What Are Chromebooks?
Many students are now using the internet to study since physical studies were affected by the pandemic. The likes of having online classes, online graduations, and sourcing study materials from the web is part of the 'new normal. Chromebook news has made headlines in the last couple of months, with these gadgets drawing different responses from the public. Teachers, parents, and students have different takes on introducing these gadgets to the learning system, which has created an unsettled environment.A proper Chromebook definition is that these are tablets and laptops that are mainly designed for studies. They run using the Linux-based Chrome operating system. Their operation is centered around the use of Google Chrome to perform various tasks. Most of the device's data and applications are stored in the cloud, unlike how regular laptops use RAM and HDD. These Google-owned devices were introduced in 2011, although their significance has risen recently, where the need to study online has emerged.
So what impact do they have on students?
Chromebooks For Students: Pros and Cons
Well, you can begin by pointing out the fact that a student will be excited to own a ‘laptop’ or tablet, but are Chromebooks good? Like any other internet-accessible device, Chromebooks have a good side and a disappointing part. So let’s check out the advantages and disadvantages of Chromebooks for school.
Pros
- Costs – Chromebooks for kids can be more than 60% less expensive than typical laptops. This is because they are designed to be light and small, which reduces the costs. They also have fewer demands on software and hardware requirements, and they are pretty quickly, cheaply, and easily fixed if a problem arises.
- G-Suite for Education – Unlike Windows and iOS, Chrome OS doesn't require any licensing for installation and upgrades. That's because it’s entirely free, and you can get pretty much everything you need as a student. Some of the features include Google Classroom that enables teachers to create lessons and share forms, documents, and assignments with the parents and teachers. It helps both parents and teachers to keep track of the student's progress in their studies.
- Device Management and Deployment – Using the Chrome partner ecosystem, schools can distribute up to 1000 devices. These institutions can also manage the devices through the Admin console, restricting some of the accessible contents. Over 200 demands and policies are available that cover user features customization, network access, managing user, blocking, and pre-installing apps. The Admin can also decide to powerwash the devices to restore their factory settings.
- Share-Ability – There’s convenience on how Chromebooks work. The device has only one administrator, but it can have as many users as possible. You only need a Google account to access the device. You’ll only log in and be ableto access all your content from the previous lessons. There’ll be no complaints of losing anything since you can easily track everything from your account.
- Improved Productivity – Are you wondering why Chromebooks are good for students? As a parent, you get to set particular locks to these devices to restrict your child from any form of entertainment available on the net. This will enable them to solely focus on their studies, for they cannot use the gadget for any other purpose.
- Ruggedized Designs – Unlike the hardware requirements of the standard laptops, Chromebooks require less attention to that. These Chromebooks in the classroom can survive drops and spills are they have shock-proof rubber edges and are spill-resistant.
Cons
- Offline Capabilities – This is the main setback of these devices as the Chrome OS is only effective when connected to the internet. Most of the functions, from attending the classes to submitting the assignments, are only done online. However, you can enable offline mode to access the documents on your drive for offline edits or accessibility.
- No Adobe Suite – Adobe Suite is the most effective tool for editing files, images, and documents. Unfortunately, Chromebooks for schools do not support this software, making it hard for students to make precise edits. However, alternatives such as Pixlr although are no match for Adobe Suite.
- Hardware – If affordability is what you considered during purchase, you have to compromise on the hardware capacity. Unlike the typical processors, the primary Chromebooks will only do some things. That means running games or memory-intensive applications will cause the device to freeze or, worse – crash. However, you can opt for intel i5 or i7 for better handling, but they are not cheap!
- Storage Capacity – The idea behind these devices was to develop cloud-based gadgets, so pretty much of the space is available on drive or cloud. That makes most devices hold storage of 32 GB, which is so little for a 'laptop.' Nonetheless, you can decide to go for a model with a micro SD slot.
- No Installed Microsoft – Unfortunately, Windows Office files are not available on these devices. Although you have options such as Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, they don't match the capabilities of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can use the feature online, but it won't be as effective as the installed versions.
What Is The Significance Of Chromebooks In Classrooms
With the awareness of the upside and downsides of the Chromebooks for elementary students, it all comes down to why you should opt for these devices. There are several reasons why many institutions are advocating for Chromebook education. These are the factors that set apart these devices from the usual laptops and the benefits that you enjoy as a society.The use of Chromebooks in 2021 benefits both parents and teachers with considerations such as;
I. Budget
A school can get better deals when purchasing a Chromebooks list in bulk. Furthermore, these devices are also less expensive than ordinary laptops. That means there will be a lesser budget for the purchase of these devices by the schools. It means for the parents that they won't have pressure to contribute more during fundraising than how the purchase of laptops would get deep into their pockets. If you contribute more, then you stand to gain more Chromebooks for the school.II. Size and Weight
The typical size of a Chromebook is smaller than that of a laptop. They are also designed to be light. This helps in its portability since even elementary school students can carry them around at ease. It also helps in storage for a particular space will accommodate more of them.III. Battery Life
One of the introductory Chromebooks how to use guide is that these devices can last the whole day. Laptops go for up to 5-6 hours if you have a good battery with you. This ensures that kids can comfortably use these devices the entire day in school. It also helps in doing assignments at home since there are no worries of having your device go off because of battery issues. The model of these devices influences it since they don't contain much hardware, so the battery only has to do a few tasks.IV. Security
Let's consider this – what's the most crucial thing in a student's school life? Right – their work! One of the primary considerations when developing these gadgets was that Google considered students' work security. For an average laptop, everything or most of the things are stored in the hard drive. When someone else gets hold of your computer, then you stand a chance to lose your privacy.However, there is a turn of events of Chromebooks how do they work? These gadgets only have about 32 GB of storage, and that is purposed for the usual cache and cookies data. However, students who use them store all their work in the cloud. This keeps their work confidential and secret from any other user. You have to get the credentials of the Google account of a student to access their work.
That’s not an easy task to pull off. This ensures that the information about the student and what they are working on remains a secret. It also allows different users to operate a similar gadget because it is on the account and not the device - ensuring the security of the students' data.
V. Device Management
One key factor that makes Chromebooks stand out is that the admin controls everything in the devices. The demands and policies and the manner of using them are all commands that the administrator can make from his/her end. That makes managing these devices simple. There’s uniformity in technology level, and students are only exposed to the things that are allowed by the school.Conclusion
Embracing the new technology is something that you ought to do. Not only does it carry lots of benefits, but the convenience in their use is also a good takeaway. Chromebooks for schools are an essential inclusion to the learning system even though they pose some setbacks. Getting an ideal one in terms of a good processor and allowing external storage will be suitable for you.Have you used a Chromebook before? How was your experience? Are Chromebooks better than laptops? Leave a comment!
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