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Recommended AppsExplain Everything
Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere. |
WebsitesConnectSafely.org - provides good information about how to insure you child is connected safely.
So you want to purchase a chromebook?I love using the chromebooks at school. They are instantly connected and there is basically no maintenance required since any updates made are just pushed out to the chromebooks. In other words, there is no operating system to keep up with. With the easy access, students are quickly connected and ready to get started. Because they are built with minimal storage, everything that you need is through the internet which means you are living in the cloud. Accessing websites is a breeze and students can use their school provided Google accounts to access their Google Apps for any Slides (powerpoint), Docs (word) or Spreadsheet (excel) functions. The great thing about Google Apps is that everything is automatically saved, so students are not having to remember to save all the time and then remember where they saved it to! Also, you can download lots of neat apps which are getting more abundant on the chrome platform. Anything that you need stored could be put on a flashdrive and then accessed through the chromebook.
Here is a quick list of highlights: 1) This is what students are using at Point Road and so it is familiar to them. Your child should be able to easily sit down, once you have connected to your wireless, and get started all on their own! 2) They are easy to set up. Just take it out of the box, connect to your wireless and you are good to go. 3) Most of student's homework is probably on websites or can be completed using the Google Drive. This is the perfect use for chromebooks. 4) They are virtually virus-proof. They don't have enough memory to contract a virus, so you are safe as far as that goes. 5) There are no software updates to be made. Chrome just "pushes" out updates that might be needed to the firmware so you don't need to worry about keeping things up to date. 6) Most important...they are inexpensive! Right now, you can find good deals on chromebooks and they are running about $200-$300 for a decent chromebook. As far as which brand, that will be up to you and your price point. I'm going to leave that in your hands so as not to endorse any particular brand. When deciding, keep in mind your budget, storage needs, and whether you want touch screen or not. The deciding factor of whether to get a chromebook vs. laptop/iPad is it really depends on what your child will want to be doing all on these. If it is for ease of use, avoidance of viruses and accessing the internet, then I think your best bet is the chromebook and you will save a lot too! If your child is going to be doing lots of movies, storing stuff and need actual software, then a netbook. If it is for using apps, listening to music, reading, then the iPad might be what you are looking for. If you ever need a demonstration of a chromebook, my door is always open! |