free Microsoft Office Web Apps and SkyDrive cloud storage can also be used with Chromebooks and provides an alternative for lightweight office applications. I have not tried it yet but I suspect you can also use iCloud as well.
I am finding this access to the free Microsoft web apps and SkyDrive cloud storage very beneficial on the Chromebook. I can use my Microsoft Account between the Chromebook and my Surface Pro Windows tablet seamlessly. When I find I need the power of a "real computer" I can switch to the Surface Pro and do screencasting, video editing, audio editing, digital inking with Onenote and have the full power of the Microsoft Office suite of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote available to me when I require it. This helps take away some of that limited feeling I get when exclusively using a Chromebook.
On the plus-side the Chrome OS streamlined approach is affordable and requires minimal updates and maintenance. Most new Chromebooks boot-up in under 10 seconds and are generally available under the $350 US price point.
The Acer C720P Touchscreen Chromebook model I purchased cost $299 US but there is also a non-touchscreen model available for $199 US. This low pricing and low maintenance has caught the attention of many educational technologist (and budget managers).
In a way the Chromebook is similar to the original netbook trend that took place over five years ago. The original netbooks at that time did not have fast-enough processors to keep up with the up and coming tablet computers. The original idea behind the netbook was to do everything in the cloud, but five years ago the cloud services, broadband infrastructure, and processor speed of netbooks were not quite there.
Will the Chromebook be a different story? Has the technology finally caught up with the vision of the "netbook" experience? Is the Chromebook the ultimate netbook?
The Acer C720P Chromebook has the latest Haswell processor that offers improved speed and long battery-life that make it a worthy competitor to iPads, netbooks, Windows and Mac laptops, and other tablets. The laptop form factor may be making a comeback in education as a reaction to the limitations of many tablets used in the classroom.
And... something that is missing on many tablets, most new Chromebooks have HDMI and USB ports!
This is great for sharing large files between Chromebooks and to also share the Chromebook screen to a large HDTV/Projector with a regular HDMI cable. There is also the new Chromecast wireless display technology that I will talk about in an upcoming post.
And... something that is missing on many tablets, most new Chromebooks have HDMI and USB ports!
This is great for sharing large files between Chromebooks and to also share the Chromebook screen to a large HDTV/Projector with a regular HDMI cable. There is also the new Chromecast wireless display technology that I will talk about in an upcoming post.
The technology has advanced and I see many schools now considering replacing iPads with Chromebooks. When you can buy two or three devices for the same price as just one iPad the affordability factor cannot be ignored.
In my next post, I will discuss my Day 1 Out-Of-Box experience with the Acer C720P Chromebook so stay tuned.
Until next time…
Keep on Learning,
Tom Grissom, Ph.D.
Twitter: @tomgrissom
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